What to do if you have a panic attack. Panic attacks - how to get rid of yourself

It is difficult for people who have never experienced unreasonable fear to understand the behavior of a person who panics for no reason. This condition is called a panic attack. What to do at the time of an attack, not only the one who is subject to attacks, but also those around him should know.

Causes of panic attacks

A panic attack can be described as an attack of poor health, accompanied by a feeling of panic fear and various physical manifestations.

IMPORTANT! It is possible to talk about a panic attack only in case of causeless fear, in the absence of a threat to life and health. If panic is caused by an upcoming interview with an employer, an exam, a speech in front of an audience, etc., we are talking about a natural reaction of the nervous system.

Scientists believe that the numerous stresses that accompany the modern resident of the metropolis lead to the occurrence of panic attacks. Attacks are subject to people who have unresolved internal conflicts. Anxiety can be a reaction of the nervous system to an aggressive environment.

Panic attacks are common these days. Seizures affect at least 5% of the inhabitants of large cities.

The danger of this condition lies in complications in the form of alcohol, nicotine or drug addiction and suicide.

The first harbingers of an attack


A panic attack is preceded by a series of symptoms that indicate the presence of a disorder.

These signs may be unconscious and appear shortly before a panic attack or occur intermittently between acute attacks:

  1. Anxious premonitions. The patient has a feeling of impending misfortune, may be haunted by obsessive ideas.
  2. Reluctance to stay in one place. It can manifest itself in the desire to leave or leave. Those prone to panic attacks often experience fear of the place where the attack occurred. The “dangerous” zone can expand over time.
  3. social disorientation. It manifests itself as a fear of communicating with people who were present during the next panic attack. If the attack occurred in transport, you may want to stop using it.
  4. The appearance of phobias.

How does a panic attack go?


A panic attack can occur after a person finds himself in an unusual situation for him or has experienced severe stress. Panic is also observed after drinking alcohol. If you feel an increase in heart rate, pain in the left hypochondrium, chills, trembling in the limbs, shortness of breath, approaching fainting and increased sweating, you begin a panic attack.

What to do at the time of an attack, and how it passes, should be known to every person subject to frustration.

The attack begins after experiencing an unpleasant or unfamiliar situation, against the backdrop of complete well-being. In addition to these signs, you can feel a sudden fear of death, a strong concern for your health or emotional depression. Headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting may occur. A well-known place begins to seem unfamiliar, dangerous. Amnesia is not observed. The patient understands where he is.

The syndrome can develop in parallel with other mental disorders.

Panic attacks are more likely to affect creative individuals, as well as people prone to tragedy and drama. An emotionally balanced and disciplined person endures panic attacks much easier.

Night and morning attacks

The appearance of night and morning panic attacks may be associated with significant changes in life, a change in place of residence or work, the loss of loved ones. Panic attacks are more likely to occur in people with a high degree of self-control. Such people know how to behave correctly in society and do not allow inappropriate emotions to come out. But self-control is possible only during the daytime. In the morning or at night, when the body is relaxed and less influenced by behavioral stereotypes, repressed emotions burst into consciousness.


A person may wake up at night with a panic attack and associate his condition with an unpleasant dream. However, the attack is not always preceded by a nightmare. Panic attacks in the morning can be triggered by the need to go to work. Unpleasant sensations are intensified by the alarm clock, which eventually becomes a subconscious signal for the onset of a panic attack.

Night or morning attack causes fear to fall asleep. There may be a fear of not hearing the alarm clock and being late for work. The dream becomes episodic. Sleeplessness may occur. Due to constant lack of sleep, the load on the body increases, and panic attacks in a person become even more frequent.

Panic attack and alcohol

People often try to relieve stress and fight depression with the help of alcoholic beverages. When a panic attack begins, a drinker always knows what to do at the time of an attack. After a certain dose of alcohol, the body relaxes, and unpleasant symptoms disappear.

