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How to Stop a Panic Attack — Transcript

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0:00hi i'm mark terrell of uncommon
0:02knowledge and hypnosis downloads.com and
0:05welcome to seven steps to
0:06stop a panic attack tried and tested
0:09ways
0:10to stop panic attacks spoiling your life
0:15now this is a description of a client of
0:17mine she sat
0:18in her car and sobbed this is what she
0:21told me
0:21the panic had passed but she was
0:23exhausted and terrified
0:25it would start up again that's the thing
0:28about panic attacks
0:29they come and go quickly usually
0:31building to their peak within 10 minutes
0:34but while they last they're intense and
0:36exhausting
0:38and this client said one moment i was
0:41driving along thinking about work
0:43the next i felt like i was going to die
0:46i
0:46got really hot i started breathing hard
0:50i began to sweat i became tearful
0:53and my pounding heart felt like i was
0:55going to
0:57burst she trembled as she spoke to me
1:00even recalling
1:01the panic attack made her feel tearful
1:04almost as if she was reliving it that
1:07had been
1:08kathy's i'll call her kathy that had
1:12been her first panic attack
1:13a few months before she came to see me
1:15and since then she'd had many
1:17more and she said you know i used to be
1:20bubbly and fun-loving and confident
1:22now i don't want to go out in case i
1:24panic it's really ruining my life
1:27but when you overcome panic attacks you
1:30get your life back
1:32those horrible feelings either go
1:34completely
1:35or become easily controllable so you
1:39take control of yourself in that way you
1:41become the boss
1:42of the panic not the other way around
1:45but kathy really didn't believe her
1:46panic attacks
1:47would ever stop because they felt so
1:51powerful so all-encompassing she needed
1:55reassurance fast so what causes
1:59panic attacks kathy was at a loss and
2:03she said to me you know why me
2:04why if i got these panic attacks why did
2:07i have to start having them
2:09panic attacks often start during times
2:12of higher than normal stress
2:15it could be a buildup of many things the
2:18high
2:19background stress can over spill
2:22into panic okay so you're carrying too
2:25much stress
2:26trip over slightly and the panic easily
2:29overflows kathy's panic attack started
2:32over
2:33a career change her mother was ill and
2:35she was having problems in her
2:37relationship so
2:38she was carrying around a big uh
2:41burden of stress one little trip and all
2:44that
2:45stress spilled over she'd been driving
2:48along
2:49fretting about her new job and suddenly
2:51all that stress
2:52bubbled over and she panicked
2:56and she said i actually felt more
2:58terrified than i'd ever
2:59felt in my life but i didn't know what i
3:02was terrified of
3:04but let's look at the term panic attack
3:06because i reckon those are very
3:08unhelpful
3:09words it's a very unhelpful metaphor for
3:12people who are anxious
3:14panic attacks is really a cruel label
3:18panic attack is actually a misnomer i
3:21told her
3:22it's a wrong metaphor since nothing is
3:25attacked
3:26a house alarm doesn't attack the house
3:28it's protecting
3:29but it can sound when it doesn't need to
3:31sound and that's all that's happening
3:33here
3:34stopping panic attacks isn't about
3:37getting rid of
3:38all panic it's about aligning it so it
3:41only happens
3:42when it really needs to happen when your
3:44body really needs to exercise
3:46hard in the face of threat
3:49the scary changes fast breathing
3:52sweating
3:52raised heartbeats shaking would all feel
3:55perfectly natural
3:57if you were running in the gym really a
4:00panic attack
4:00is the body behaving as if it's
4:03exercising
4:04when it's not exercising it's an
4:07inappropriate exercise response
4:09which is a better description than the
4:12metaphor of
4:13a panic attack which is i think a
4:15horrible
4:16phrase all the weird symptoms
4:20are completely normal in the right
4:22circumstances
4:24fast breathing raised pulse your body
4:27produces these responses to help you
4:29exercise
4:30to help you run away from a lion or
4:32fight the lion it only
4:34feels weird if you're not exercising
4:36when these
