Did you know that anxiety is a normal response to a threat or psychological stress and is experienced by everyone from time to time?
In general, it is rooted in the emotions of fear and plays an important survival role.
Although in most cases it has a psychological component, the manifestation of anxiety is physical and cognitive.
Knowing how to identify it and what to do is crucial to reducing its physiological and cognitive impact.
Panic attacks are a type of anxiety disorder characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear, even when there is no real danger.
SYMPTOMS OF PANIC ATTACKS: HOW TO SPOT THEM?
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Chest pain
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Heart palpitations or accelerated heartbeat
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Shortness of breath
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Dizziness and feeling faint
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Nausea and abdominal discomfort
WHAT TO DO DURING AN ANXIETY ATTACK?
There is a technique called A.C.A.L.M.E.S.E with 8 steps to manage anxiety.
A Accept your anxiety.
Replace your fear, anger and rejection with acceptance.
C Contemplate the things around you. The more you can separate yourself from your internal experience and connect with external events, the better you will feel.
Act on your anxiety.
Don’t go into despair, stopping everything to run away.
Continue to act on your day, anchoring yourself in the breath.
L Release the air from your lungs.
Inhale slowly and exhale slowly.
Focus on your breathing until it naturally slows down.
Find the rhythm that’s right for you and keep focusing on your breathing.
M Maintain the previous steps and repeat each one.
Keep trying to accept your anxiety, contemplate the outside (focus on what you can see, hear…), act on your anxiety and focus on your breathing.
And examine your thoughts.
You’re probably stuck in the past or the future.
Try to return to what is happening in the present moment.
You may be imagining doomsday scenarios that simply aren’t true.
Smile , you’ve managed to start managing your anxiety.
Smiling in itself is a reassuring act that can help to “trick” our mind and bring feelings of well-being.
And look forward to the future with acceptance.
Don’t think that you’ve “gotten rid” of your anxiety for good.
You’ve just started to learn how to manage it.
Your anxiety is necessary to keep you alive!
Think of it as a friend.
If you have another crisis in the future, you now have the tools to deal with it.
