Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk through some of the big
Speaker 1: life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they
Speaker 1: mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever
Speaker 1: you are in the world, it is so great to
Speaker 1: have you here. Back for another episode. As we, of
Speaker 1: course break down the Psychology of your twenties today, we
Speaker 1: are going to be talking about a pretty significant emotion,
Speaker 1: a very core emotion and experience both in our twenties
Speaker 1: and I think beyond, and that is the experience of panic,
Speaker 1: of fear, intense alarm, terror, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1: But specifically, we are going to be addressing panic attacks,
Speaker 1: that sudden onset of extreme dread and anxiety that engulfs
Speaker 1: us normally in response to some threat in the environment,
Speaker 1: whether that is real or perceived. Panic attacks are a
Speaker 1: terrible sensation, really, and I'm saying that as of course
Speaker 1: someone who has had for years experienced thesis kind of
Speaker 1: part of my daily, weekly, monthly life, often in response
Speaker 1: to things that I couldn't even identify or which was
Speaker 1: so ambiguous and non worrisome in hindsight that I felt
Speaker 1: like I didn't even know why these panic attacks were
Speaker 1: occurring in the first place. They were just coming out
Speaker 1: of the bloot. Really in that sense of confusion, and
Speaker 1: more specifically, I think a lack of control felt equally scary.
Speaker 1: And I think this idea or this sensation that I
Speaker 1: couldn't control what my mind or my body was choosing
Speaker 1: to do kind of kept that cycle continuing because I
Speaker 1: began to fear the sensation, and fear the fear of
Speaker 1: a panic attack rather than anything in particular. And the
Speaker 1: more I think I began to actually learn about why
Speaker 1: that was, how that happened, what a panic attack is,
Speaker 1: the more I really felt that sense of control I needed,
Speaker 1: not just a control over the bodily sensations that accompany
Speaker 1: this experience, the racing heartbeat, the shortness of breath, the tingles,
Speaker 1: the mental spiral, but I also just increased this feeling
Speaker 1: of capability. I felt like I had a new found
Speaker 1: ability to cope and to see panic as no more
Speaker 1: than just an emotion, an evolutionary response to my environment,
Speaker 1: an alarm system that was unfortunately broken for me. And
Speaker 1: although it was quite debilitating. For a while, I used
Speaker 1: to get these like really intense week or month long
Speaker 1: periods where I was having them twice a day consistently.
Speaker 1: I do now feel like I'm at this point where
Speaker 1: I understand why that happened, and I learnt from it,
Speaker 1: and I learned the best ways I think of dealing
Speaker 1: with this very weird sensation, with this very unique type
Speaker 1: of fear, and we're going to talk about it today.
Speaker 1: I want to talk you through my best tips for coping,
Speaker 1: tell you about what I've learned, and kind of provide
Speaker 1: you with the ultimate guide to panic attacks. We're going
Speaker 1: to discuss the true causes, some of the misconceptions, the
Speaker 1: distinction between panic and anxiety, and why it is that
Speaker 1: some people, perhaps like you and I, have this weird, misguided,
Speaker 1: malfunctioning alarm system. I always think that psycho education talking
Speaker 1: about the problem is such a valuable tool to begin
Speaker 1: with when it comes to anything, really, because how can
Speaker 1: we feel in control of our panic if we don't
Speaker 1: even know where it's coming from, if we don't even
Speaker 1: understand its emotional, biological, psychological origin. When we understand that psychology,
Speaker 1: we no longer feel like panic attacks are some big
Speaker 1: scary visitor that we can't get rid of. They're just
Speaker 1: something a lot more simple and tame. They are a
Speaker 1: series of bodily and mental reactions that have just gotten
Speaker 1: their wires crossed. It's this combination of sensations that is
Speaker 1: meant to be helpful, but right now it's not. And
Speaker 1: that is all that it is. It is not some
Speaker 1: big physical thing that is going to come in and
Speaker 1: ruin your life. You are not going to pass away,
Speaker 1: you are not going to die, you are not going
Speaker 1: to feel like this forever. You will exhaust yourself. You
Speaker 1: will get through this. So let's talk about it before
Speaker 1: we start. A little persa that the final five six
Speaker 1: minutes of this episode are a short relaxation audio if
Speaker 1: you are having a panic attack right now, So if
Speaker 1: you want to listen to that, please see the timestamp
Speaker 1: in the description. And if you are returning to this
Speaker 1: episode here as you're a reminder to feel free to
Speaker 1: skip ahead if that is what you're here for. But
Speaker 1: let's get started. Learning to deal with overwhelming and intense
Speaker 1: emotions is kind of part of our journey as humans,
Speaker 1: for some more than others. But I also don't think
Speaker 1: that the end goal when we're talking about panic attacks
Speaker 1: or any emotion that is scary. I don't think that
Speaker 1: the end goal should be complete emotional regulation, to never
Speaker 1: feel any negative emotions, constant peace and tranquility, because I
Speaker 1: think that's depriving ourselves of some of the useful things
Speaker 1: that any emotion does for us, some of the useful
Speaker 1: things that panic does for us. I know that that
Speaker 1: sounds a little bit ridiculous. As uncomfortable as panic attacks are,
Speaker 1: I actually think that the worst thing we can do
Speaker 1: for ourselves, either before, during, or after is try and
Speaker 1: ignore it, to avoid or suppress the sensations of anxiety
Speaker 1: and fear by rushing through, by distracting, by pushing them aside,
Speaker 1: because eventually it will make them stronger. I think that
Speaker 1: seems really counterintuitive, especially if you're someone who has a
Speaker 1: panic disorder and you experience these very regularly. It is
Speaker 1: natural to have a lot of fear towards the incidence
Speaker 1: and the prevalence of your panic attacks, right Like, no
Speaker 1: one wants to be in a place where they're feeling
Speaker 1: this uncomfortable, and so naturally we want to push them away.