Over time, it becomes difficult to achieve the desired effect with the usual amount of alcohol. The person increases the dose. Alcoholic drinks have a negative effect on the nervous system. Panic attacks are on the rise.

ATTENTION! Alcohol does not help to cope with a panic attack, but only aggravates the patient's condition. For the period of treatment of the disorder, alcohol should be completely abandoned.

Who to turn to for help?

Self-medication is not worth it. You should contact a psychologist. If after working with him panic attacks do not stop, you need to contact a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

help yourself

Every panicked person should be able to help themselves. Don't rely on outside help. You need to be prepared for the fact that at the time of a panic attack, loved ones may not be around.

The sequence of actions for panic fear:

  1. If the panic attack started in a crowded place, you should try to retire. And vice versa, if the attack caught all alone, you should immediately go outside, go to the store, call a friend.
  2. When attacking, breathing exercises help well. Take a deep breath and hold your breath. Then you need to exhale and repeat the breath after a few seconds. It is recommended to breathe in a clean paper bag for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Warmth helps to calm down. If you have a severe panic attack, you should drink a hot, preferably sweet drink. If possible, take a warm shower or bath. Sometimes just warming up your hands is enough.
  4. Try to ignore the panic attack, shift your attention to something pleasant for you personally. It can be memories of a well-spent vacation, a pet, favorite music. Carry with you an object that evokes pleasant emotions - a soft toy, a gift from a loved one, a souvenir from another country, an ornament. To distract from the attack, you can start counting passers-by, repeating a poem aloud, etc.

ATTENTION! Every upset person should know how to calm down during a panic attack personally. There is no universal recommendation. You can find your own method by experimentation.

To reduce the number of seizures, it is necessary to recognize the problem, not to deny it, but to try to find the causes. You need to answer yourself the questions: why do I have these states, what am I afraid or afraid of, how justified are my fears. Some unconscious phobias may have originated in the distant past. It is much better to eliminate the mental cause of an attack than to fight only its effect.

Help for a loved one

Relatives and friends of the patient need to understand that a panic attack is not a whim and not an attempt to attract attention. This is a severe mental disorder, which is not always easy to cope with without outside help. It is unacceptable to be ironic about seizures or try to make the patient feel guilty. If a loved one's hands turned cold, shortness of breath began, the heartbeat became more frequent, his gaze “runs”, he could have a panic attack.

What to do during an attack:

  • provide emotional support. A person is conscious, he hears and understands everything. Remind him that everything that happens is safe for life and will end soon. If you also suffer from panic attacks, tell the patient about it. He must know that he is not alone. Show how to breathe correctly during an attack to make it easier.
  • switch attention. Point to the first yellow leaf on the tree or the bird outside the window. Ask a person some question that would require mental effort from him. Invite him to remember the date of any historical event. Joint routine work will help to distract from a panic attack. The subject of attacks will calm down if he remembers something pleasant. Knowing his tastes, you can invite him to think about his favorite food or book. If you have shared fond memories, describe a happy day you spent together.
  • get a massage. You can massage your loved one's back, earlobes and fingertips. This will help improve blood flow and distract from a panic attack.
  • give medicine. First aid for panic attacks can be sedatives. It is desirable that they be of natural origin: tincture of peony, valerian, motherwort. Teas and infusions with lemon balm, chamomile, linden and hops help well.

ATTENTION! It is undesirable to give pharmacy drugs during an attack. Medicines quickly relieve a panic attack. However, they lead to a strong psychological and physiological dependence. Potent tranquilizers have the right to prescribe only a psychiatrist after a comprehensive examination of the patient. Seizures may indicate a more serious problem. The patient can be given a drug that he is already taking as prescribed by the doctor.

Psychotherapeutic help

During panic attacks, you do not need to remind the patient to seek medical help. A person prone to seizures may think that he is taken for a mentally ill person, which will cause new experiences. Talk about specialized treatment after a panic attack. The patient needs to be explained that panic attacks are not necessarily evidence of a mental illness, and that attacks occur in many people.

