What can I do if I have an anxiety attack?

Psychological advice on how to react to an anxiety attack.

Anxiety attacks are as common as they are annoying. However, human beings are not totally unprotected against them.

In this article we will review some of the strategies and strategies and guidelines that you can follow when you notice that you are suffering an anxiety attack..

What is an anxiety attack?

An anxiety attack consists of the fact of to experience, during a relatively short period of time, levels of anxiety significantly higher than normalto the point that in certain circumstances it can constitute a problem.

And on the other hand... what is anxiety? It is a set of physiological symptoms (i.e. relating to our body's automatic and unconscious biological mechanisms, closely linked to the secretion of hormones) and psychological symptoms (i.e. pertaining to our emotions, thoughts and behavioral patterns) that predispose us to be alert and have the ability to react quickly to the first signs that something is wrong or that we may miss a key opportunity for us.

Although we normally associate anxiety with an unpleasant experience, the truth is that it is part of the normal functioning of the human body; for hundreds of thousands of years it has helped us to survive and adapt to our environment, and continues to do so today even if our way of life keeps us away from the predators of the animal kingdom and we are not too exposed to the danger of being physically hurt; it orients us towards the resolution of urgent problems, makes us keep on our "radar" important aspects of the social interactions in which we participate, etc.

However, no product of biological evolution is infallible, and this is also true of anxiety. At times, anxiety sometimes gives rise to problematic patterns of behavior that we internalize without realizing it, and can even lead us to generate problematic patterns of behavior that we internalize without realizing it.and can even lead us to generate additional problems to those that are affecting us. For example, under certain circumstances, anxiety can contribute to not studying enough for an exam, forcing us to postpone study sessions so as not to have to think about the day of the test.

Something similar happens with anxiety attacks. Sometimes, our anxiety levels are triggered for several hours so that we have to deal with an additional challenge to the one that has produced this emotional reaction.

To this we must add that sometimes we become very anxious without there being a specific trigger or an easily identifiable cause.. And this predisposes us to continue reinforcing the anxiety attack, as we find it difficult to direct our actions towards the resolution of a specific problem beyond how bad we feel. By obsessing about stopping feeling bad, we pay more attention to the anxiety, thereby perpetuating those kinds of situations. making it difficult for us to return to a "resting" psychological state.

Is it the same as a panic attack?

An anxiety attack is not exactly the same as a panic attack, although both phenomena involve a series of common physiological and psychological symptoms and it is common to confuse them with each other.

To put it in a nutshell a panic attack is part of a psychopathology, whereas a panic attack is part of a psychopathology, whereas an anxiety attack is part of a psychopathology.In short, a panic attack is part of a psychopathology, whereas an anxiety attack is one of the ways in which we can feel anxious, something completely natural and which does not necessarily imply that we have developed a diagnosable psychological disorder.

In addition, while panic attacks last several minutes and produce a very intense discomfort that goes hand in hand with radical alterations in the way the person thinks and perceives his or her environment, the anxiety attack is more variable in duration, although it usually develops over a longer period of time and does not produce such intense symptoms, nor does it give rise to such obvious cognitive distortions.

Which brings us to the other major difference between panic attacks and anxiety attacks. In the former, the most common thing is that the person fears for his or her own life and is afraid of dying, even if there are no objective reasons to assume that he or she is in danger. For example, the person may believe that he/she is going to choke or have a heart attack even though he/she does not have the symptoms.

Thus, for a few minutes, the panic attack induces a psychological state in which we believe that what we do can make the difference between life and death, and we perceive our body as something separate from us, which we cannot control and which is unpredictable (this is known as derealization). Anxiety attacks, on the other hand, are more a quantitative alteration of the levels of anxiety that we experience in everyday life. that we experience in the day to day, and not so much a qualitative alteration of these; although it can form a part of a psychopathology, normally it is not like that.

What to do in the face of an anxiety attack?

If at some point you notice that you are beginning to develop the symptoms of an anxiety attack, keep in mind these tips.

1. Excuses you or go to a calmer place

You don't need to obsess about finding a place that offers complete privacy and is totally quiet, just go to a space that offers more calm than the one you are in..

2. Focus on your breathing

When we feel very anxious, it is important not to let our mind wander, because that will increase our sense of loss of control and feed the psychological rumination, which exposes us again and again to a whole series of recurring thoughts that generate stress.

To achieve this, something that is often helpful is to focus on how we breathe, taking deep, slow, unhurried breaths in and out.. This repetitive task will help you to "readjust" your emotional state, and will also prevent anxiety from leaving you with a lack of Blood oxygenation.

3. Focus on the sensations of the here and now

During an anxiety attack it is recommended that you direct your psychological activity towards the physical sensations linked to the stimuli of the present, rather than getting lost in complex psychological processes associated with abstract thoughts.instead of losing yourself in complex psychological processes associated with abstract thoughts. In this way you will "reset" and, from the acceptance of the here and now, you will be able to think clearly again without giving in to the inertias of fear, obsessions, etc.

This is precisely the purpose of objects such as anti-stress elastic balls, although you do not need to carry such an object with you. Just focus on what you touch, what you hear, etc..

Looking for professional psychological support?

If you notice that you suffer from anxiety problems too often or experience problems in managing your emotions, please contact us.

In Cribecca Psychology we serve people of all ages and offer psychotherapy both in our center located in Seville and online via video call.