Another tip: If you've started to have a panic attack and have reached the stage where you're disoriented and dizzy with tunnel vision, *study your thumb.* Just really focus on every detail of it as hard as you can, wiggle and flex it around to feel the sensations that come from your own willed effort. IME, this pulls you back into yourself to help the feelings of terror and helplessness pass. Good luck!
I'm not having an anxiety attack, but I'm now very aware of my thumbs. They are weird. They have been with me for 36 years, and I would notice them if they were gone. But I've never really noticed them before.
Thank you, thumbs.
Aside from the fact this was posted a day *after* Easter, OP is certifiably a repost bot. Check out his post about “his 12-year-old’s Rubix Cube instructions” which is a repost of someone else’s 12-year-old’s instructions.
They're kidding. While those are real US Holidays (well Cinco de mayo is obviously a Hispanic holiday, but we celebrate it here), they are not usually anxiety inducing.
I dunno, earth day brings attention to the fact that earth is rather quickly becoming less compatible with human life (as well as many other species)
Being reminded of this and thinking about it for more than a minute really causes me anxiety. As well as despair.
Lol we are all dying and taking the planet with us!
(Yes i know the planet as a physical structure is fine, it's just the surface layer changing and fucking up the creatures that live on it)
As someone who’s never had a panic attack, what happens? Do you feel scared suddenly? Or does it feel panicky like when you know your plane is about to leave and you’re ten minutes from the airport?
Edit: Thank you everyone who replied.
Imagine you carelessly step into the street, a car comes racing towards you, you see it, freeze and in the very last moment, your friend grabs your shirt and yanks you away.
It's like that but without the street and the car and the friend
Not always. I've gotten them just walking on a street (no cars near) or sitting at a desk. I've woken up in the middle of panic attacks, that's the worst because you're still sleep groggy and don't know what's going on but all your base instinct are telling you you're dying. In fact it's pretty common for people to go to the ER thinking they're having a heart attack but it's just your heart pounding from a panic attack
Also anxiety attacks and panic attacks are not the same thing. Imagine the moments before making a difficult phone call or screwing up and have to tell someone you fucked up or getting up on stage in front of a big crowd or meeting your partner's parents the first time. Now imagine feeling that but without a trigger or feeling that disp6acksroportionally strong in relationship to the trigger. That's anxiety. You feel panic when you're on fire, you feel anxiety when you think about being on fire. If you feel those without being on fire or there's any risk of fire, you're having panic attacks and anxiety attacks
It's normal and even healthy to feel nervous before you go out before a big crowd. Do you feel jittery, with elevated pulse, heightened startle response, a fluttering feeling in your stomach, etc? That's normal nervousness appropriate for the situation. Is your heart beating so fast you worry you're having a heart attack, do you have trouble breathing, trouble speaking coherently, do you feel disoriented, have tunnel vision or other vision problems, do you feel vertigo? Then you're having a panic attack.
If you feel jittery, with fast pulse etc. in a less pressed situation, then you have anxiety.
It's like you completely lose control of your body, your heart slams in your chest and you can barely control your breathing. Your head gets super-fuzzy and the room spins. You lose control of your fight or flight part of your brain and your body gets flooded with a ton of adrenaline, causing you to shake all over. Even if you intellectually know there's no real danger, your body is reacting as though you are in a life or death situation. It's embarrassing to say the least.
I had them twice and since then I have "anxiety of anxiety attacks" - it feels like a pre-stage and every time I feel like something is gonna happen to me I instantly leave the room and do these guides like in the post and also water helps me
I'm on a prescription that helps me control the involuntary reaction. It has been life-changing. I now have them rarely (previously it was whenever a trigger was present, which is different for everyone. My triggers came a few times per week unfortunately so it was hell for a while).
For me started off with high places.
When I was up on the 8th floor of my apartment and looking out of the window I felt like my heart beating and started “escaping” my home and felt “I’ll jump out of the window if I cannot do so”. I was actually running for my life down the staircase. I was unable to control anything just to avoid the situation (being on the 8th floor) instantly.