Speaker 1: We want to run away, We want to put our panic,
Speaker 1: our panic attacks our anxiety in this box and hide
Speaker 1: it and hope to never hear from it again. When
Speaker 1: we rely too heavily though on avoidance, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to feelings of panic, this only causes us to
Speaker 1: focus on them more intensely. It also gives them more
Speaker 1: power because the act of fearing fear, which is essentially
Speaker 1: what you're doing by avoiding something, increases that fear. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that sounds very convoluted, but when we refuse
Speaker 1: to experience intense emotions like panic, we don't actually learn
Speaker 1: the skills to deal with them in the long run
Speaker 1: because we never have any practice. It also just causes
Speaker 1: them to return. I would say the best way is
Speaker 1: like to return stronger, because every time we avoid thinking
Speaker 1: or feeling about our anxiety, it in many ways kind
Speaker 1: of returns with the vengeance because we never provide it
Speaker 1: with an outlet. And secondly, we never allow ourselves to
Speaker 1: truly acknowledge what might be triggering our fear, whether it's
Speaker 1: internal or external, because we are so scared of looking
Speaker 1: at our directly, we are so scared of examining it. Now,
Speaker 1: what is it that triggers a panic attack? Panic is
Speaker 1: what we call a survival emotion. It is a reaction
Speaker 1: that serves the function of preparing us to fight off
Speaker 1: or escape danger by creating and triggering a fear that
Speaker 1: is so strong that it prevents all rational and logical
Speaker 1: thinking and it causes us to only really focus on
Speaker 1: that one thing in our environment or in our mind
Speaker 1: that we see as dangerous or threatening. So in this way,
Speaker 1: panic is the result of our fight or flight response.
Speaker 1: This response is very evolutionary. It also now includes freeze,
Speaker 1: and it's essentially the automatic urge. We have to address
Speaker 1: danger and ensure our survival by either fighting back against
Speaker 1: this force, whatever it may be, running away, or in
Speaker 1: some cases becoming paralyzed and being unable to really do anything.
Speaker 1: This is triggered by something that we see as dangerous.
Speaker 1: I think most people know this obviously. This automatic response
Speaker 1: is for our survival. It came it has developed for
Speaker 1: many many many generations, and in the past, the purpose
Speaker 1: that it served for our ancestors was that if there
Speaker 1: was a very real physical threat like a big hungry lion,
Speaker 1: or an upcoming flood, or a sinister neighboring tribe approaching
Speaker 1: us with weapons, we needed this panic to basically indicate
Speaker 1: to us to get away or to do something about it.
Speaker 1: Those were the threats that we've faced when this automatic
Speaker 1: function and process first evolved and came about. Nowadays, these
Speaker 1: same triggers are still kind of present. Maybe not a lion,
Speaker 1: I don't know where you're living, though, But more commonly,
Speaker 1: these triggers can be anything that we perceive as dangerous, stressful,
Speaker 1: or acute events, but also a number of internal triggers phobias,
Speaker 1: really bad dark thoughts, certain stimulants like caffeine, ongoing stress,
Speaker 1: many other things. Anything that evokes fear will as a
Speaker 1: result activate our fight or flight response. Because the part
Speaker 1: of us that is activating that response is not very intelligent,
Speaker 1: It is not rational, does not really have critical thinking skills.
Speaker 1: It is just meant to be there, almost like an
Speaker 1: instantaneous alarm system. It is meant to be responding rapidly,
Speaker 1: and when something responds rapidly, as in this system, it
Speaker 1: doesn't have the time to really process what this thing
Speaker 1: that's scaring us really means, whether it actually is truly dangerous.
Speaker 1: So when this automatic response is activated, a particular part
Speaker 1: of our nervous system, known as our sympathetic nervous system,
Speaker 1: goes to work switching on all the bodily functions we
Speaker 1: will need the most for immediate survival, and switching off
Speaker 1: all of those that we don't need. So things like
Speaker 1: our digestive system, our sexual organs as a way to
Speaker 1: divert energy away from one thing, from one part of
Speaker 1: our body and put all of that energy to the
Speaker 1: systems that are going to help us with the threat
Speaker 1: in front of us. It floods us with neuropinephrine, with adrenaline,
Speaker 1: cortisol to get the body ready to fight, flee, or freeze,
Speaker 1: and this subsequently triggers the symptoms that we associate with
Speaker 1: a panic attack, all of those bodily reactions, erasing heart, sweating, dizziness, trembling,
Speaker 1: hot flushes, maybe that tingling in your arm, that tightness
Speaker 1: in your chest, a sense of imminent danger, spiraling thoughts.
