How To Overcome A Panic Attack In 10 Minutes
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I remember it well.
I was sitting in my office, and it was 8:10pm. I had just completed a free presentation earlier in the evening, and I was ready to pick up my daughter at gymnastics at 8:30pm.
My administrative assistant knocked on my door and asked if I would take a call. She explained that it was a client who had attended my presentation earlier in the evening and she was in the midst of having a panic attack (use Psychology Today link for definition)
So, let the dilemma begin. It’s a 10-minute drive to pick up my daughter, which left me with only 10 minutes to help my client. To compound matters, my daughter’s gymnastics class has a funny way of ending on time when I’m running late.
So, what did I tell my workshop participant? Here’s a 6-point plan for tackling panic attacks quickly and effectively.
1. Change How You Breathe
When experiencing symptoms of panic and anxiety, people tend to take short choppy breaths from high in the chest.
So, step one is to radically change your breathing by taking slow, full breaths from the diaphragm.
How do you do this? Place both of your hands on your stomach, interlock your fingers and breathe in, while blowing your stomach up like it was a balloon.
If you need a visual of proper diaphragmatic breathing, picture a sleeping baby with their little bellies bobbing up and down as they sleep peacefully.
Need a stronger visual? Watch the video below:
Now that you are breathing from your diaphragm, the next step is to sloooowwww your breathing down by using the following tempo.
If this breathing tempo is too demanding, you can shorten it to breathe in (3-count), hold breath (3-count), breathe out (3-count).
By the way, breathing isn’t just good for managing panic; it is good for general health.
So, go ahead and give it a try..... I’ll wait.
Now that you’re back, I’d like you to do 10 more!
2. Relaxing Self-Talk
This step is critical to help decrease your heart rate and blood pressure, as well as create a sense of calm which is critical for managing your symptoms.
With my caller, I conveyed the “self-talk” that I wanted to be used, as it was the caller’s self-talk that had really lit the match to ignite the panic attack in the first place!
For anyone experiencing symptoms of panic and anxiety, the goal is to come up with a few quick statements that will help to stop your feelings of panic from climbing higher, and ideally, start to reduce these feelings.
To demonstrate the power of self-talk, let’s try some panic-inducing statements and take note of your initial reaction.
- “Oh my God, I think I’m having a heart attack”.
- “What if I pass out?”
- “I can’t stand this”.
- “I have to get out of here right now”.
For a more dramatic example, watch Marge Simpson below!
Self-Talk, The Right Way
As you continue to use relaxing self-talk, you will ultimately come up with the best calming statements. In the meantime, here are a few examples:
- I need to calm down.
- I can handle this (if you’ve had one before you know it’s true or you wouldn’t be here!).
- This will go away shortly (the worst part of a panic attack is usually between 10 – 20 minutes).
- What goes up, must come down (this is a law of nature, all emotions rise and fall).
3. Evidence-Based Self-Talk
Now that you are more calm and have started to transition from your anxious mind to your logical mind, it is a good time to go over some facts about anxiety and panic. With my caller, here are a few I used:
- Panic attacks are harmless (even though they don’t feel that way)
- This feeling will go away shortly (10 – 20 minutes at most).
- These are normal feelings (with the volume turned up)
- Feeling anxious won’t cause me to have a heart attack
- Anxiety won’t make me lose control or go crazy
- Anxiety is an emotion, and all emotions rise and fall
4. Get Moving
After experiencing a panic attack, you are more hormonal. Without getting too in-depth into the science, increased levels of adrenaline (the hormone responsible for the flight or fight response) and cortisal (the hormone that creates a “threatened” feeling) are two culprits we want to decrease in a hurry.
One powerful way to help reduce these hormones is to get moving. Anything you are able to do at the time will help – go for a short walk, ride a bike, do jumping jacks – just get moving.
CONCLUSION
So, there you have it, there are 4 quick strategies you can use to deal with a panic attack quickly and effectively.
If you are wondering about my caller, her anxiety was reduced to a 5, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 = no anxiety and 10 = extreme scale, within the first 5 minutes. By the time I ended our call at 8:20pm, she rated her anxiety at a 3.
What have you found to be effective for yourself or for someone you know?
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About Sullivan + Associates
Sullivan + Associates Clinical Psychology is a full-service psychology clinic in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was founded in 2007, by co-founders Jennifer and Trevor Sullivan, and has since grown to 44 team members including 28 Master and Doctoral Clinicians. In the past 12 years, we have provided services for over 20,000 children, adolescents, and adults. During this time, our Clinicians have been able to serve the community of Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario by providing over 100,000 client appointments.