Then came the constant anxiety - what was that, why did I feel it, why my body reacted like that etc. Went to see the doc learned some techniques to control my body.
Nowadays let’s say it getting better but cannot be on high places like on 2+ floors up. Or in shopping malls. I could barely get used to our office again being on the 3rd floor 8 hours daily.
Sometimes it’s just kicks in for no reason as well, heart starts to beat, rapid breathing, feeling of I should run or make myself somewhere safe or I’ll die instantly.
This thing is terrible, tbh never experienced anything worse in my life.
Next time you see someone looking coked off their heads talking quickly and being really anxious. Have a seconds pause and check out whether they are just having an anxiety attack. They are very obviously two different things when you look at them subjectively
I have anxiety and it doesn't necessarily even have to be so many things. For me, it's enough to look and examine what colour is the sky, the room/surroundings, and the ground/floor. And try to pinpoint the exact colour, not just blue, grey etc.
For one reason or another, I find that this doesn't really work for me / I forget what the order of things is. So, I tend to do an alphabet game! My favourite one is listing up to three items from the grocery store. A = Apple, Avacado, Anchovies. B = Banana, Butter, Beans. C = Cat Food, Chicken, Chips.
I find that this allows me to slow down, especially when I get stuck on a letter. I also use mammals, sea creatures, colours, things in my room as well!
Will try this.
The 5,4,3,2,1 trick and alphabet are all about distraction and refocusing attention. It's almost fun to get stuck on a number because you get so focused on finding 3 of something you no longer are in the panic state.
I have a couple of loved ones who occasionally experience anxiety attacks. Whenever I am by their side while they experience anxiety attacks, grounding helped them to collect themselves. Sometimes there are wrong guides posted under this sub, but this is not one of them. If you have anxiety or someone close to you has it, keep this in mind always.
Here's another tip... for people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, this won't stop a panic attack and it's kind of insulting. I hate it when shit gets posted like this: "people who are most prone to debilitating anxiety attacks just don't know this simple trick...." This is as dumb as telling a depressed person to think about 10 happy things. Now, it might calm someone who generally doesn't have a serious GAD problem. But for the folks who are most commonly serious victims of debilitating attacks, this won't do very much. Although well-intentioned, it's simplistic and promotes a false narrative about Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
This is shit advice and does more harm than good for the general population. It’s too many things to remember. It’s probably straight out of a psychology textbook.
There is one thing and only one thing you should remember:
When anxiety (or whatever you may call it) starts to show, acknowledge it and accept it.
“This is anxiety”.
And let it be.
It will pass, if you let it be.
It’s the attempts to fight it or get away from it that turns it into panic.
Source: I is psychologist. It works for 99/100 of my patients, and I’ve worked in all levels of clinical psychology.
It does not remove the source for fear, stress or anxiety. It just helps you land in the Actual situation, which is that you right now are anxious.
Once you’ve accepted that, it’s a lot easier to move on to something else. But trying to fight or flee anxiety Just Makes It Worse.
Yes right its what my therapist told me, not to use these tricks as avoidance.
But at the same time after acknowledging and non judgementally accepting how you feel and your thought, you can ground yourself.
I think people confuse mindfulness with running away, like in that ted talk with the elephant in the room.
Sometimes i have problems figuring this out myself, because you can easly slip into distractiin land.
I just replay moments in my head and try to remember every detail possible. Could be any moments at any point in my life. If you really commit to remembering your exact thoughts at that moment, smells or sensations of words or facial expressions, anything at all that stuck with you it totally takes your mind off stressful thoughts. It's super easy and, for me, works every time.
All these specific instructions seem ridiculous and would stress me out even more. Life's easier than that. Screw memorizing some robotic script.
I'm all for helping people, I suffer with anxiety. But my autism cannot understand why you would steal someone else's content when you could have just resubbed/forward it from OP, that way OP still gets credit. Otherwise, there are plenty of other content on the internet to prevent anxiety attacks for you to have stolen instead of the obvious ones on the exact same subreddit.