The main methods of psychotherapeutic treatment of attacks include:

  • psychoanalysis. This method helps to better understand yourself and find the true causes of your problem.
  • systemic family therapy. Some fears arise in the family circle. Today's adult could be rejected by parents in childhood, suffered from a misunderstanding of those closest to him. The result was numerous complexes and hidden aggression, manifested in the form of panic attacks. It is desirable that not only the patient himself, but also his relatives participate in the treatment process.
  • hypnosis. This method is used as a last resort. Hypnosis involves intervention in the subconscious of a person, which can have negative consequences. But sometimes the work of a hypnologist becomes the only way to get rid of attacks.

Other methods of psychotherapeutic work include neurolinguistic programming, gestalt therapy, cognitive-behavioral and body-oriented therapy.

Every person who has had a panic attack at least 3-4 times should contact a specialist. What to do at the time of the attack, tell the doctor.

A panic attack is not a deadly or incurable disease. Throughout life, the number of seizures may decrease or increase depending on the circumstances, the physical health of the patient and some other factors. There is a chance to get rid of the problem completely through a conscious attitude to your illness.

The intense pace of life, a large amount of daily information, stuffy rooms, improper nutrition, emotional and physical overwork - all this leads to the fact that the human nervous system begins to malfunction. They manifest themselves in the form of various nervous and mental disorders. The most dangerous are panic attacks. What to do during an attack, how the initial signs appear - the answers to these questions will help stop the rapid development of a critical condition.

Panic attack - unreasonable fear, anxiety. It occurs periodically, accompanied by mental and physical disorders, a person does not control the appearance of a pathological condition. Provoke an attack can be a closed space, a large crowd of people, stuffiness, unfamiliar surroundings, often panic seizes people on the plane.

The clinical picture of panic attacks is diverse, there are many signs of pathology, but they do not always appear all at once.

Description of the main symptoms:

  • weakness, dizziness, possible fainting, impaired coordination of movement;
  • trembling, tremor of the limbs;
  • cramps and pain in the abdomen, upset stool, vomiting, severe thirst - the symptoms worsen after eating or on an empty stomach;
  • headache of a pulsating nature in the temporal region, cardialgia, rise in blood pressure;
  • fear of death, loss of a sense of reality, rash acts;
  • chills or fever, increased sweating;
  • suffocation, shortness of breath.

Panic attacks, a feeling of unreasonable anxiety are often observed at night - a person wakes up abruptly, often in a cold sweat, the heart is pounding, there is a lack of air. An attack can last from a few minutes to an hour, but it makes you constantly tense because of the expectation of the next attack, which makes a person nervous even when falling asleep.

Important! More than 5% of residents of large cities over the age of 20 suffer from periodic panic attacks. The first symptoms often occur in children when they enter school, in adolescents, after the onset of sexual activity.

Reasons for development

Panic attacks can occur in a person at any age, there are many provoking factors that aggravate the course of the pathology.

Why panic attacks occur:

  • genetic factor - the tendency to panic attacks is inherited, more often girls than boys;
  • bad, tense relationships in the team, family affect the psycho-emotional state;
  • stress, strong feelings, death of loved ones, divorce, other traumatic factors;
  • excessive physical activity;
  • mental strain, prolonged stay at the computer, near the TV;
  • lack of fresh air, sedentary lifestyle, beriberi, malnutrition;
  • infectious pathologies of a chronic nature;
  • traumatic brain injury;
  • phobias that arose for various reasons - a person may not remember a terrible event, but it remains in the subconscious, which causes fear for unknown reasons.

Panic attacks often occur after drinking alcohol in excessive quantities, with drug addiction, when taking psychotropic drugs without a doctor's prescription, in avid coffee lovers.

Sometimes panic attacks are disguised. Physical signs and emotional stress are mild, but fear and anxiety are manifested in the absence of voice, speech, decreased vision, twisting of the hands.

