Causes
Panic attacks are triggered by
unrealistic notions of danger. For
example, it can be a sudden and
unexplained fear of being alone in a
crowd. You can go to a place that’s
alien to you, and without warning,
anxiety can creep up on you and snowball
into an uncontrollable panic attack. It
can also happen when you’re driving, and
if you’re alone in the car, you can
cause serious danger to yourself and to
other people.
Anxiety is a normal reaction to doubtful
circumstances, or possible but not
really life threatening dangers.
However, a panic attack happens when
this fear of the “unknown danger” is
magnified. In other words, panic attacks
happen when we panic about panicking.
Indirectly, it can be caused by
traumatic past experiences, unhealthy
lifestyles, stress, or lack of sleep.
Whatever the indirect cause may be, you
need to understand tat panic attacks are
only caused by unrealistic, most times
exaggerated thoughts. When you let the
fear overcome your sense of control, you
can be in serious trouble.
Mind frame
The only thing you can do when you’re
facing a panic attack is to try to
regain your normal breathing. People
usually complain about blocked thoughts
or racing heartbeats. While these
involuntary body reactions may seem
impossible to control under these
situations, a lot of sufferers find that
they’re better able to cope with the
attack when they have a stress ball on
hand.
Try to keep a stress ball with you when
you lack sleep or you feel that you’re
most likely to become anxious. Once your
heart starts to race unexplainably,
press on the stress ball and try to
counter the thought that triggered the
bodily reaction. If the thought happened
to be the fear of having to speak to so
many strangers about something
important, try to imagine your audience
in their underwear.
The key here is to never let anything
intimidate you enough that you’re unable
to function as a professional or a
student. If you sense your panic attacks
recurring whenever you’re in this
situation, try to look for a good
therapist who can help you master your
fears better.