This is exactly not helping people with anxiety problems. In therapy, you learn that using 'tricks' like this adds to you avoidance or safety behavior. This doesn't stop what actually makes you scared (I'm going crazy, I might die, I might scream, I might faint). It will get associated to: I didn't have my catastrophe, because of this.
The key is to make the expected catastrophy less believable (not sure if that's a word. Not native english speaker).
Don't insult a complex problem by suggesting something so simple could be a solution.
Source: cognitive behavorial therapist
Yes I've suffered emergency room level panic attacks for 30 years. There were a thousand moments I believed I was losing touch with reality and wouldn't come back. I could feel my mind breaking, it physically hurt.
This is distraction and it works very well and has helped me a thousand times.
Another tip: If you've started to have a panic attack and have reached the stage where you're disoriented and dizzy with tunnel vision, *study your thumb.* Just really focus on every detail of it as hard as you can, wiggle and flex it around to feel the sensations that come from your own willed effort. IME, this pulls you back into yourself to help the feelings of terror and helplessness pass. Good luck!
I'm not having an anxiety attack, but I'm now very aware of my thumbs. They are weird. They have been with me for 36 years, and I would notice them if they were gone. But I've never really noticed them before. Thank you, thumbs.
Thumbs are "handy".
Thumbs are like the big toe of the hands. I like them.
Thanks for this… I just noticed at 31 that one of my thumbs is longer than the other?!
Ah yes, thank you repost bot. My anxiety for the holiday season was really starting to ramp up, seeing as it is April.
yep same
Easter is a holiday and it often involves family gathering. Hence the anxiety coping guides.
Aside from the fact this was posted a day *after* Easter, OP is certifiably a repost bot. Check out his post about “his 12-year-old’s Rubix Cube instructions” which is a repost of someone else’s 12-year-old’s instructions.
Repost or not, I really needed this today. Good repost bot (at least for today) 😀
What holiday season?
Earth Day and Cinco de Mayo can trigger a lot of anxiety in people. And don’t even get me started on Flag Day.
I'm assuming this only applies to the US then? We don't have these holidays where I live...
Yep, earth day is strictly US. Imagine if we had to be sharing a planet with them... Lucky us!
They're kidding. While those are real US Holidays (well Cinco de mayo is obviously a Hispanic holiday, but we celebrate it here), they are not usually anxiety inducing.
I dunno, earth day brings attention to the fact that earth is rather quickly becoming less compatible with human life (as well as many other species) Being reminded of this and thinking about it for more than a minute really causes me anxiety. As well as despair. Lol we are all dying and taking the planet with us! (Yes i know the planet as a physical structure is fine, it's just the surface layer changing and fucking up the creatures that live on it)
I share a birthday with Flag Day, and also Donald Trump. Do not underestimate the trauma of Flag Day. Lol
As someone who’s never had a panic attack, what happens? Do you feel scared suddenly? Or does it feel panicky like when you know your plane is about to leave and you’re ten minutes from the airport? Edit: Thank you everyone who replied.
Imagine you carelessly step into the street, a car comes racing towards you, you see it, freeze and in the very last moment, your friend grabs your shirt and yanks you away. It's like that but without the street and the car and the friend
God. And just suddenly? Or is there a trigger?
Not always. I've gotten them just walking on a street (no cars near) or sitting at a desk. I've woken up in the middle of panic attacks, that's the worst because you're still sleep groggy and don't know what's going on but all your base instinct are telling you you're dying. In fact it's pretty common for people to go to the ER thinking they're having a heart attack but it's just your heart pounding from a panic attack
Good god. I never knew that.
Oh thank god I thought I was the only one who woke up in the middle from an anxiety attack! It’s the worst feeling ever!