Important! The frequency and intensity of panic attacks largely depend on the psychotype and character of a person - they are brighter in hysterical, impressionable women.

What pathologies can cause

Panic attacks often accompany various diseases of the nervous, cardiovascular system, and occur with hormonal disorders.

Diseases that may be accompanied by a feeling of panic:

  1. Neuroses, VVD, depressive symptom - the clinical picture of these psychological pathological conditions is in many ways similar to the manifestation of panic attacks, only an experienced specialist can recognize them.
  2. Chronic diseases - diabetes, disorders in the thyroid gland, neoplasms in the adrenal glands, pathologies of the digestive tract. A person is in constant tension due to the expectation of a relapse of the disease, which leads to disruption of the nervous system.
  3. Diseases of the cardiovascular system - heart attack, ischemia, tachycardia, arrhythmia, valve pathology. Panic attacks are accompanied by fear of death, heart palpitations.
  4. Hormonal imbalance - women often suffer from panic attacks during pregnancy, after the birth of a child, with the onset of menopause, attacks occur at puberty. Clinical manifestations - tachycardia, dizziness, lack of air, mood swings, increased blood pressure, insomnia.
  5. Panic attacks are clearly manifested during a hangover - with withdrawal symptoms, you can see almost all the symptoms of the pathology at the same time. The problem often remains relevant even among alcoholics who managed to get rid of a bad habit.

Important! Fear of exams is a type of panic attack. Some people calmly experience failure when they fail an exam, for others it becomes the cause of a pathological condition.

First aid

Fear and panic seizes a person suddenly, accompanied by dizziness, detachment from reality. The patient in this state does not control himself, he needs urgent help, you need to act quickly.

What to do when an attack begins - sequence of actions:

  1. Try to calm down, focus on breathing - take a deep breath, exhale slowly, you can breathe into a paper bag or palms folded in a boat.
  2. Well calms the account - you can count the number of objects, people.
  3. Singing, reciting poetry.
  4. If the attack is accompanied by spasm, convulsions, you can do a few squats, jump in place - physical activity distracts from panic.

Important! At the first symptoms of an attack, you need to press on the membrane between the thumb and forefinger, let go at the expense of 5, rub the bases of the little fingers, thumbs, and ears.

Medicines and folk methods

If panic attacks are repeated every day, you should not postpone a visit to a psychotherapist. After collecting an anamnesis, a conversation, the doctor will be able to assess the severity of the pathology, select effective drugs in the form of tablets or injections. Strengthen the effect of drug therapy will help folk remedies. In the diagnosis, a special rating scale is used. To rule out pathologies of the brain, blood vessels, you need to do an MRI.

Medications for the treatment of panic attacks

To improve the general condition, reduce the number of panic attacks, various drugs are used that have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the nervous system. They begin treatment with weak, sparing remedies, since strong drugs have many side effects.

How to relieve an attack - effective drugs:

  • tranquilizers - Sibazon, Seduxen, Relanium, eliminate anxiety, normalize the emotional background;
  • daytime tranquilizers - Medazepam, Rudotel, eliminate seizures, do not cause drowsiness;
  • antidepressants - Grandaxin, Azafen, Imizin, help prevent an attack;
  • psycholeptics - Phenazepam, Tazepam, relax muscles, have a slight sedative effect;
  • sleeping pills - Sonnat, fights well with insomnia, but is addictive;
  • medicines for high blood pressure, to normalize the heart rhythm.

Strong psychotropics are used only in advanced cases, when panic attacks do not stop, they turn into depressive states. Medicines are prescribed by a doctor, they will have to be drunk for a long time, strictly following the scheme - these drugs do not tolerate amateur performance, they have many restrictions, safety measures must be observed.

How to get rid of seizures without medication

If panic attacks occur rarely, are not accompanied by a strong deterioration in well-being, you can cope with them at home without resorting to drug therapy.

