The first step in stopping your panic attacks is to understand what a panic attack REALLY is.
Let’s begin by putting some false believes to rest. A panic attack is NOT:
- Lack of courage
- Mental illness
- Dangerous or harmful
Believe it or not, panic attacks are actually a result of YOU misinterpreting YOUR body’s signals.
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I know this is (very) counter-intuitive, and you’re probably scratching your head right now thinking “this can’t be right …”
But please bare with me here. It’ll all be clear in a minute (and if not you are more than welcome to contact me).
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OK so I’m sure you’ve heard of the fight or flight response.
I won’t bore you with the scientific details, but the idea is that when your BODY feels a threat, it immediately allocates most of its resources to do one of two things: Fight or flight.
Take a look at some of the physical manifestations of the flight or flight response:
- Accelerated heart and lung action.
- Paling or flushing.
- Pupil dilation (followed by blurred vision).
- Shaking.
Women who experience panic attacks report noticing the EXACT same symptoms PRIOR to the attacks.
Since they have no idea WHY these strange bodily sensations suddenly occur, they start worrying, thinking “something must be WRONG …”
The more they think about it, the worse it gets.
After a couple of minutes, the experience becomes so intense, that it feels like the entire world is a bit “out of sync”.
This leads to further confusion, which leads to further fear, which finally results in a full blown panic attack.
And that’s all a panic attack REALLY is – Misinterpretation of the fight or flight response
Now to the next obvious question:
What triggers the fight or flight response in the first place?