4 Key Strategies For Dealing With Anxiety Attacks

Your heart is pounding. You can’t seem to catch your breath. You feel dizzy. You start to feel tingly or numb in your hands and feet. You feel a pressure in your chest and you think you you’re having a heart attack - or dying… In fact you’re not having a heart attack at all - and you’re not dying. These are all symptoms of an Anxiety Attack. In 2009 almost a fifth of British workers thought their job was very or extremely stressful. The year before that, the Health & Safety Executive reported that over 11 million days were lost due to stress, anxiety or depression. Over 19 million Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The World Health Organisation puts the European figure of those suffering from mental health disorders, including stress and anxiety, at over 80 million. The global figure is said to be well over 100 million. So what is anxiety? Anxiety is a disorder in which sufferers experience an intense, irrational fear and an impending sense of doom or dread. It manifests as a paralysing fear for no apparent reason that will make you feel trapped. And you can experience this unprovoked fear at any time of day. There are other disorders that go hand-in-hand with Anxiety Disorder. These include Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Agoraphobia, or other phobias that may require treatment. rnCauses of anxiety There could be specific causes of anxiety or you may experience anxiety for no apparent reason. Often sufferers of anxiety attacks fear having another attack, and in cases like these the fear of an attack fuels the anxiety even more. It is a vicious circle. The pressure of living in a fast-paced society can also trigger anxiety…work, family, children, and other events can lead to people feeling pressured and anxious. rnWhat can you do to cope? There are four things you can do to try to deal with anxiety attacks: 1. Firstly try and relax as much as you can. One of the most effective ways to do this is to control your breathing. Find a comfortable, quiet place and try this: a. Close your eyesrnb. Place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chestrnc. Take a long, slow deep breath in through the nose (abdomen expands)rnd. Exhale fully through the mouth (abdomen contracts)rne. Get into a smooth rhythm, then…rnf. …On each exhalation relax your whole body and let go of all tension or stressrng. Ideally continue this for 10-15 minutes 2. Secondly see the attack for what it is. Recognise and acknowledge that you are having an anxiety attack, and tell yourself that it is short lived and you will get through it. 3. If you feel an anxiety attack coming on, try to find a distraction. This may just be enough to help you take your mind off the impending attack and so quell the fear. Keeping yourself busy with something you can become completely absorbed in may help you to successfully redirect your train of thought. The more you practise this technique the more adept you’ll become at managing future attacks you feel coming on. 4. Finally, if you find it too difficult to manage on your own seek medical help. Don’t feel a failure if you have to do this. The professionals are there to help you, and to avoid a situation where your anxiety turns into something more serious such as depression. I hope you have found this article useful, that you’ve picked up some strategies to help you manage your anxiety and I wish you all the best.