What to do to avoid panic attacks:

  • do art therapy - drawing, dancing, color treatment, music, all these methods can be easily mastered on your own;
  • normalize the daily routine, get enough sleep, actively relax, walk more in the fresh air, stop worrying about trifles;
  • give up bad habits, eat right, reduce the consumption of tea, coffee;
  • auto-training, breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, mantras - these practices are aimed at relaxing muscles, mental relaxation;
  • water procedures, massage - help to alleviate the condition after stress;
  • take a contrast shower every morning, do a light workout;
  • acupuncture is one of the best methods of dealing with negative emotions, disorders in the autonomic system;
  • spa treatment - the beneficial effect of this method of therapy on the nervous system is difficult to overestimate.

When the first signs of a panic attack appear, you can take mild sedatives that are sold in a pharmacy without a prescription - peony and motherwort tincture, valerian tablets, Novo-Passit.

Well helps to overcome panic and herbal medicine - brew 2 tbsp. l. crushed mint leaves in 200 ml of boiling water, leave in a closed container for 2 hours, strain, drink the entire portion of the medicine before going to bed.

50% of patients manage to get rid of panic attacks on their own. In about 20% of cases, seizures are rare, have a short duration, and do not greatly affect a person's condition. But every third person develops severe depressive states, in which one cannot do without the help of a specialist.

Panic attack - sudden onset of extreme anxiety, fear, tension and feeling unwell: palpitations, sweating, dizziness, shortness of breath ...

Whoever had it - no need to explain how unpleasant this condition is, especially when it occurs for no reason, and it seems to you that you are going crazy. At the same time, note: all these are only feelings and physical states. In panic, that is, in chaotic thoughtless behavior, this state is already turned by the person himself, if he does not know how to behave correctly.

Panic attacks are causeless and occur as an attack, usually lasting about 10 minutes, but can be short-term about 1-5 minutes and long up to 30 minutes, but the feeling of anxiety can persist for 1 hour.

If panic attacks become regular, occur weekly or even more so daily, we are already talking about a disease: panic disorder.

Do not confuse: if the anxiety is constant and there are no "light gaps", this is a different disease: generalized anxiety disorder. And if strong fear is predictable, if there was a reason for it, then this is not a panic attack, but.

Panic disorders often begin at a young, socially active age. The prevalence is 1-2 people per hundred, more often (2-3 times) it is observed in women, because women are less able to cope with it, they begin to be afraid of it and this only intensifies its course. The disease has an undulating course, about half of the patients generally recover, the rest lead a relatively normal life, despite the persistence of symptoms and the presence of relapses. Fears, in any case, become weaker over time.

A panic attack is a very unpleasant thing, but in terms of health it is practically harmless. A panic attack turns into a serious problem when secondary fears wind up on it: fears of being alone (alone), fears of crowded places, fears of the subway, fears of repeated panic attacks ...

When this happens for the first time, many begin to think about some serious disease of the heart, endocrine or nervous systems, digestion, they are in a hurry to call an ambulance, but by the time an ambulance arrives, everything just goes away. People start going to the doctors, trying to find the causes of "attacks" - it's useless, which causes even more anxiety. A fear reflex is developed, an expectation of an attack arises, and this, in turn, reinforces the repetition of attacks ... For those who do not know how to cope with such situations, life turns into a nightmare. Both you and your loved ones.

Exit? Learn to cope with panic attacks faster, it's quite real. Awareness is the first step to recovery. Fear is possible only in a situation of uncertainty. When you know what is happening to you (or to someone), you take it calmer, fear weakens.

Now the most important thing: no matter how terrible you (or the person next to you) feel, no one has yet died from panic attacks. That's for sure. Fears and feelings are experienced hard, but they cannot cause harm to health. By itself, fear does not lead to death, the systems of our body are able to withstand it. You will last. Our feelings in themselves are not damaging - this consciousness perceives them as a signal of physiological distress, since a panic attack is triggered regardless of a real external threat. Everything will pass, just follow the rules.