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Why Is Change So?!?! Hard? And What To Do About It!!
Home >> Blog >> Catagory >> Why Is Change So Hard
Change
It’s everywhere.
Think about it for a moment.
Seasons change. Fashions change. Technologies change. Looks change. Laws change.
Songs are written about change.
So, if change is so common, why is it so hard to do? And why is it so hard to change something that we want to change?!?!
I don’t know that there is an easy answer to that question but I have a theory.
Generally speaking, we are creatures of habit. When we find thoughts and behaviours that meet our needs (whether they are healthy or not), we tend to stick with them. And when we find something that works, we are reluctant to change.
So, the key to change is convincing yourself how new thoughts and behaviours can better serve your needs.
And how do you do this?
Let’s start by looking at the two basic driving forces of human behaviour: pain and pleasure. Simply put, we tend to make decisions based on our desire to avoid pain or to seek pleasure.
So, if there is something you want to change in your life, it is helpful to associate as much pain as possible to the behaviour you want to change and create significant pleasure for engaging in a new pattern of behaviour.
So, let’s assume you’ve targeted the area in your life that you want to change. And you are highly motivated to change!
How long do you need to hang in there until the change takes hold? Is it really worth going after?
Recent research out of University of College London shows that in order for a change to become a habit, it takes an average of 66 days (Lally et al., 2009). Smaller changes tend to take less time, bigger changes take more.
All things considered, that’s a pretty short timeframe to create lasting change, especially when you consider that a true force of nature such as evolution often takes thousands of years to create a better version of ourselves (aren’t you happy to be walking upright?!).
But needless to say, creating lasting change in a relatively short period of time is no easy task.
Below I will discuss a 10-step plan to help create change in any area of life that you target.
1. Know Your WHY
You need to know WHY you want to change. Change is hard, so there better be a compelling reason to want to change; otherwise, you are likely to fall short of your goal.
Let’s say, for example, you want to lose weight (which is a common goal I hear from clients).
Your why should include reasons that make avoiding change painful and make the prospect of change, pleasurable.
So, let’s start with possible “pain” examples:
- I hate what it feels like getting winded just walking up the stairs.
- I am going to a wedding in 6 months on a tropical island and I want to look good in my dress.
- I want to be able to play with my grandchildren when I get older. If I don’t lose weight, that won’t be possible.
In case you are wondering how I came up with these, the examples I chose here are actual reasons I have heard from people over the years who wanted to lose weight and went on to achieve their goal.
And although having “pain” underlie your WHY may not be particularly positive, it works. New research in the Psychological Bulletin indicates that one specific type of pain, fear, can be helpful in producing change (Tannenbaum et al., 2007). What is particularly compelling about this study is that their conclusions were drawn by analyzing 127 studies (including 27,000 participants) over the past 50 years.
And for those of you who prefer a more positive, uplifting approach in establishing your WHY for making change, it will be important to focus on the pleasure you will gain by achieving the goal.
And one effective way to accomplish this goal, while also opening your mind to change, is to engage in a self-affirmation exercise where you spend 10 minutes each day focusing on what’s important to you. This could include areas such as physical health, family, mental health, friends, children, career, etc. The key is that the area you select must be meaningful to you.
Once you have selected an area (or areas) to focus on, it is important to create compelling statements that are designed to help you seek pleasure and proper you towards your goal.
In sticking with our weight loss example, here are a few possible WHY reasons.
- I want to run a marathon.
- I need to be in peak physical health to enjoy my life to the fullest.
- I want to look great in a bathing suit when I am out in public (and I suppose we could substitute the word “naked” into that sentence as well…we are in the province of Ontario after all!).
Ideally, I would encourage you to have both “pain” and “pleasure” reasons when establishing your WHY.
You will need it to refer to, particularly when the going gets tough, as life routinely does.
2. Pick a better, had time
You have probably heard sayings such as, “there is no time like the present” or “there is never a good time, so you might as well start now”.
While I do believe it is possible to make a change at any time, I think your chances of making successful lasting change go down exponentially if you pick a particularly difficult time to start.
I’ll use an example to highlight my point.
When my daughter Alexa was born she was colicky for the first 10 months of her life.