4:37adaptions happen kathy said that when
4:40she panicked she got sweaty palms
4:42and this in itself is adaptive when the
4:45sweat dries you'll have better grip
4:47in your hands to climb trees away from
4:50predators
4:51or to hold weapons panic often produces
4:53the
4:54feeling of the need to vomit or defecate
4:57and the reason for that is that if you
4:59were covered
5:00in those substances that would put off a
5:04potential predator from eating you
5:06so these are all in very extreme
5:08circumstances
5:09useful reactions but if they happen when
5:11we're driving or sitting in a restaurant
5:13or
5:14taking their kids to school or at a
5:16meeting at work then of course
5:18they feel weird kathy
5:21felt reassured that she wasn't crazy
5:24that in their place
5:25panic attacks are normal even useful we
5:28need to have a very instant exercise
5:30response
5:33very occasionally in life after looking
5:35at some of the ways she could stop
5:36panicking about panic attacks
5:39we looked at what we could do to
5:40actually
5:42stop them let the panic attack
5:45know whose boss
5:48number one stopping panic attacks or
5:51so-called panic attacks is all about
5:54taking back control of your mind and
5:55body
5:56to help beat panic attacks i want you to
5:59think about them in a very
6:00specific way i told kathy
6:04panic is powerful but stupid
6:08it's it's uh all muscle and no brains
6:11we're all born with the capacity to
6:13panic
6:13but panic is blind that means it doesn't
6:16know
6:16what to fear so it takes its lead from
6:19you
6:20if you avoid or run from something say
6:23the
6:24library in which the panic attack
6:25happens then your
6:27panic response will tag that place as
6:30threatening
6:31if the panic gets just one hint though
6:34that a situation is really not dangerous
6:37it will
6:38cool back its big investment of energy
6:41breathing will slow down again blood
6:43pressure will return to normal
6:46the sweat response will calm down
6:48tingling in the arm that you might have
6:50had
6:50from the over breathing will stop and
6:52clear thought
6:54will return like firefighters returning
6:56to their depot
6:58after discovering that it was a false
7:00alarm all along okay
7:02don't want to invest all those resources
7:04when there's nothing actually happening
7:06so you can let your panic know it's not
7:08needed by practicing the next tip
7:12tip number two stop running to stop
7:15panic attacks if you panic in a
7:18supermarket for example and flee the
7:21scene
7:22then your panic response will conclude
7:24that the supermarket
7:26holds life-threatening horrors
7:29because you ran away from it so surely
7:32it must
7:32genuinely be threatening
7:35it will try to be more helpful to you
7:38by spreading the fear to perhaps all
7:40supermarkets or even all situations
7:43that vaguely remind you of supermarkets
7:45that have lots of people in them
7:47just a bit light supermarkets if you
7:50panic
7:51but stay in the situation however until
7:53you calm down again
7:55your panic response will learn that it's
7:57not the situation causing the panic
8:00so that might feel uncomfortable but
8:01just to stay in the situation
8:04until the panic subsides in nature we
8:06avoid what's dangerous and the more you
8:08avoid something the bigger the fear
8:10builds the more normal you act the more
8:13panic gets the message
8:15it's not needed actually nothing's
8:16happened here nothing's occurred
8:18i'm beginning to suspect this isn't
8:20really a life-threatening
8:22situation at all is what your
8:24unconscious mind will do
8:25by imagining being in a situation in
8:27which you fear you might panic
8:29whilst you're relaxed you teach your
8:31mind and body to feel relaxed
8:33about being in the situation for real
8:36the next tip shows you how to control
8:38breathing often the first physical
8:42change
8:43before a panic attack starts
8:46so research found that people's
8:48breathing altered about half an hour
8:50before they actually had
8:51a panic attack and of course they
8:53weren't aware of that alteration
8:55so tip number three a breath of fresh
8:58air
8:58when we panic we breathe quickly and
9:02high in the chest this is because your
9:04body wrongly assumes it needs to
9:06exercise hard