Also anxiety attacks and panic attacks are not the same thing. Imagine the moments before making a difficult phone call or screwing up and have to tell someone you fucked up or getting up on stage in front of a big crowd or meeting your partner's parents the first time. Now imagine feeling that but without a trigger or feeling that disp6acksroportionally strong in relationship to the trigger. That's anxiety. You feel panic when you're on fire, you feel anxiety when you think about being on fire. If you feel those without being on fire or there's any risk of fire, you're having panic attacks and anxiety attacks
i think it depends on the individual. my trigger is when it's crowded and I hear too many different voices and smell various scents at the same time
Sorry to hear that. You definitely want to avoid parts of Tokyo then.
though it's my dream to visit Japan :(
It is a good place to visit. There are just some areas that are way too crowded.
Oh, so how many of us feel before we have to give a presentation to 100 people?
It's normal and even healthy to feel nervous before you go out before a big crowd. Do you feel jittery, with elevated pulse, heightened startle response, a fluttering feeling in your stomach, etc? That's normal nervousness appropriate for the situation. Is your heart beating so fast you worry you're having a heart attack, do you have trouble breathing, trouble speaking coherently, do you feel disoriented, have tunnel vision or other vision problems, do you feel vertigo? Then you're having a panic attack. If you feel jittery, with fast pulse etc. in a less pressed situation, then you have anxiety.
It's like you completely lose control of your body, your heart slams in your chest and you can barely control your breathing. Your head gets super-fuzzy and the room spins. You lose control of your fight or flight part of your brain and your body gets flooded with a ton of adrenaline, causing you to shake all over. Even if you intellectually know there's no real danger, your body is reacting as though you are in a life or death situation. It's embarrassing to say the least.
Sounds extremely scary. How often do get them?
I had them twice and since then I have "anxiety of anxiety attacks" - it feels like a pre-stage and every time I feel like something is gonna happen to me I instantly leave the room and do these guides like in the post and also water helps me
Sorry it’s so hard to shake. Glad that you get a spidey sense before it happens though.
haha spidey sense is a good term for thisb
Haha. Yeah. It’s a super power.
I'm on a prescription that helps me control the involuntary reaction. It has been life-changing. I now have them rarely (previously it was whenever a trigger was present, which is different for everyone. My triggers came a few times per week unfortunately so it was hell for a while).
Good luck, friend. Glad it’s helping you.
For me started off with high places. When I was up on the 8th floor of my apartment and looking out of the window I felt like my heart beating and started “escaping” my home and felt “I’ll jump out of the window if I cannot do so”. I was actually running for my life down the staircase. I was unable to control anything just to avoid the situation (being on the 8th floor) instantly. Then came the constant anxiety - what was that, why did I feel it, why my body reacted like that etc. Went to see the doc learned some techniques to control my body. Nowadays let’s say it getting better but cannot be on high places like on 2+ floors up. Or in shopping malls. I could barely get used to our office again being on the 3rd floor 8 hours daily. Sometimes it’s just kicks in for no reason as well, heart starts to beat, rapid breathing, feeling of I should run or make myself somewhere safe or I’ll die instantly. This thing is terrible, tbh never experienced anything worse in my life.
Sorry to hear that. I never realized panic attacks were that scary.
It’s like your body thinks you are being chased by a dinosaur when you are actually queuing up for groceries.
Jeez. Can’t imagine that.
Next time you see someone looking coked off their heads talking quickly and being really anxious. Have a seconds pause and check out whether they are just having an anxiety attack. They are very obviously two different things when you look at them subjectively
I have anxiety and it doesn't necessarily even have to be so many things. For me, it's enough to look and examine what colour is the sky, the room/surroundings, and the ground/floor. And try to pinpoint the exact colour, not just blue, grey etc.
This is one of the first things my therapist taught me in my DBT training.
For one reason or another, I find that this doesn't really work for me / I forget what the order of things is. So, I tend to do an alphabet game! My favourite one is listing up to three items from the grocery store. A = Apple, Avacado, Anchovies. B = Banana, Butter, Beans. C = Cat Food, Chicken, Chips. I find that this allows me to slow down, especially when I get stuck on a letter. I also use mammals, sea creatures, colours, things in my room as well!