Speaker 1: These sensations are caused by our body. They're caused by
Speaker 1: our involuntary response to danger. For example, that tingling sensation
Speaker 1: we were just talking about, that's actually caused by blood
Speaker 1: vessels constricting and increasing blood to the heart so that
Speaker 1: we can run faster, fight harder, But it also leaves
Speaker 1: less blood flow to the rest of the body, causing
Speaker 1: that strange feeling in our limbs. Those hot flushes that
Speaker 1: we often experience, that's just caused by an increase in
Speaker 1: body temperature because of the effect of those crucial stress hormones.
Speaker 1: All of those sensations that we fear, that we associate
Speaker 1: with a panic attack are nothing more than our body
Speaker 1: doing what it evolved to do best, which is to
Speaker 1: help us survive. But sometimes we actually misinterpret those sensations
Speaker 1: and we begin to think it means something more. It
Speaker 1: means something in our body has gone wrong, and that
Speaker 1: just causes our panic and our fear to accelerate. The
Speaker 1: biggest one for me is when my heart starts racing
Speaker 1: and I think for sure I'm going to have a
Speaker 1: heart attack, I'm going to die. I can't slay my
Speaker 1: heart rate down. This big, essential life giving organ is
Speaker 1: going to burst in my chest. And what I know
Speaker 1: now is that that is the beginning of fearing the fear.
Speaker 1: Because I'm fearing the sensations, I'm not actually fearing the
Speaker 1: thing that cause those sensations in the first place. We
Speaker 1: get more worried about that than the actual danger, about
Speaker 1: our perception of danger. If you are someone who has
Speaker 1: a panic disorder, meaning you experience more frequent panic attacks
Speaker 1: of an increased severity. You also begin to fear having
Speaker 1: an attack at the wrong time, maybe during a lecture
Speaker 1: at work, during a date, and this begins to become
Speaker 1: quite debilitating because you kind of have to fight back
Speaker 1: against that very instinctual, natural, normal urge to avoid those
Speaker 1: situations where you're going to feel exposed. You don't want
Speaker 1: to be in a public place or in front of
Speaker 1: other people and having this sense of fear, and that
Speaker 1: can actually lead to anticipatory anxiety, and that is that
Speaker 1: kind of constant panic that you will have a panic attack,
Speaker 1: that you will experience a panic attack when it's inconvenient,
Speaker 1: when you are unprepared. And the thing about panic attacks,
Speaker 1: specifically those caused by a panic disorder or even a phobia,
Speaker 1: is that they are often directed towards things that don't
Speaker 1: pose an immediate threat, that are not going to kill us.
Speaker 1: But that natural and instinctive alarm system has become broken
Speaker 1: so that it starts firing off warning signs and getting
Speaker 1: the body prepared for survival in response to a whole
Speaker 1: array of triggers. Everybody has an internal alarm system that
Speaker 1: warns them of when they are in danger. You need that,
Speaker 1: it's important. But with anxiety or a panic disorder, our
Speaker 1: alarm system has kind of become a bit miscalibrated, a
Speaker 1: bit faulty, way too sensitive, meaning that our threshold for
Speaker 1: what we should panic about is much lower than other people's.
Speaker 1: The analogy I think we talk about a lot is
Speaker 1: having a faulty car alarm. For example, you know, the
Speaker 1: normal car alarm should really only go off when someone
Speaker 1: is like out the side of your window with a
Speaker 1: baseball bat trying to steal your sad's like it should
Speaker 1: be triggered by things that are actually going to, like
Speaker 1: cause the car to break down or be broken into.
Speaker 1: But in the brain of someone with anxiety or a
Speaker 1: panic disorder, that alarm is a lot more sensitive. So
Speaker 1: using that car analogy, it could be triggered by a
Speaker 1: leaf falling on the roof and that is enough to
Speaker 1: set everything off to get everything going. I think knowing
Speaker 1: that that is what causes some people to panic more
Speaker 1: than others was really comforting to me. And there are
Speaker 1: a number of reasons that might cause this lowered threshold
Speaker 1: for emotional and physiological arousal. These include things like a
Speaker 1: family history of panic attacks. We know that genetics and
Speaker 1: DNA plays such a huge role in a lot of
Speaker 1: mental health conditions, but also a past traumatic event that
Speaker 1: has caused you to become hyper vigilant to your surroundings
Speaker 1: and to your own internal state as almost a survival
Speaker 1: skill to avoid that event happening again, to avoid future trauma.
Speaker 1: Another example is really major life changes or shifts that
Speaker 1: are taking so much energy from you already that there
Speaker 1: are very few mental resources leftover to cope with small things.
