WHAT TO DO BEFORE AN ANXIETY ATTACK: 10 PRACTICAL TIPS - ARTE - 2025

If you know what to do before an anxiety attack you can overcome it, feel better and start enjoying life again. The symptoms of an anxiety attack cause great discomfort to the person who is suffering, since palpitations are experienced, intense fear of dying, sweating, breathing difficulties, etc.

However, in the vast majority of cases, the episode does not carry any real danger for the person suffering from it. Here are 10 tips that you can put into practice if you suffer an anxiety attack.

Practical tips to carry out in an anxiety attack

1-Make sure it is only an anxiety attack

The first time you experience an anxiety attack, you should see a doctor to confirm that there are no organic causes that explain the episode - if the crisis appears together with other indicators, such as vomiting or bluish skin tone, it may indicate some more serious disorder.

In addition, if it is a very serious crisis, they can provide you with the appropriate medication so that the episode subsides more quickly.

However, the ideal is that you implement the following tips, so that you do not depend solely on the medication, but that you can increase control over your own body and reduce its symptoms gradually.

2-Do not run from the situation

This is the most common mistake people make with anxiety attacks.

If you leave the place where these episodes take place - for example, at a party with unknown people - you will consider these places as dangerous, for which you will increasingly avoid going to them.

Anxiety disorder is achieved, fundamentally, through direct exposure to feared stimuli or situations, so staying in the place where anxiety attacks appear - or returning to them after the crisis - will help you reduce their frequency and intensity.

Therefore, what you have to do is combat anxiety attacks, which usually do not last more than 10-20 minutes -the episode being more intense in the first minutes-, retiring to a less crowded place and waiting for your breathing to heart rate and general condition normalize.

Once the episode has subsided, return to the place where the crisis occurred –as we have already mentioned, if you avoid exposing yourself to the situation again, you will become increasingly afraid of it.

3-Focus on your breathing

At all times during the anxiety attack, it is very important that you focus on the rhythm of your breathing. As you can see, it is a very agitated breathing that damages other systems of your body, such as the cardiovascular system.

By taking a diaphragmatic breath, you will reduce the symptoms of the anxiety attack. This type of breathing is carried out by sending the air to the abdominal area (instead of the lungs), and the steps to carry it out are:

• Take deep breaths, lasting at least 5 seconds.
• Try to retain the inspired air, without expelling it, for about 3 seconds.
• Exhale the air very slowly.

To ensure that you are breathing properly, place your hand on your abdomen and check that it rises as you breathe in. Repeat this sequence for a few minutes or as long as it takes for your anxiety symptoms to subside.

If this breathing technique doesn't work for you, or your breathing is too fast, you can use a plastic bag. Approach the plastic bag - holding it in the middle - and make it cover your mouth and nose, and breathe the air it contains.

This is an effective way to combat the hyperventilation that often occurs in anxiety attacks, since you will be breathing CO2.

It is important that you avoid completely covering your face with the bag, and that you do not use this mechanism for a long time - a few seconds will be enough to achieve the desired effect.

4-Change your irrational thoughts for courageous self-instructions

The thoughts that occur when you experience an anxiety attack negatively affect the maintenance of your fears - and can increase the chances of further episodes of anxiety attacks.

To fight against thoughts and achieve greater control in these situations, we suggest you carry out these two fundamental modifications:

Change your irrational thoughts. Even if it is difficult for you, you must strive not to get carried away by the catastrophic thoughts that invade you. Instead, think that you are somewhere else, such as on the beach or in the mountains, trying to imagine as many details as possible - such as the noise of the ocean waves , the breeze on your face, etc.

Use courageous self-instructions. Another good technique that you can use is to repeat to yourself that you can combat this state of anxiety, with phrases such as "I have overcome it before" or "it is only anxiety, there is no real danger". The first few times you use the self-instructions, you can choose to speak them out loud - whenever possible - and, if you do it in front of a mirror, its effect may be greater. You can also choose to write them down on paper and always carry it with you, to use it if necessary.

5-Use progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation basically consists of tensing and relaxing different muscle groups.

Before an anxiety attack, the muscular tension that is experienced is usually very high, so you can obtain many benefits using this technique. Although at a time of so much fear and discomfort, it can be difficult for you to put this technique into practice, you must make an effort to carry it out.

First, try to identify those muscles that are most tense - it could be the hands, arms, face, etc.-. Once you've identified them, try to tighten them even more for about 5 seconds. Afterward, relax them and focus on the well-being of loosening those muscles.

Repeat the procedure as many times as necessary until you notice that your muscle tension has decreased.

By putting this technique into practice, you can see how your fear also decreases, since by concentrating on some distracting activity, you pay less attention to your fears.

6-Avoid being helped by many people

If you have already had an anxiety attack, you will have found that the people around you are concerned and try to help you by giving you some advice and telling you what to do.

When only one or a few people help you, it can be productive as they help you stay in control and follow some basic guidelines.

However, if you do not want to develop a dependency on others -perceiving that you would not be able to overcome the anxiety crisis by yourself-, try to control the situation with mechanisms that best suit the characteristics of your anxiety crisis, so May you be the person to attribute success to.

What you can do is inform your family and friends in advance so that they know that it is a situation that does not entail any real danger, and that they do not have to be alarmed if they witness this episode.

7-Do not carry out rituals during anxiety attacks

This is a fundamental aspect that you should avoid at all costs when you are experiencing an anxiety attack.

Rituals and superstitions can be quickly implemented in your repertoire of beliefs and behaviors, so that you will perform certain superstitious acts - real or imagined - to combat anxiety attacks.

It is curious that, despite the fact that the anxiety crisis ends after several minutes, regardless of what you are doing, you can associate the end of the episode with a specific ritual, such as praying, touching a certain object, etc.

If you acquire these erroneous beliefs, you will experience added difficulties when you cannot carry out the ritual - for example, you will feel more anxiety when you cannot touch the object that makes you feel "safe" -.

Also, just like when someone helps you, you will not be able to attribute the success of having overcome the crisis in a satisfactory way, but you will continue to consider that anxiety attacks are dangerous and you cannot fight them by yourself.

8-Give yourself the credit for having overcome the anxiety crisis

Once the episode is over, you should be aware of everything you have done to combat anxiety, taking credit for having overcome it.

You should also observe that nothing of what you feared has happened, which will make you see that it is something harmless - and that you are safe despite the reaction of your body.

Little by little, you will be able to face anxiety attacks with greater self-confidence and self-confidence.

You will also be able to verify that, if you do these exercises, the duration and intensity of the episodes will gradually decrease.

9-Go to a mental health specialist if the anxiety disorder persists or worsens

Although anxiety attacks do not usually carry any real danger, it is necessary that you go to a specialist if the episodes are frequent, so that they can indicate some specific guidelines or methods of action that help you combat anxiety.

If they indicate the need to take specific medication, try to combine it with psychological therapy, so that you not only mask the symptoms of anxiety but also that you can solve your internal problems and increase your quality of life.

10-lose the fear of anxiety

If you have already experienced an anxiety attack, you will know that the fear that is suffered at that moment is of a very high intensity, especially because the symptoms - which are very alarming - appear unexpectedly and suddenly.

However, after having experienced an anxiety attack or more than one, you are surely aware that those situations that you fear do not occur.

Therefore, when you experience one of these attacks again, you must be aware that it is only anxiety, that it is not dangerous and that you cannot allow yourself to be carried away by the fear of seeing the disproportionate reaction that your body shows.

By controlling your fear of anxiety, you will be able to control the reaction that your body shows.

References

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