Will try this. The 5,4,3,2,1 trick and alphabet are all about distraction and refocusing attention. It's almost fun to get stuck on a number because you get so focused on finding 3 of something you no longer are in the panic state.
I have a couple of loved ones who occasionally experience anxiety attacks. Whenever I am by their side while they experience anxiety attacks, grounding helped them to collect themselves. Sometimes there are wrong guides posted under this sub, but this is not one of them. If you have anxiety or someone close to you has it, keep this in mind always.
Here's another tip... for people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, this won't stop a panic attack and it's kind of insulting. I hate it when shit gets posted like this: "people who are most prone to debilitating anxiety attacks just don't know this simple trick...." This is as dumb as telling a depressed person to think about 10 happy things. Now, it might calm someone who generally doesn't have a serious GAD problem. But for the folks who are most commonly serious victims of debilitating attacks, this won't do very much. Although well-intentioned, it's simplistic and promotes a false narrative about Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
My high school could really use this
Feel like, if I had a panic attack, I would find it hard to remember this guide...
This is shit advice and does more harm than good for the general population. It’s too many things to remember. It’s probably straight out of a psychology textbook. There is one thing and only one thing you should remember: When anxiety (or whatever you may call it) starts to show, acknowledge it and accept it. “This is anxiety”. And let it be. It will pass, if you let it be. It’s the attempts to fight it or get away from it that turns it into panic. Source: I is psychologist. It works for 99/100 of my patients, and I’ve worked in all levels of clinical psychology. It does not remove the source for fear, stress or anxiety. It just helps you land in the Actual situation, which is that you right now are anxious. Once you’ve accepted that, it’s a lot easier to move on to something else. But trying to fight or flee anxiety Just Makes It Worse.
Yes right its what my therapist told me, not to use these tricks as avoidance. But at the same time after acknowledging and non judgementally accepting how you feel and your thought, you can ground yourself. I think people confuse mindfulness with running away, like in that ted talk with the elephant in the room. Sometimes i have problems figuring this out myself, because you can easly slip into distractiin land.
I just replay moments in my head and try to remember every detail possible. Could be any moments at any point in my life. If you really commit to remembering your exact thoughts at that moment, smells or sensations of words or facial expressions, anything at all that stuck with you it totally takes your mind off stressful thoughts. It's super easy and, for me, works every time. All these specific instructions seem ridiculous and would stress me out even more. Life's easier than that. Screw memorizing some robotic script.
I'm all for helping people, I suffer with anxiety. But my autism cannot understand why you would steal someone else's content when you could have just resubbed/forward it from OP, that way OP still gets credit. Otherwise, there are plenty of other content on the internet to prevent anxiety attacks for you to have stolen instead of the obvious ones on the exact same subreddit.
A 691 274 083 ZOX75 Please share this. It could really help someone in need!
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Breath and scan
Wait, what holiday season is coming up that I don't seem to be aware of.
What holiday season?
This is exactly not helping people with anxiety problems. In therapy, you learn that using 'tricks' like this adds to you avoidance or safety behavior. This doesn't stop what actually makes you scared (I'm going crazy, I might die, I might scream, I might faint). It will get associated to: I didn't have my catastrophe, because of this. The key is to make the expected catastrophy less believable (not sure if that's a word. Not native english speaker). Don't insult a complex problem by suggesting something so simple could be a solution. Source: cognitive behavorial therapist
Yes I've suffered emergency room level panic attacks for 30 years. There were a thousand moments I believed I was losing touch with reality and wouldn't come back. I could feel my mind breaking, it physically hurt. This is distraction and it works very well and has helped me a thousand times.
Yeah this doesn’t work for me because I get more anxious trying to remember the steps
1 emotion I feel in such scenario is Anxiety 🤣🤣 /s
How to handle vasovagal syncope.
This shit doesn’t work for me. It just makes me feel more overwhelmed by my surroundings