Speaker 1: That's why we often see someone who has maybe going
Speaker 1: through like a big breakup, they've left their job, they've moved,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly they're having a panic attack about something
Speaker 1: that everyone else would think is super super minor, like
Speaker 1: not being able to find their car keys or some
Speaker 1: small comment that someone has said to them, because they
Speaker 1: don't have the sufficient mental resources to deal with this
Speaker 1: added stress. Remember, in those moments, though, all this alarm
Speaker 1: system is trying to do is help you, not harm you.
Speaker 1: It's just your job in that moment to consciously interpret it,
Speaker 1: whether the system is getting it wrong, and correct that perception.
Speaker 1: The important thing I want to remind you is that
Speaker 1: panic attacks just cannot last forever. It is not physically possible.
Speaker 1: We will reach a point of exhaustion. Right it's taking
Speaker 1: so much out of you. Most therapists or psychologists will
Speaker 1: tell you that a panic attack is probably going to
Speaker 1: peak around ten minutes. It will most likely most certainly
Speaker 1: subside within an hour, and within half an hour most
Speaker 1: of the time. Sometimes, obviously, we can have multiple panic
Speaker 1: attacks in a row, so there'll be a small period
Speaker 1: where you're not panicking. Sometimes we can misinterpret that and
Speaker 1: feel like we've had a panic attack for like a
Speaker 1: whole day. But people will tell you this is not
Speaker 1: one long continuous panic attacks, but when long sorry, continuous
Speaker 1: panic attack, but multiple smaller panic attacks. Panic just takes
Speaker 1: so much out of you. Though we genuinely do not
Speaker 1: have the resources to sustain such a feeling. This system
Speaker 1: that alarms you and sets you off and creates all
Speaker 1: of these changes in your body, it is meant for small,
Speaker 1: concentrated bursts of energy, so over time all that it
Speaker 1: takes so much of your energy that you're going to
Speaker 1: run out. And I actually think that that's really nice
Speaker 1: to know you will get through this. You have to
Speaker 1: reach an exhaustion point or a breaking point. Now, the
Speaker 1: reason you might be experiencing a greater number of repetitive
Speaker 1: panic attacks, it might have to do with something in
Speaker 1: your environment or within your internal state that is causing
Speaker 1: you to feel unsafe. It doesn't necessarily need to be
Speaker 1: some big crazy it's eccentric, you know, very obvious threat
Speaker 1: in your environment. For example, there was a time maybe
Speaker 1: two or three years ago, where my panic attacks were terrible.
Speaker 1: They were awful. They were so so frustrating. They happened
Speaker 1: all the time, without control, and also without seemingly a trigger.
Speaker 1: You know, I would be in bed and I would
Speaker 1: be panicking. What I began to realize was that actually
Speaker 1: the last few months when I looked back at them,
Speaker 1: had been really really rough, really really hard. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I want to go into it. And this
Speaker 1: was in the past, so maybe I will give you
Speaker 1: some datail. Like, there had been a lot of conflict
Speaker 1: going on in my life with friends. I was moving
Speaker 1: to a new city, I was graduating from university, I
Speaker 1: was saying goodbye to people, I was going through a breakup.
Speaker 1: There was I was just slowly being worn down. I
Speaker 1: was taking a lot of my friends' problems on as well,
Speaker 1: And I realized when I started, actually at the tail
Speaker 1: end of this period, that this had been coming up
Speaker 1: for a while, like this had been in the works,
Speaker 1: this had been slowly brewing. But I kept suppressing it
Speaker 1: because I just was like, I don't have time to
Speaker 1: deal with this right now. I don't have time for
Speaker 1: a panic attack. I don't have time. And the longer
Speaker 1: I held back that wave, the stronger it eventually was
Speaker 1: when it bursts through. The thing though about panic and
Speaker 1: fear is that although they definitely are villainized because they
Speaker 1: are uncomfortable, sometimes you actually just have to feel it
Speaker 1: to get through it. Putting it off is going to
Speaker 1: make it worse in the long run. It's almost like
Speaker 1: playing whack a mole, right Like, every time you see
Speaker 1: like the nose of the panic attack popping out, you
Speaker 1: try and hit it down and hit it down. But
Speaker 1: if you just let them pop up, they'll eventually go
Speaker 1: away and you'll exert less energy trying to control everything
Speaker 1: in your environment to ensure that you don't feel fear
Speaker 1: when fear is actually a really natural response. Anxiety and
Speaker 1: panic actually serves a purpose. It might indicate that something
Speaker 1: is wrong and that you're unable to reach a state
Speaker 1: or a balance of homeostasis. It might show you that
Speaker 1: there is an ongoing stressor that you need to deal with.
Speaker 1: And when we see people who don't have that fear
Speaker 1: of response at all, I always think about Alex Hannell,
Speaker 1: the very famous free selling rock climber. He's one of them.
Speaker 1: These individuals obviously have like a smaller Amich Dealer, smaller
Speaker 1: fear center of the brain, and they can't always identify danger.
Speaker 1: They often do risky things. They can't always as well
Speaker 1: identify other people's emotions. It's often the people who are
Speaker 1: most anxious that are also the most empathetic, and in
Speaker 1: some ways, maybe this is a very big claim, but
Speaker 1: also the most intelligent, because they are the ones who
Speaker 1: are sitting there thinking everything through, thinking how everyone else
Speaker 1: is feeling, thinking how everything can go wrong, all of
Speaker 1: that catastrophizing. That's a lot of big brain exercises right there.