That was possibly the longest 10 months of my life!
During that time period, I could have begun a plan to make a change in my life. And to be fair, if it was extremely important to change, I’m sure I could have made it happen.
But without significant leverage (e.g., something impacting the health and safety of myself or my family, etc.), it would have been extremely difficult to change anything in my life at that time.
Instead, I had more meagre goals such as going from one sleep-deprived, irritable day-to-the next praying that the colicky phase would come to an end!
So, needless to say, when it comes to making change, it is important to set yourself up to succeed. Selecting a bad time to make a change, especially if it is a particularly difficult change to make, will likely lead to 2 things: failure to make the change you want and feelings of discouragement about your ability to make the change.
When you decide to change something, ideally you only want to pursue it once and turn it into a habit from there.
And the best way to do that is to pick a time when things are somewhat settled in life.
3. Pick one thing and park the rest (for now)
To be fair, there is research to show that you can make multiple changes at one time.
In reality, this is very difficult to do.
Let’s say, for instance, you would like to quit drinking alcohol, quit smoking, lose weight and learn a new language.
While this would be impressive, it is best to start by picking just one thing to change!
Why?
Because change is usually hard and it is quite difficult to make (and maintain) multiple changes at one time. And with each change you add, there is an increased risk that you will fall prey to “all or nothing thinking” (i.e., if I can’t make all of these changes at once, then I might as well give up on everything I’m attempting to change).
You have nothing but time to make any number of changes in life and you will likely be more successful if you focus on one change at a time.
4. Write it down (and measure it)
There is something about writing down what you want. It’s more than just putting pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard or touch screen).
It makes it real. It provides a greater sense of commitment. And it is there to review.
And when you write it down, it is important to have a baseline measure for where you are starting.
For example, if you are attempting to quit smoking, it’s important to know how many cigarettes you smoke right now.
Also, be specific about what you want to change. In sticking with the smoking example, what is the goal? Is it to go from smoking a full pack of cigarettes to a half-pack? Is it to be a non-smoker?
This might sound a bit tedious but if you are taking a trip, you need an end destination. Imagine trying to tell your G.P.S. that you want to go Southish. If you’re using an iPhone, Siri will probably scold you for not being specific. Or at the very least, tell you, “I don’t understand. Please try again!”
So, if being vague isn’t good enough for Siri, it isn’t good enough for us! We need to be specific and write downplay if we intend to create a plan for lasting change.
5. Figure out the pattern that isn’t working
Whenever we set a goal to make a change, it is usually because something isn’t working in our lives.
It could be an area in life that was good at one time but has deteriorated, or perhaps it’s just an area that needs to improve as life has become more demanding.
Regardless, there is usually a pattern of thinking and behaving that we are running, that isn’t working well enough.
For instance, let’s say you want to lose 20 pounds. There’s likely a pattern of eating (i.e., overeating or eating too many foods that are full of fat and sugar) and activity (not enough activity or not the right type of activity) that has caused the problem.
So, needless to say, you need a plan. With the above example, you’ll want a plan for eating healthy and exercising out for starters (assuming you are in good physical health and ready to get started).
From there, you are going to want to plan a little further because simply having a plan to eat healthily and exercise regularly probably won’t be enough to get the job done.
For example, other areas you might want to plan for include:
- Establishing a time to have “less than healthy food” (having a plan to never eat junk food again likely isn’t going to work).
- Create a plan to eat healthy when treats and goodies are all around you (perhaps at work, where certain staff members insist on continually bringing this stuff in, or when you go to a restaurant).
- Target times when you are most susceptible to deviating from your healthy eating plan (e.g., between 8-10pm in the evening when you finally sit down after a stressful day and feel like you deserve a treat (or two), likely with a glass of wine (or two) after a hard day).
- Plan to prepare healthy meals.
- Establish a time to fit exercise into your day.
- Get enough sleep so you have energy to exercise.
- Create variety with exercise and nutrition so you can avoid boredom.
- Have a plan to successfully cope with all of the above items so you don’t decide that change is too much work and life is fine just the way it is!
You don’t need to plan for every possible hurdle, but it is important to plan for the ones you expect to come up against.
Chances are this isn’t your first crack at changing something. The good news is that you have the advantage of hindsight and can be better prepared this time.
6. Plan for obstacles
You mean with all of this planning, more obstacles are going to come up?
Didn’t we just finish planning for the usual hurdles?
