How to help someone suffering from panic attacks

Anxiety levels have continued to rise across the world as we adjust to life during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Indeed, it seems that opening up the conversation surrounding mental health has never been so crucial, given that during the course of the pandemic, 48 per cent of women say their mental health has worsened, per research conducted by Four Nine in collaboration with YouGov. 

And for some, panic attacks are part and parcel of their experience of anxiety. As anyone who has contended with the brief but debilitating rush of fear will attest to, panic attacks come with a coterie of physical symptoms, including a racing heartbeat, sweating, and hyperventilation.

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How to help someone suffering from panic attacks

Panic attacks usually stem from catastrophising the situation at hand with thoughts of danger.

However, with the right form of treatment, panic attacks are manageable. In fact, there are a number of things that you can do in the throes of one that can help relieve physical symptoms, and calm your - or a loved one's - mind when the situation at hand feels overwhelming.

Engage the senses

If someone is having a panic attack, you should encourage the individual to look around, and notice what is going on around them.

After this, prompt them to name five things they can see, five things they can hear, and five things they can smell. They should then imagine their favourite place - and again - note what they can see, hear and smell.

Breathing techniques

Engaging the body is another way to calm someone who is having an episode of panic. To do this, guide the person suffering an episode to put one hand on their stomach.  And the other on their chest.

Then, tell them to breathe in through their nose for the count of four, and exhale for the count of four. While they are doing this, make sure they are aware of drawing the breath from their stomach. As well as paying attention to the breath as it moves through their body.

They should repeat these steps until they feel calmer.

Grounding

Dr Robin Hornstein - a licensed psychologist with over 30 years of experience says that while sufferers may want to avoid places and situations, distract themselves, or seek reassurance, this doesn't yield the best results.

The most effective approach, she says, is to encourage them to stand still. As well as ground themselves using the CBT anchoring techniques listed above.

Avoid disengaging from the feelings at hand when experiencing a panic attack

"Panic attacks can feel overwhelming," Hornstein explains. "So it’s important to practice grounding, stability and surfing techniques, rather than giving into the feelings by attempting to disengage, or avoid the feelings. Avoidance feeds the vicious cycle that makes the panic worse. Anyone who has experienced panic attacks will tell you that it got progressively worse, the more that they avoided or withdrew."

Exposure therapy for panic attacks

Hornstein is a proponent of exposure therapy, which is deemed appropriate for some sufferers of panic attacks.

She believes that talking about panic doesn't always prove to be useful. "It is happening in the body and moment, has a physical history and aetiology of its own and does best when we bring it on and confront it using tools," Hornstein explains.

One of her preferred ways to treat panic attacks is to have the client make a list of what brings on panic - from 0 to 100. Hornstein details that the therapist would then set up a hierarchy of those topics, and help the client sit through the panic while using thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to not run away. 

"Rather than simply meeting panic with non-panic reactions, or countering the belief that you are going to die from the panic with neutral or competing thoughts of being fine, it’s key to establish a safe place for oneself (think mountain getaway or beach) where you feel fine in your mind."

"This is useful, as it provides somewhere for clients to go during the panic attack. In doing so, the client is training their brain to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and digestion, thus slowing the heart rate and conserving energy," she continues. 

"We want to get out of the sympathetic nervous system, which tells us to respond to danger. With panic, there is no danger usually - no lion, no one attacking us - despite us going into hyperdrive. Remember, most panic attacks are internally stimulated, and we respond as if we are in actual danger.''

CBT therapy can be a long term solution

If you are looking for more long-term solutions to prevent or ease the severity of panic attacks, therapy is recommended route.

William Phillips - the director and principal psychotherapist of Think CBT - suggests using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for treating panic attacks.

"CBT is the NICE recommended treatment for panic attacks. This is because they are maintained by catastrophic thinking and avoidance behaviours. Clients are taught to alter these patterns to de-escalate and normalise the distressing physical symptoms experienced during panic attacks," he says.

Phillips also details that CBT can work for panic attacks in six to eight sessions or less.