Speaker 1: Regardless though of how quote unquote functional panic and anxiety
Speaker 1: might be might be to us as humans from a
Speaker 1: scientific point of view, I'm sure that if you are
Speaker 1: someone who has panic attacks, you have had a few
Speaker 1: moments where you would have given anything to live a
Speaker 1: life without them. They're scary, theility, it's so debilitating, they're inconvenient.
Speaker 1: We don't like feeling disrupted by an emotion that we
Speaker 1: can't control. And I get that, I really really get that,
Speaker 1: and I want to talk about how we can bring
Speaker 1: that fear back into the realm of what is conscious,
Speaker 1: what is actionable, something that we can do something about.
Speaker 1: How can we manage our panic attacks so they don't
Speaker 1: feel like this separate entity that is going to storm
Speaker 1: in and ruin everything for us. I want to provide
Speaker 1: you with some of my tride and tested tips for
Speaker 1: bringing you back down to earth and into your rational
Speaker 1: thinking self during these times. Maybe you are in a
Speaker 1: period of panic right now, in the depths of a
Speaker 1: panic attack. Maybe you can save this for related time. Regardless,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk through five of my best evidence
Speaker 1: based tips for managing panic attacks after this shortbreak. Often
Speaker 1: when we are having a panic attack, our first instinct
Speaker 1: is to fight back, because that is our natural reaction
Speaker 1: to fear is to fight back or to avoid to
Speaker 1: distract ourselves. I always find that I immediately as soon
Speaker 1: as I feel that like wave of panic coming on,
Speaker 1: I immediately feel this weird judtery, urge to move about,
Speaker 1: to get up from where I'm sitting, to move to
Speaker 1: a new space, to run around, escape telling myself to
Speaker 1: stop stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, stop
Speaker 1: thinking about it. But when you're telling yourself to stop
Speaker 1: thinking about it, to stop thinking about anything, normally, that
Speaker 1: just puts more of a spotlight on that thing because
Speaker 1: it still remains the subject. Right, stop thinking about this. This,
Speaker 1: whether that's anxiety, whatever it is, is still the main
Speaker 1: attraction of that thought. It just makes us a lot
Speaker 1: more aware of the feeling that we are trying to escape,
Speaker 1: and over time, trying to flee our fear, trying to
Speaker 1: fight back against it, trying to escape it becomes really ineffective.
Speaker 1: Panic attacks are a lot like quicksand the more you struggle,
Speaker 1: the further entrenched and in trouble you become. So you
Speaker 1: have to kind of force yourself to do the opposite
Speaker 1: of what your body is telling you to do, to
Speaker 1: do what is highly counterintuitive in these circumstances and relax
Speaker 1: into it. It is just a feeling, it is just
Speaker 1: a sensation. It's just fear, and fear does not have
Speaker 1: a physical form. It is not going to break through
Speaker 1: your door and grab you. It is not going to
Speaker 1: come into your body and shut your heart down and
Speaker 1: rip your limbs off, like it's simply a messenger for
Speaker 1: something that is going wrong or something that you need
Speaker 1: to address in your environment. I always like to give
Speaker 1: my anxiety thirty seconds to do whatever it wants to do.
Speaker 1: When I'm about to have a panic attack, thirty seconds
Speaker 1: to ruin my life, to scream out loud, to cause
Speaker 1: my heart to stop. But when that's done, I'm going
Speaker 1: to move on. I'm giving my anxiety. I'm giving my
Speaker 1: panic attack the reins. I'm giving it full control. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to hide from it. I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: give it more power than it deserves. I'm saying, you
Speaker 1: can do your worst, you can try your hardest, whatever
Speaker 1: you have, throw it at me. And I often find
Speaker 1: that in those moments, it never lives up to what
Speaker 1: I thought it was going to do. It is like
Speaker 1: a small, little yuppy dog. It has a bark that
Speaker 1: is bigger than its bite because it is just an emotion,
Speaker 1: and emotions cannot hurt you. The other thing I like
Speaker 1: to do is to notice the fear and then visualize
Speaker 1: it moving away visualize the feeling slowly dissolving, whether that's
Speaker 1: being washed away by a tide or the other. One
Speaker 1: I like to think of is I'm holding my anxiety.
Speaker 1: I'm holding this trigger. I'm holding my fear in my hand.
Speaker 1: It's a ball, it's a big baseball, it's a cricket ball.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to throw that ball as far away
Speaker 1: as I can, and then I'm going to walk off,
Speaker 1: and all my fear is left with that object. All
Speaker 1: my fear is no longer mine to hold. It is
Speaker 1: in this tangible thing that is left that's left my body.