Didn’t you just joke about how there were quite a few things to prepare for already and encouraged me not to become overwhelmed and give up?
And now you are telling me there is more to prepare for.
Yep.
In all likelihood, there will be more obstacles along the way. Both the expected and the unexpected.
Hey, as we established at the start, change usually isn’t easy. But it’s far from impossible and it comes to the persistent.
In this section, I’ll take a look at 4 of the most common obstacles that usually come up and interfere with our ability to make change.
- Life gets busy
Of course, life is always busy. But it tends to go in fits and starts and there are times when it becomes very busy.
Not surprisingly, life often gets busy shortly after we decide to make a change or set a goal. Life does seem to have a sense of humour.
So, when life gets busy there needs to be a plan of attack to stay the course with whatever it is you intend to change.
- Fatigue
With a busy life, often comes fatigue and a lack of sleep. When you get tired, it can be difficult to continue pushing forward and pursuing change when you feel wiped out.
What is your plan to push through fatigue?
What is the plan to minimize fatigue in the first place?
This is an area that you definitely want to prepare for and consistently monitor, so you don’t fall off track when pursuing your goal.
- Negative emotions
What are negative emotions?
Mad, Sad, Scared, Stressed and Bored would probably cover the 5 most common ones.
And when you feel this way (as we all do, at any one time or another), it can derail change in a hurry.
In order to tackle this area, it is helpful to anticipate which negative emotions have interfered with your ability to make change in the past and develop a plan to manage these emotions successfully.
Ideally, you want to develop a plan to catch these thoughts and feelings quickly, as well as an effective strategy to manage your negative emotions.
For instance, let’s say that feeling sad is the emotion that typically derails your progress. It would be helpful to list common automatic negative thoughts, feelings or situations that arise so you can be prepared.
The next step would be to develop a plan to change how you feel by altering your physiology (body). This could be accomplished by using a relaxation technique such as mindfulness, engaging in deep breathing, using self-soothing strategies, or perhaps, you may decide to radically change your physiology by engaging in a short burst of strenuous physical exercise.
Once you have changed your physiology, it would be helpful to challenge automatic negative thoughts with evidence-based self-talk, as well as prioritizing a bit of time to focus on what is going well in your life. If there is a challenging situation that is negatively impacting your mood, this would be the time to develop a plan to address it.
- Resolve internal conflicts
As if life wasn’t already complicated enough, we have conflicting thoughts.
What are conflicting thoughts?
These thoughts occur when we have two thoughts that oppose one another.
Here are a few examples:
- I want to eat whatever I want but still lose weight.
- I want to spend all of my free time with my family but I need to make time to exercise.
- I want to quit smoking but I don’t want to feel uncomfortable.
You get the idea!
These conflicts need to be resolved quickly; otherwise, you are going to feel conflicted every time you attempt to make change and pursue a new pattern of behaviour.
For instance, let’s use the time example listed above. You want to exercise regularly but you can’t seem to justify the time away from your children. In order to shift this thought (and possibly belief), it will be important to create a compelling reason that will move you to act consistently.
Here are a few possibilities…
It could be that you decide not exercising will ultimately take time away from your children, as simply won’t be around as long to enjoy them.
Perhaps, it is the realization that exercise needs to be shifted from something you do in your spare time to something that is a must, and you need to take the time from somewhere else in your life.
Or possibly, you come to the realization that it needs to be quality over quantity when it comes to spending time with your children. You make peace with the fact that a bit of extra time away from them to exercise does not need to negatively impact the relationship. Rather, it could improve the quality of your relationship, as you come to the realization that your limited time means that the quality of time you spend with your children must improve.
It doesn’t matter what reason you come up with. It just needs to be compelling to you, so you can ultimately settle that internal conflict and consistently follow through with your plan to create change.
7. If you fall off the bandwagon, make it a pit stop.
With any change you attempt to make, chances are you won’t do it perfectly (i.e., there’s a good chance you are going to slip up a time or two, or ten!).
The important thing is when, and probably not if, you stumble on the way, make it a pit stop.
And don’t fall prey to thinking and behaviour traps such as the “What-The-Hell Effect”.
No, I’m not making that up.
The “What-The-Hell Effect” is an actual scientific term used in psychology to describe what happens when we slip up on the way towards achieving a goal and then decide to blow it big time.
For example, let’s say someone is following a healthy eating plan and decides to have a slice of cake they weren’t initially planning to eat.
