Overcoming Anxiety Attack Symptoms

When it comes to coping with anxiety and panic attacks I can’t stress enough the importance of knowing your body’s feelings. Prior to experiencing anxiety and panic attacks this is important, because if you are aware of an uncomfortable tension in your muscles there’s lots you can do to start overcoming anxiety, before it has time to contribute to an escalation up the panic attack spiral.

Hopefully, you will already know some relaxation techniques for inclusion in your prevention kit for overcoming anxiety, perhaps through yoga classes or meditation techniques. There are also commercially available tapes which talk you through relaxation exercises which can certainly help for coping with anxiety and panic attacks. They may be worth investigating. And when you have learned the techniques, you can call them into play to help you control muscle tension which can easily build up throughout the day, or in stressful situations.

As you are probably aware, your mind’s thoughts are also an important factor in the precipitation of anxiety and panic attacks. It is worth stressing again that any thoughts you have are a) yours and yours alone, to do with as you will, and b) they are incredibly potent. To emphasize this point – coping with anxiety and panic attacks is very much a thought is a thing. It is important for you to realize that the thoughts you may have, which keep you on a knife’s edge of awareness and which help precipitate each attack, are yours. They do not happen of their own accord, although that is how we tend to think of them, as though they are separate entities over which we have no control. We do have control. You can make them do what you wish. Thoughts are your own internal voice, and you can make it say what you want in the same way you make your audible voice say either ‘Good morning!’ or ‘What a beautiful day!’

Realizing this power you have over them gives you another immensely valuable tool for you to wield against anxiety attacks. I cannot stress enough the positive effect of affirmations which can be used throughout the day, but the mind can also be used to channel supportive thoughts during, or just prior to, an attack.

When you first start to feel uncomfortable is the time when you may be tempted into allowing your thoughts to say ‘This is the start of a panic attack. Here we go’, or some such thing. Do realize that those statements are your cue. It’s like pressing the button on a gaming machine. As soon as you do, the tumble and jumble of sensations start and go wheeling out of control (or so it seems). The best strategy for coping with anxiety and panic attacks is to avoid pressing the button in the first place and you can save yourself a lot of bother. Overcoming anxiety is achieved by having an alternative set of thoughts to replace the unhelpful ones which only serve to cue you into each attack.