Speaker 1: When you notice the feeling and you give it a
Speaker 1: physical form that is not threatening, it's easy to see
Speaker 1: how it's in your control. I also find that focusing
Speaker 1: on those sensations that are very much aligned with a
Speaker 1: panic attack, very indicative of a panic attack, and choosing
Speaker 1: to just address one to begin with, is really helpful
Speaker 1: because it takes it actually lets me focus on one
Speaker 1: thing rather than feeling like there are a million things
Speaker 1: I need to do in order to calm down. When
Speaker 1: I just focus on one, Firstly, once that's under control,
Speaker 1: the others will probably follow. And secondly, it almost distracts
Speaker 1: me from what I'm worrying about because I'm focusing on
Speaker 1: just fixing this one thing. Whether that is you're breathing
Speaker 1: and you need to do a really quick breathing exercise,
Speaker 1: a four in four hold four out, five in five,
Speaker 1: hold five out, whatever it is, whether it is addressing
Speaker 1: that tingling sensation that desired to run that is basically
Speaker 1: just pent up energy coming from those stress hormones and
Speaker 1: from restricted blood flow that is in your body. You
Speaker 1: can find like a somatic and a physical outlet, give
Speaker 1: all of that nervous energy a place to go, whether
Speaker 1: that is going for a run, going boxing, doing twenty
Speaker 1: star jumps right now, ten push ups. I can't do
Speaker 1: ten push ups, but there you go. At least you
Speaker 1: can try it. It just also shows your body that
Speaker 1: like you're like, yeah, okay, you want me to do
Speaker 1: something about this. You're telling me that I'm in danger.
Speaker 1: I'll do something about it. I will move around, I
Speaker 1: would be physical. I will make sure that all of
Speaker 1: those extra hormones and all those stress hormones or neurotransmitters
Speaker 1: that you've got flooding through my body, they are serving
Speaker 1: a purpose. I'm going to do something about this trigger
Speaker 1: and it tricks the brain into calming you down. I
Speaker 1: also like to adopt the five five five rule. There
Speaker 1: are different iterations of this. Sometimes it's the five four
Speaker 1: three to one rule, the four four four rule. But
Speaker 1: I always like to do the breathing acxis of breathing
Speaker 1: for five, hold for five, breathe out for five. Identify
Speaker 1: five things that you can say that are a particular color,
Speaker 1: and five things that you can touch and feel exactly
Speaker 1: how that fabric of that thing, that texture of that
Speaker 1: thing feels on your finger, feels on your body. Focus
Speaker 1: on something that is outside of you rather than the
Speaker 1: chaos and the hurricane of emotions that is within you.
Speaker 1: What this does is move you away from focusing on
Speaker 1: the fear and panic sensation, a feeling that is automatic
Speaker 1: and involuntary, and it gets you to focus on a
Speaker 1: sensation that you can control, something that you can bring
Speaker 1: into your orbit and do something about. It's also why
Speaker 1: things like ice on your wrists or immediately putting something
Speaker 1: sour in your mouth. I always have wart heads with me.
Speaker 1: Is really useful because your brain is like, wait a second,
Speaker 1: what is this weird feeling that is suddenly happening, Like
Speaker 1: we need to focus on that because it's so shocking
Speaker 1: and out of the blue, like that intense cold or
Speaker 1: that intense sour taste. Really like your brain cannot juggle
Speaker 1: too many stimulus or stimuli in the environment, too much
Speaker 1: information at once, or it needs to choose what to
Speaker 1: focus on. It it's going to focus on the thing that
Speaker 1: just feels most immediate, and that might not be your
Speaker 1: panic if there is something else more pressing in your environment,
Speaker 1: like a really intense sensation, that is going to drag
Speaker 1: you away from focusing on your fear. I also find
Speaker 1: that grounding exercises are incredibly useful, particularly ones that allow
Speaker 1: you to feel connected with nature. So going outside, taking
Speaker 1: your shoes off and putting your feet on the dirt,
Speaker 1: putting your feet in the grass, feeling how squishy it feels,
Speaker 1: how kind of dirty it feels, the tingling, the tickling
Speaker 1: sensation of the grass, feeling connected with nature. And we've
Speaker 1: seen study after study that has indicated that this naturally
Speaker 1: calms down our brain. Whether it's because of the wide
Speaker 1: open spaces give us a sense of like a place
Speaker 1: to escape to, whether the fresh air does something to
Speaker 1: bring us back to a state of like homeostasis into
Speaker 1: a feeling a place of calm. One particular study that
Speaker 1: focuses on this says that the reason nature is an
Speaker 1: important tool for integrative health but also for anxiety is
Speaker 1: that grounding and earthing in particular utilizes the electric charge
Speaker 1: from the earth and utilizes our nerve cells on the
Speaker 1: surfaces of our body to bring us into contact with
Speaker 1: the natural material. And this, as a result, stabilizes a
Speaker 1: lot of that stress. It improves blood flow, It generates
Speaker 1: just the greatest sense of calm because we're focusing on
Speaker 1: what these things feel like for us, and it's bringing
Speaker 1: all that blood black back into the nerves that are
Speaker 1: on our extremities, rather than all concentrating on the heart
Speaker 1: and the lungs and the brain that's creating all that panic,
Speaker 1: that hot flush sensation, that tingling. I feel like this
Speaker 1: goes without saying, but if you are someone who is
Speaker 1: having a lot of panic attacks, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're doing drinking caffeine or drinking alcohol excessively. Maybe that
Speaker 1: is all I need to say. But like caffeine is
Speaker 1: a natural stimulant, and we don't often think about this.