Realizing that they have now “blown it”, the thought process with the “What-he-Hell Effect” would go something like this, “I’ve blown it now. I might as well have another slice of cake, a bowl of ice cream and a few cookies. Today is just a write-off. I might as well just eat whatever I want.”
So, when the inevitable slip-up does occur, you want to catch it quickly, forgive yourself (self-affirmation has been proven to help with this) and recommit to the change you want to make.
Whenever you are looking to make a change, following a path of progress always needs to be the mantra. As long as you are continuing to make progress towards your goal, it’s working!
You will eventually get to where you need to go.
8. Have a timeline
With any change you intend to make, it is essential to have a timeline.
Without one, the change can seem too big and too difficult. For example, let’s say someone has an issue with drinking alcohol and they say to themselves, “I just need to stop drinking....forever”.
Initially, this is going to feel too big and too daunting to do. Instead, it is better to select a relatively short timeline for starters.
Depending on what you are attempting to change, your timeline could be a day, a week, a month, 2 months or longer.
For example, with someone who struggles with drinking alcohol, they may focus on avoiding alcohol one day at a time; whereas, a professional athlete who is looking to lose 10 pounds to make weight for an upcoming competition, might focus on change with a 12-week timeline.
Generally speaking, a good rule of time is to keep your blocks of time as short as possible when you are setting a goal. Change always feels more achievable when you chunk time into short intervals.
But remember, it is still a good idea to periodically take a peek at the number 66 on the calendar. Of course, this isn’t a magic number but if you can largely maintain a change for 66 days, there is good research that suggests it should become much easier to maintain that change, new thoughts and behaviour become more habitual and less mental energy is required to complete the task.
9. Make time to follow-up
With any change, the only way to know how well you are doing is to assess your progress.
For example, if you were attempting to learn a new skill, such as a martial art, you could measure progress by achieving a higher belt level (or demonstrating progress in that direction). If you are learning cross-stitch, you would expect to be able to do more demanding patterns or should be at a higher belt level. If you are trying to become more physically fit, you should be able to perform or complete a project in a shorter amount of time. You get the idea.
Without measuring, there is no way to know if you are moving towards achieving your goal in a timely manner.
Now, I know some of you are probably thinking, “I’ll just get started and see how it goes.” I implore you not to fall prey to the dreaded “feels like” measurement.
What is a “feels like” measurement?
Well, that isn’t a psychology term (I just made it up), but if it catches on I am happy to take credit! What I mean by the “feels like” measurement” is just using your best guess at whether or not something has improved, as opposed to using a consistent, reliable form of measurement.
For instance, if you want to lose weight, it is a much better idea to use a tape measure to check the size of your waist as opposed to going with the “I think my pants feel a bit looser” form of measurement.
I realize there is some risk with measuring, as there is a fear of feeling disappointed and ultimately giving up on your goal. However, when it comes down to it, you need to know the facts if you hope to successfully achieve your goal.
And if you happen to fall short of where you expect to be, that’s OK. This needs to be viewed as an opportunity. It’s a chance to recommit or to make mid-course corrections and adjustments.
If you are willing to do this, there is an excellent chance that you will eventually achieve the results you want.
And remember, don’t fall prey to the expectation that any change you attempt to make should be achieved on your first attempt.
Life isn’t like that. So, there is no need to be discouraged if you don’t make the change you want on the first attempt.
If the change is worth making, be in it for the long haul.
10. Celebrate
I saved the best for last. Out of all 10 steps, this one should be the easiest. But it is still important.
When you successfully make a change, it is important to celebrate.
Why?
Because you want your brain to associate as you want, it is important to celebrate because you want your brain to have a positive association between putting effort into making change and achieving the goal.
And, of course, when you achieve your goal, don’t celebrate by engaging in the old behaviour you just changed.
For instance, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, don’t celebrate by going out to your favourite restaurant and tearing up the buffet.
We are going after lasting change here!
CONCLUSION
So, there you have it! A 10-point, step-by-step plan for creating permanent change.
And the single biggest challenge you will have in making any change will be managing your emotions while you stay the course or make mid-course corrections.
But it will be worth it!
The essence of life is change. We are designed to grow and “evolve” for the better.
And another thing that makes change particularly exciting is the opportunity to design your life the way you want it.
As time passes, you are going to change. Why not commit to making the change you want?
Are there any steps you would have added to help create positive, lasting change?