9:07sprint or fight so breathe as if you
9:11were
9:11running hard okay which feels really
9:13weird if you're not running
9:15when we breathe in this way when we're
9:18not exercising we
9:19call it hyperventilation
9:22hyperventilation is not serious but it
9:24feels dramatic
9:26okay like the uh the fast spin on a
9:29washing machine that looks really
9:30dramatic and you wonder what's going on
9:32but actually it's just part of a
9:33normal cycle of what the machine does so
9:36symptoms of hyperventilation or
9:38characteristics of it include
9:39lightheadedness giddiness shortness of
9:42breath
9:42heart palpitations and feelings of
9:45weakness and sometimes a bit of tingling
9:46as well
9:48and kathy said yes you know i feel like
9:50i can't breathe in these times
9:52it may feel as if you haven't got enough
9:54air but the
9:55feeling actually occurs because you're
9:57taking in too much air
9:59okay this is a something uh unexpected
10:03perhaps
10:04so to switch off hyperventilation you
10:06can
10:08hold your breath okay just for a few
10:11seconds
10:12so really it sounds um kind of weird
10:15but seriously holding the breath for as
10:17long as you comfortably can
10:19will prevent the dissipation of carbon
10:21dioxide
10:22the feeling of not having enough air
10:24isn't caused by not breathing
10:26in enough oxygen but by breathing out
10:28too much oxygen when you breathe out
10:30so holding the in-breath prevents you
10:33breathing out too much
10:35air okay a period of 10 to 15 seconds
10:38repeated a few times is sufficient
10:40to reset your breathing and stop the
10:42hyperventilation in its tracks
10:44then once you've done that you can do
10:47deep diaphragmatic breathing
10:49slow down deep breathing right down to
10:52the bottom of the lungs
10:53okay and then breathing should be
10:57through the nose with the out breath
10:59taking longer
11:00than the in-breath okay so you can quick
11:04count in your mind to seven
11:06as you breathe in one two three four
11:08five six seven
11:09and quick count to 11 as you breathe out
11:12one two three four five
11:13six seven eight nine ten eleven that's
11:15called seven eleven breathing
11:17practice this every day to get very good
11:20at relaxed breathing
11:21because it's impossible to breathe like
11:24this and panic at the same time
11:26it's like putting the handbrake on of a
11:29car
11:29and revving the engine the car ain't
11:31going anywhere
11:33number four stop panic attacks by acting
11:36normally act normal so
11:40kathy if you do have another panic
11:41attack i said i want you to make a
11:43conscious effort to carry on as if
11:45nothing out of the ordinary is happening
11:47call the panic's bluff so pretty soon
11:50the panic will get
11:51bored as it were realize it's not
11:53actually needed
11:55and drift away there's nothing to see
11:56here nothing's going on
11:58i'm just going to ignore that until it
11:59stops you know you wouldn't carry on
12:02talking if a hungry lion was about to
12:04pounce on you
12:05so keep talking keep acting as if
12:08nothing
12:08untoward is happening because nothing
12:11underwater
12:12is happening if i'm mugged and panic i'm
12:15not having a panic attack i'm just
12:16responding appropriately
12:17okay you may not feel like acting normal
12:21but remember your panic is pretty dumb
12:24even if you have a phd in
12:25astrophysics and it's looking for cues
12:28from you
12:29as to whether it's needed or not because
12:32really panic is your servant
12:35with that in mind on to the next tip so
12:38tip number five
12:39keep thinking keep
12:42thinking or doing something that is
12:44methodical
12:46during times when panic is really
12:48required a hungry
12:50lion for example coming right at you the
12:53thinking part of your brain becomes much
12:55less active and this happens because we
12:58need to become purely physical to run or
13:01to fight
13:02okay your thinking needs to become all
13:05or nothing
13:06but if you purposefully start counting
13:09backwards from
13:10100 in jumps of three so 197
13:1594 91 etc
13:18you force your thinking brain to work
13:21which actually dilutes
13:22the panic response so the more you think
13:25the less you
13:26panic you've probably experienced
13:28panicking and not being able to think
