Dealing with panic attacks

I have a friend who is extremely shy and agoraphobic. He gets panic attacks when leaving the house sometimes. I've offered to help him by taking him out and such, but I wouldn't know what to do if he had an attack. What do you do?

Reply 1

Gem

14

Reassurance is the best thing. Tell him he's not going to die, as sometimes thats how it feels, rub his back, talk to him about anything to take his mind off it, carry a paper bag for him to breathe into if needs be. The worst that can happen is he faints in which case the recovery position or raise his legs.

Start by taking him out to places where he can still see his house, sit in the back garden or something, let him get used to feeling a bit anxious then when he feels he's dealing with it take him a bit further away. Once you get him out to bigger places, make sure you show him where the exits are, just in case. Simply knowing how to 'escape' could have a big effect, he'll know where do go in case he panics but probably won't panic as he knows the exacpe routes.

I'm not sure if thats any help, I'm tired so it might make not make much sense :redface:

Reply 2

Freckles

12

I get panic attacks sometimes. There's not much other people can do to help when it happens, but what I do is take deep, slow breaths, close my eyes and try to think of something else. It really helps when people know what's going on. I usually say stuff like "I'll be okay in a second" or something and just tell them about it. The worst part is when you have to try and hide it and act normal. That just makes it worse. Usually breathing and lying down help. And fresh air.

Reply 3

LoveMusic

1

My friends are fabulous with helping me.

They talk to me constantly to take my mind off it, they know all my triggers, know exactly how to re-assure me and just get me to start breathing correctly.

Its just knowing their triggers and being there for comfort.

Reply 4

Anonymous #2

I am agrophobic too. It lovely that you have agreed to help him and im sure he will really appreciate your help. If he does start to panic just calmly re-assure him that everythings going to be fine and that no harm can come to him. Encourage hime to breathe slowly, sometimes breathing just through the nose help to regulate your breathing and stop you hyperventilating.

Reply 5

LoveMusic

1

I think breathing is so important to me for calming down.

And i constantly ask questions, to make sure everything is covered

Reply 6

puppy

Taking people places then showing them the escape routes is not a good way to get over panic attacks and anxiety disorders. You can easily build up more and more reassurances like that until you spend your life addicted to these little crutches you've set up for yourself. Some things aren't escapable and people with anxiety need to deal with those things as well.

You do not get over panic by knowing the escape routes, you get over it by not wanting to escape and not always desperately searching for a way out of a situation.

Essentially it comes down to changing your pattern of behaviour by teaching yourself that when you panic, nothing bad will ultimately happen to you. I'm afraid the only way to do this is to expose yourself to situations that terrify you and gradually learning to deal with it by making it less and less easy for you to escape, for example:

Going somewhere with someone who doesn't know about your anxiety so you can't ask them to distract you or calm you down.

Going to a place where it's difficult to get back from quickly- maybe somewhere further away than you'd normally go.

You need to recognise what escalates your panic and what reduces it. People have already mentioned breathing exercises which are very helpful. You should practise these even when you're not nervous to learn what it feels like to be calm and how to calm yourself through breathing so that you can apply to situations in which you panic.

Recognising what your body does when you panic is also essential. When people get anxious they start analysing their bodily functions which escalates the problem. Being able to stop thoughts such as 'I'm going to faint', 'I'm going to embarass myself', 'I'm going to die' is very important in stopping yourself panicking. The better you get at noticing these destructive thought processes, stopping them, and consequently calming yourself down, the easier you'll be able to reduce anxiety when you're out places. Once your confidence to do this increases then you become less and less worried about going out in the first place because you know you will be able to deal with it.

This could just be a bit of a phase (a lot of teenagers suffer from spells of anixety) however anxiety disorders are very hard to get over and often never completely go away. This is why it's so important to learn to cope with it before it starts to adversely affect your life.

Either that or take truck loads of valium, they're both fine choices.

PS I can't be bothered to proof read that, so apologies.

Dealing with panic attacks

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