Panic Attacks Help – General Anxiety Disorder

We have spoken previously of the importance of recognising the cause of a panic attack as it happens, for it is only by facing up to the root cause of the anxiety that we can eradicate it. Most people would say that when they experience a panic attack that “it came out of the blue”, however that is rarely the case. Although it may feel that the cause of the panic is random, normally there is an underlying reason for its occurrence. People who suffer from regular panic attacks will often find that they are also suffering from a condition called GAD, or Generalised Anxiety Disorder. It would be helpful therefore when looking for panic attacks help to investigate this ailment in more detail.

Let’s take a closer look at GAD

If you take your general state of anxiety at any given moment you will, depending on the circumstances, fall somewhere between 0 and 10 and most people would say between 1 and 4. Now anybody can become stressed out over a particular set of circumstances and hit the 8 or 9 level, but generally, they will fairly quickly get back down to below 5. This is not necessarily a panic attack but as I say, a perfectly normal reaction to a stressful situation which quickly returns to normal.

On the other hand people who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorders constantly feel that their level of anxiety is hovering around 7. They wake up in the morning with a knotted feeling in their stomach, they go through their day being jumpy and irritable and go to bed feeling exactly the same. This anxiety disorder often leads to bad sleeping patterns which exacerbates the problem still further. This constant feeling of high anxiety is the perfect launch pad for a panic attack, as it is almost if you are preparing yourself to have one, consequently, if something happens to further increase your anxiety your stress levels go through the roof and you experience a full blown panic attack.

Now although GAD is described as a disorder, it doesn’t mean to say that it cannot be overcome. What should be clear to you is that if you can bring your normal day to day anxiety levels back down to the norm (between 1-4) then when something stressful happens you will still feel anxious, but having started from a lower level you need not let it progress into a full panic attack. So it should be clear that in order to find panic attacks help the first thing we need to do is to change the way we build up levels of anxiety throughout the day, so.

How do we eliminate anxious thinking?

During the course of the day you will literally have millions of thoughts, some you will concentrate on and others you will hardly realise you are having. It goes without saying that some of those thoughts will be pleasant and some may cause you distress – that just life. Firstly you must start to understand that these anxiety symptoms stem from your thoughts and they will come and go as they please, pretty much without you having any control over them. However, also understand that they are simply thoughts and the substance of what you are thinking about hasn’t necessarily happened and probably never will.

Let’s say you are worried because you are waiting for results from an exam you have taken to help you progress in your job and think that you may not have passed. This leads to a further thought that instead of the desired extra qualification helping you progress, the lack of it may adversely affect your job. The next thing you know you have moved on to worrying if this will make a negative impact on your current salary, which in turn means you may have trouble paying your mortgage. If you don’t pay your mortgage you will lose your house... You can see where this is going and you absolutely know that it is a ridiculous thought process, but none the less you can’t stop it from taking place and unless you start to take control anxiety and panic will follow.

So here is the thing, as you start this thought process with the worry about your exam result, stop it right there, literally tell yourself to stop. Tell yourself that you are causing yourself totally unnecessary levels of stress by letting your mind run away with you. Remind yourself that one of two things will happen when you eventually get your results – you will pass or you will fail - either way the exam has been taken and it is now out of your hands. If you pass you will have cause for celebration, which is something worth concentrating on and if you fail you will deal with it then and not concern yourself about it now. Remind yourself that nothing is ever as bad as we allow ourselves to imagine it will be and that there are always, and I mean always, alternatives and answers to anything that crops up.

Breathe deeply and gently tell yourself to be patient and that you will deal with whatever happens when it happens and then get on with your day. You will be surprised how this simple process of noticing your thought process, acknowledging what is happening and realising how pointless it is can often lead to your anxiety levels dropping almost immediately.

Remember, panic attacks help is available and to that end, I hope you find this article useful.

Rob