13:30you can barely remember your own name
13:32okay because
13:33fight or flight wants you just to be
13:35physical so making yourself do a
13:37crossword or read the paper
13:38even grading your own anxiety from one
13:40to ten
13:42all force your thinking brain to work
13:45which again
13:45sends the message this is not a real
13:48emergency so butt
13:49out so kathy actually did this she
13:53thought she might panic again when
13:55driving so she started to count
13:57backwards and very soon
13:59found that she felt normal again okay
14:01she sort of
14:03short-circuited the unnecessary exercise
14:06response that she certainly didn't need
14:08when sitting in a car
14:09tip number six use the aware technique i
14:12gave kathy a little card we call the
14:14aware
14:15card and you can make one for yourself
14:17and she was to carry it around with her
14:20at all times and if she started to feel
14:21panicky to take it out
14:23read it and follow the simple
14:25instructions so
14:26a on the acronym aware stands for accept
14:30the anxiety
14:31don't try to fight it w
14:35stands for watch the anxiety imagine
14:38it's outside of you and you're just
14:40observing it okay like a lily pad
14:43drifting past on the surface of a river
14:47the next day stands for act normal carry
14:50on as if nothing is happening
14:51panic will soon get bored and realize
14:53there's not a real emergency
14:55r stands for repeat the above steps
14:58until you start to relax again
15:00and e stands for expect the best
15:03it will pass quicker and quicker the
15:06more times you do this
15:08so write these steps down on a card and
15:11if you ever feel you might panic
15:13unnecessarily take them out follow them
15:16and you'll soon calm down again
15:20now the last tip is perhaps the most
15:23powerful
15:25seven prepare not to panic
15:29so kathy said you know um this is all
15:32good advice
15:33and i do feel a bit better but in the
15:36heat of the moment i'll i'll know i'll
15:37forget all of this
15:39so this is why i worked hypnotically
15:41with kathy
15:43sure she could use all the uh stuff that
15:46i've talked about here and she did
15:48but we wanted her mind and body to
15:50naturally and
15:51automatically feel calm without her
15:54having to try too hard to feel calm in
15:56these situations
15:57mental rehearsal whilst very relaxed
16:00helps automatically
16:02rejig your responses so that calm
16:05naturally starts to replace panic
16:08you just start to find you naturally
16:11feel more relaxed
16:12and that can be a pleasant surprise the
16:14best way to do this is to relax
16:16deeply with your eyes closed imagine
16:19being in a situation in which you
16:21fear you might panic or have panic
16:23before and just see yourself controlling
16:26it
16:26even enjoying the situation and
16:29forgetting to think about panic
16:31and this is providing a blueprint a lead
16:33for your unconscious mind
16:35panic is fueled by misuse of the
16:37imagination so learn to use your
16:39imagination
16:40productively your panic attacks can be
16:43stopped in their tracks
16:45in fact they want to be stopped they're
16:47looking for an excuse your unconscious
16:49mind
16:49is looking for excuse not to waste
16:51resources your body doesn't want to
16:53waste needless energy
16:55so use these seven tips and techniques
16:58and before long
16:59you'll have your first experience of
17:01stopping a panic attack
17:02before it even gets started it might
17:05begin
17:06to happen and then you stop it and
17:08that's a very that's a great feeling of
17:10power
17:10and autonomy and a confidence boost
17:13and that will be a very good feeling
17:16indeed
17:16for kathy panic attacks were a phase in
17:19her life
17:20a phase that has now stopped
17:24so i hope you found that useful and if
17:26you did please hit
17:27like and subscribe and if you want to
17:29hear when my next video is published
17:31hit the notification bell below
17:34i'm mark terrell of uncommon knowledge
17:36and hypnosis downloads.com and if you'd
17:38like to try some of my personal
17:39development products
17:41head over to hypnosisdownloads.com
17:44and take a look around and thanks for
17:51[Music]
17:56watching

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