How to handle panic attacks with 5 powerful phrases
These 5 phrases will turn the spiral and intensity of a panic attack into a feeling you can manage (without fighting your body).
You’re doing something you’ve done hundreds of times before. Sitting in traffic. Talking to someone. Relaxing at home. Doing your work. Nothing unusual is happening.
Suddenly, your body begins to react in a way you can’t explain. Your heart starts pounding. Your breathing becomes shallow. A rush of adrenaline surges through you, and your mind begins firing off questions:
“Am I having a panic attack?”
“What is happening? Is it a heart attack?”
“What if I pass out?” “What if I can’t stop this?”
“What if no one can help me?”
“What if other people notice?”
The sensations feel intense and unpredictable. The more you notice them, the more your mind tries to fight them or push them away.
The faster your heart beats, the more your mind reacts. The more your mind reacts, the stronger the sensations feel. Within moments, you feel trapped in a cycle of fear and physical sensations that seem to feed each other. It seems endless, overwhelming, confusing and utterly out of control.
If you’ve experienced this before, you know how overwhelming it can feel. Whether you had a panic attack while driving, at work, or alone at home, there is a way to handle a panic attack without fighting your body or trying to force the feelings away.
And it starts with 5 powerful phrases.
What happens during a panic attack?
A panic attack is your body’s fight-or-flight response, activating very quickly. A panic attack is most often an intense fear response. When it activates, your body releases adrenaline, which can create intense sensations such as a racing heart, tight chest, dizziness, tingling, sweating, or shortness of breath. While panic attacks are not necessarily random, they can seem to come out of nowhere. Usually, the answer as to why they’ve happened lies in exploring major life events, emotions, and experiences that have brought you where you are today.
These panic attack symptoms can feel alarming, especially if they appear suddenly while you’re driving, working, or going about your normal day. Your mind may start trying to interpret what’s happening, often jumping to worst-case conclusions like “Something is seriously wrong with me.” This reaction can make the sensations feel even stronger.
The important thing to understand is that these sensations themselves are not dangerous. They are simply your body responding to perceived stress. Learning how to handle a panic attack begins with understanding these sensations so you can deal with panic attack symptoms without escalating the fear around them.
The 5 words that help you handle panic attacks and deal with panic attack symptoms.
Allow
One of your most natural reactions during a panic attack may be to fight the panic attack symptoms and other feelings and sensations you have. You may try to do everything you can to get rid of it. If it feels like there’s a lump in your throat, you may feel like swallowing continuously until it goes away.
This kind of behaviour, where you are doing everything in your power to push the feelings away, may cause the panic attack to last even longer. When you allow those feelings to be there, without fighting or resisting them, it may significantly decrease how long your panic attack lasts.
While your body is experiencing these sensations, the best thing you can do is to give it some time and space to process them properly and calm down naturally.
Say to yourself: “I allow those feelings to be here.”
Accept
It might feel natural and instinctive to try to tell yourself, and your body, that this is not a panic attack, that the feelings aren’t real.
When you accept something is real, it becomes possible to process, deal with and resolve. When you deny that something exists, the healing cannot begin. There’s a famous mindset saying that says “Whatever you resist, persists.” This is especially true for a panic attack. The more time you spend debating or deciding whether those feelings are actually there, the less energy and time you have to focus on dealing with the feelings that are present.
Remember, the more you fight against something, the longer it tends to stay. Think about it, have you ever actually “won” an argument by staying in fighting mode?
Say to yourself: “I accept these feelings are here.”
Love
Love the feeling?! What do you mean? How am I supposed to love the feeling of panic attacks?
Allow me to clarify, when I speak about loving the feeling, I don’t mean loving having anxiety or a panic attack, I mean loving the person who is experiencing those symptoms – which is you!
This word is about showing compassion to yourself and your body in a way that gives it time to heal and process what’s happening. If you start to wonder “what’s wrong with me?” or “Why am I like this?” you’re adding an extra layer of emotion and energy to your panic attack, which makes it more difficult to overcome. If you start to wonder “what’s wrong with me?” all of a sudden you’re not just feeling anxious, scared and panicked, but you’re also adding self-judgement and blame on top that.
If you allow the feelings to be there, accept that they are there, then love yourself in the process and still treat yourself (and think about yourself with compassion), you are setting yourself up to handle your panic attack with much more ease.
Also, think about this for a second – what would happen if you decide to “NOT LOVE” yourself every time you experience something you don’t like? Sooner or later there’ll be a list of 100’s or 1000’s of reasons NOT to love yourself.
So, just like you would show a child, a friend or a loved one compassion if they were experiencing a panic attack, show that same kindness and love to yourself.
Say to yourself: “I love myself. I am safe.”
Forgive
Forgiveness is quite a big and complex topic. But why is it important in the moment of a panic attack?
I often hear my clients who struggle with panic and anxiety ask these questions: “Why is this happening to me?” “What’s wrong with me?” “Why am I like this now?”
Sometimes it even comes with thoughts of “I used to be able to handle and do all these things, now I can’t do anything.”