Speaker 1: Alcohol as well has an anxious effect. The morning after.
Speaker 1: Alcohol is a depressant. It does slow everything down. It
Speaker 1: might make you feel calm when you're drinking it, but
Speaker 1: the next morning you're going to experience this huge spike
Speaker 1: in hormones and neurotransmitters that want to bring you back
Speaker 1: to that stable level in the moment when you're drinking.
Speaker 1: It slows everything down, It releases these neurotransmitters and these
Speaker 1: hormones that really bring like almost a sense of calm. Really,
Speaker 1: it's just ethanol being processed by the body. The next morning,
Speaker 1: the next day, your body needs to bring back a
Speaker 1: sense of alertness. But because the sense of calm has
Speaker 1: been so intense, it kind of swings too far in
Speaker 1: the opposite direction, creating anxiety, contributing to panic attacks. Now,
Speaker 1: not everything is going to be entirely effective for you
Speaker 1: in managing this. Don't keep forcing habits or practices on
Speaker 1: yourself that don't work, because you're just going to feel
Speaker 1: more frustrated and less in control because you're trying and
Speaker 1: not succeeding. I have a checklist in my phone of
Speaker 1: everything that I know works for me, and there are about,
Speaker 1: I think at this stage, over thirty things that I
Speaker 1: know I can do that are going to calm me down.
Speaker 1: So if the first one doesn't work, all the second
Speaker 1: one probably will. And if that one doesn't work, I've
Speaker 1: got the third fifth, all the way to thirty of
Speaker 1: options for me. And even the understanding and even like
Speaker 1: the fact that I know I have that list makes
Speaker 1: me feel so much better because I know that I
Speaker 1: have resources and options available that I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be stuck in that panicked moment because I've done that before.
Speaker 1: The biggest ones for me are meditations. I love going
Speaker 1: through my photo albums as a distraction, cleaning out all
Speaker 1: my photos, and I have my affirmations, my little reminders
Speaker 1: that I have survived this before, I will survive this now.
Speaker 1: I am safe. I'm going to hell the good thoughts,
Speaker 1: exhale the bad ones, and I'm just gonna sit with
Speaker 1: that feeling for a little bit and give it, give
Speaker 1: it a chance to hurt me, And after a while
Speaker 1: I realized that it won't. It won't hurt me. The
Speaker 1: final thing that really helps me, that I return to
Speaker 1: again and again in my own life are these short
Speaker 1: five minute visualization exercises that I can put on listen
Speaker 1: to and I find it really calms me down. I
Speaker 1: even imagine them when I don't have immediate access to
Speaker 1: that audio, like on a plane or somewhere without Wi
Speaker 1: Fi or an internet. So I want you to pause
Speaker 1: with me for a second, and we're gonna go through
Speaker 1: one together right now. I know that right now it
Speaker 1: feels like your panic is taking over. That's okay. Remember
Speaker 1: it is just a feeling, no different to feeling joyful
Speaker 1: or frustrated, or happy or angry. These emotions exist only
Speaker 1: within you, and your panic is not going to hurt you.
Speaker 1: It is not physical. It has come from you, and
Speaker 1: therefore you can control it. I am here with you
Speaker 1: now in this moment, and you and I like partners.
Speaker 1: I'm going to watch out for you whilst you take
Speaker 1: some time to realign all of your senses, make sense
Speaker 1: of this feeling, and in only a few minutes you're
Speaker 1: going to be able to return to whatever it is
Speaker 1: you're just doing. Don't worry about what's going on around you.
Speaker 1: I can do that for you. All I need you
Speaker 1: to focus on right now is your body and what
Speaker 1: you're feeling. I want you to focus on your breathing
Speaker 1: with me. We're going to breathe in for five seconds.
Speaker 1: Now five four three two one. Now hold for five
Speaker 1: four three two one and breathe out for five seconds.
Speaker 1: Good job. I knew that wouldn't be too hard. I
Speaker 1: want you to pause for a second and repeat that
Speaker 1: three more times. I'm sure you're feeling better now. I
Speaker 1: can see that. Good job. I'm proud of you. Now,
Speaker 1: I want you to focus on your heartbeat for a
Speaker 1: few seconds and you take a few more deep breaths.
Speaker 1: Just notice how it begins to slow down. You're doing
Speaker 1: that because you're in control. Your anxiety doesn't have as
Speaker 1: much control as it would like. You are the one
Speaker 1: in charge. You're a bit like a scientist in this moment.
Speaker 1: I want you to think of this panic you're feeling
Speaker 1: as an interesting specimen you want to understand better. It's
Speaker 1: sitting right in front of you behind a nice reinforced
Speaker 1: pane of glass. It can't hurt you, it can't touch you,
Speaker 1: but you can observe it and notice what it's responding to.
Speaker 1: As you relax, it will too. And if you can't,
Speaker 1: that is okay. You can always walk out of the
Speaker 1: room and leave your anxiety behind. It is not going
Speaker 1: to escape, it's not going to hurt you because you
Speaker 1: are in control. You have the key and you alone.