What do you notice about the tone of those questions? Do they show compassion or self-love?
In my view, they indicate an attitude of self-rejection. Of self-judgement. Of beating themselves up and speaking unkindly about themselves.
It’s for this reason that forgiveness is so important during panic attacks. Not forgiveness of others, but of yourself. To be able to say to yourself, “Hey, this feels difficult and scary right now, but I am here for you.”
Often, panic attacks are also the result of an accumulation of stress and negative emotions that build up over months and years. It can be easy to blame yourself for not doing anything about it sooner, or not seeking help or support sooner. But the truth is, there’s nothing you can do about that now, except to say to yourself, “I forgive myself.”
So do it, say to yourself: “I forgive myself.”
Let Go
So what’s the point of saying all these phrases to yourself? What’s the point of allowing yourself to feel what your body feels and to accept the sensations and feelings that are there?
Simple. To be able to let go of them.
It is well established that unprocessed and unresolved emotions show up through physical symptoms and sensations. These symptoms and sensations, like an increased heart rate, lump in the throat, or sick feeling in the stomach, for example, are indicators to you that draw your attention so that you can resolve what you’ve not been aware of yet.
One of the best ways to allow your body to process an emotion is to give it time to feel and experience it, without fighting it. Which is why we have those first 2 phrases of allowing and accepting. When you allow yourself to feel any sensation and emotion, without fighting it, and by showing love and compassion to yourself in the moment, well, that’s a perfect recipe for growth and healing!
And that’s exactly how you handle panic attacks and panic attack symptoms.
Say to yourself: “I am open to letting go.”
Other strategies for overcoming panic attacks
The 5 phrases and the letting go process I’ve mentioned above are not the only way to deal with panic attacks and the symptoms they present. In fact, there are many grounding techniques, relaxation exercises and breathing exercises that help you to reset your nervous system and counter your body’s panic-induced physiological response.
Some of the most common and useful are:
- The 54321 method
- Box Breathing
- The 3-3-3 method
- Mindfulness-based Meditation – Here’s the best Free App in my and many GP’s opinions
- Counting Backwards
- Memory exercises
I’ll share more information myself about these at a later stage. For now, I’ve linked a useful article on each of the strategies for overcoming panic attacks above. The best approach is often a combination of strategies.
The phrases I’ve taught you above help you with the mental and mindset aspect of how to handle a panic attack. It would be helpful to find your favourite breathing exercise (mine is box breathing) and grounding technique so that you can manage your panic attack symptoms in multiple different ways while you work on identifying and resolving the root cause of your panic attacks.
When to seek panic attack treatment?
Anyone who has experienced a panic attack should seek support on how to handle their panic attacks. It’s also advisable that, as part of the treatment plan, you identify, understand and resolve the root cause issue as well. Panic attacks rarely occur in the absence of other stressors or underlying negative emotions.
You have a couple of options on how you want to handle recovery and treatment for your panic attack.
Many people prefer seeking a medical doctor first to rule out any other medical condition. Consulting a doctor or General Practitioner could be a great way to start to understand any underlying factors or causes.
Of course, it’s also advisable to speak to a mental health practitioner to understand the underlying psychological and emotional causes at play. Look for someone who understands trauma, belief systems, how to help you handle your emotions, or who specialises in helping with Anxiety or Panic Attacks. Also, look for someone who will not only help you manage panic attacks, but also wants to help you identify and resolve the root cause or causes that led you to experiencing panic attacks in the first place.
Many strategies can help you handle panic attacks in the moment a lot easier, like the ones I’ve shared in this article. However, understanding the root cause and working on that will put you on the best path to ensuring that panic attacks do not become a permanent part of your life.
Need help overcoming panic attacks and anxiety?
If you’ve experienced a panic attack and are living in fear of having another one, you don’t have to figure this out alone. I’m here to help. I want to leave you with a word of hope and encouragement:
Just because you’ve had 1 panic attack doesn’t mean that you have to suffer with them for the rest of your life. 100s and 1000s of people who’ve experienced them have learnt how to handle panic attacks and overcome them. If you find yourself buying into the idea that you have to suffer with this for the rest of your life, this is not the truth.
Of course, doing nothing won’t magically make them go away. If you don’t like what you’re experiencing, do something about it.
Here’s how I can help. If you’d like to:
- Understand why you started experiencing panic attacks in the first place,
- Understand how to handle a panic attack once it arises
- Identify the root cause issues
- Work through and let go of the underlying layers of negative emotions and belief systems
- Retrain your mind and body so that it doesn’t happen again.
- Book a free consultation call here to learn more about how my panic attack recovery program can help you.
Just note that it’s medication-free, diagnosis-free, and we can usually get started within a week or 2 from our first consultation call.
If you’re not quite ready to do that yet, you can download my guide for the typical recovery journey you’ll take when breaking free from the panic cycle.
If you want to learn more about my rates and pricing, download the pricing options for the panic attack treatment program here.
Furthermore, you can also read other people’s experiences of what it’s like after you’ve worked with me here.