Speaker 1: To test this. I want you to give your anxiety
Speaker 1: thirty seconds to break free, thirty seconds to try and escape,
Speaker 1: to take over, to do its worst. You're being really
Speaker 1: generous with your anxiety. You don't have to do this
Speaker 1: for it, but you are deciding to be kind today.
Speaker 1: You're going to look at your anxiety right now and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's your turn. Do whatever you would like, just draw
Speaker 1: the room, jump around, whatever you want to do. But
Speaker 1: after thirty seconds, you have had your chance, and now
Speaker 1: it's my turn. So let's count down together, okay. Thirty
Speaker 1: twenty nine, twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty six, twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty four. You might feel like your anxiety is fighting
Speaker 1: very hard right now to get out of that room,
Speaker 1: but it's still trapped behind that glass while you're sitting
Speaker 1: calmly in that nice, comfortable chair, watching each of its moves,
Speaker 1: not needing to react. Twenty three, twenty two, twenty one,
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen eighteen. Your anxiety is getting tired now. You
Speaker 1: can see it losing its steam, knows it's not going
Speaker 1: to win this time or the next. It's slowly losing
Speaker 1: its energy seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven ten.
Speaker 1: Your anxiety has run out of energy. It's not screaming
Speaker 1: or yelling anymore. It is slowing down. Its eyes are
Speaker 1: closing nine eight seven six five. There's your anxiety sitting
Speaker 1: calmly in the corner. Four three two one. Now it's
Speaker 1: your time. Focus on your breath again for me. Breathe
Speaker 1: in again for five four three two one. Now we're
Speaker 1: going to hold and finally breathe out with me five
Speaker 1: four three two one. If you need to, you can
Speaker 1: do that a few more times. It's always going to
Speaker 1: be up to you. As you continue to breathe deeply.
Speaker 1: I want to remind you that you are safe and
Speaker 1: supported in this moment. Panic attacks can be overwhelming, but
Speaker 1: you have the strength within you to overcome them, like
Speaker 1: you just did. Remember to be gentle with yourself and
Speaker 1: to acknowledge those feelings. You are so capable and brave
Speaker 1: and strong, and I am so proud of you. I
Speaker 1: want you to talk to your panic. Now, talk to
Speaker 1: your anxiety. You can see really that it's just this
Speaker 1: weak little creature sitting in the corner of the room.
Speaker 1: You feel slightly sorry for it, and you're going to
Speaker 1: speak to it with compassion. I know you're scared, anxiety,
Speaker 1: and that's okay. I'm going to be gentle with you.
Speaker 1: You can be at peace here. Nothing is wrong. We
Speaker 1: are alive, we are breathing, we are loved, and you
Speaker 1: are welcome here. I know that you have been misunderstood
Speaker 1: in the past. I know I've been scared of you,
Speaker 1: but it can see that under that scary exterior, you
Speaker 1: are just an emotion trying to be seen. I see you,
Speaker 1: I acknowledge you. You can stay here for a while,
Speaker 1: but in exchange, you don't get to be in control.
Speaker 1: I'm in control, So feel free to get comfort, to rest,
Speaker 1: let me know. If you need anything, we can talk again,
Speaker 1: but for now, I'm going to leave this room and
Speaker 1: get on with my day. I'm going to leave in
Speaker 1: three two one. Goodbye, anxiety. Are you feeling better? I
Speaker 1: really hope so, And if not, please feel free to
Speaker 1: listen again. When we visualize our anxiety is something that
Speaker 1: is harmless, something that we can see, we can hold,
Speaker 1: that we can approach. We release a lot of that
Speaker 1: additional additional fear we have around what it can do.
Speaker 1: To us the harm it can cause, because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, something that we forget is that
Speaker 1: it is just another emotion, and you are the house,
Speaker 1: the home of all of these emotions. They are you.
Speaker 1: You have the final say. I really hope that this
Speaker 1: episode helped you, just giving you more information about what
Speaker 1: panic attacks actually are, guiding you through what to do
Speaker 1: about some of my tactics, and my tips, providing you
Speaker 1: with that psycho education. I hope you're just feeling better.
Speaker 1: I hope that if you need to return to this
Speaker 1: episode that you do, it will always be here. Feel
Speaker 1: free to come back. I will still be here eternally
Speaker 1: in this little voice in this little episode clip. But
Speaker 1: if there is someone you know who might need to
Speaker 1: hear this, please feel free to share it with them.
Speaker 1: As always, if you enjoyed this episode, please feel free
Speaker 1: to leave a five star review wherever you're listening right now.
Speaker 1: If you liked this episode, I know it's a bit
Speaker 1: different to what I usually do, Please let me know
Speaker 1: if it was of any help. If you would like
Speaker 1: me to do more episodes like this, you can DM
Speaker 1: me over on Instagram at that psychology podcast. I would
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. I'm sending you love, I'm
Speaker 1: sending you strength, I'm proud of you. Good job you
Speaker 1: got through it, and we will be back next week
Speaker 1: with another episode.