How can you help someone who is having a panic attack? Do not give in to his panic; remember that only by maintaining inner peace and expressing it outwardly with your intonation, posture and actions, you can really help a person close to you. Stand in front of the person, if he allows you, take his hands and, looking into his eyes, say in a confident tone: "Look at me. What is happening to you is not life-threatening. Now we will breathe deeply and evenly together." And start breathing deeply and confidently, making sure that the person does the same.

It helps a lot if you visually show how to breathe. Hold his gaze, show with your hand up (when you need a breath), with your hand to the side, better to the right (pause), with your hand down (exhale), with your hand to the side (to the left) - exhale ...

Additionally: if you are a specialist, you can immediately do DPDG: this normalizes the condition faster. There is a need to prevent possible negative anchoring of the scene, stay where you are and anchor positively. At least give a suggestion: "You see that you can feel good here. Look around and understand that in the subway (for example) you feel good, comfortable."

In any case, do not let the person go until the attack has passed, let him speak out, while maintaining confidence and calmness. After the panic attack is over, it makes sense to talk to him about the need to seek professional help.

About drugs. Dietary supplements, leeches, glycine and other self-treatment in this case are meaningless. Vegetotropic drugs (anaprilin, pyrroxane, belloid, bellaspon) in combination with vascular metabolic therapy (cinnarizine, cavinton, trental, nootropil, piracetam, cerebrolysin) are ineffective, neuroleptics are rather harmful. Antidepressants of the SSRI group and episodic (not a course!) Taking tranquilizers to relieve anxiety and acute panic attacks help. In some cases, especially when generalized anxiety is attached, anticonvulsants can be used. Medicines to prevent panic attacks need to be tested, ie. start with very low doses and gradually increase them to medium or high doses, especially since the therapeutic window for these drugs is wide.

It is clear that drug self-treatment is not an option, be sure to consult a psychotherapist.

If this is a problem with your friend, who is afraid of psychotherapists as well as the panic attack itself, tell her that the psychotherapist has special pills that help quickly and effectively (this is true), but which the doctor cannot prescribe without examining the patient (relative truth). A visit will convince her that psychotherapists are very nice people. They even help you heal.

Dear colleagues, psychologists and psychotherapists! Be careful, there is always a good chance that the client is not having panic attacks at all, but specific ones or anchors to the past. It happens often. If these are really panic attacks, you can try to work with (repressed, sometimes very much) memories. No one knows if these memories or fantasies are true, but the reality is that after such experiential work, panic attacks disappear for a fairly decent period.

What to do if an anxiety attack begins immediately upon remembering the first panic attack? The technique depends on the characteristics of the individual. If the girl is "rattling", you first need to remove the rattling, otherwise nothing will help further. If the body is calm enough, you need to master at least the beginning of auto-training, learn how to relax. When there is a relaxation skill, the standard variant is used. Everything!

Panic attack you have: what to do

You can help yourself during a panic attack. Rules in short: Calm your head. Relax and try to shift your attention to something external. Make yourself as physically comfortable as possible. Reduce the image of anxiety. Stay where you are. tablet under the tongue. Breathe evenly and measuredly. Accept your feelings, let them flow through you. Get back to business. For more details, see

Let's imagine. You are walking down the street with your friend. He suddenly falls and severely injures his leg. Blood is flowing from the wound, your friend is in a lot of pain. What will you do in this situation?

Seems like an easy task. You are more likely to try and help a friend get to the emergency room. You may have a band-aid or bandage to cover the wound with, or a bottle of water to clean it out. In general, one way or another, you roughly know what to do: everyone is familiar with the rules for providing first aid.

But the situation is more difficult. What if your friend has a panic attack? How to proceed in this case? Few people know. But being able to help with a panic attack is just as important as with injuries or falls. You don't know when you might need it, but if you find yourself in an emergency, you'll be glad you spared no effort to learn.

Panic attack is a sudden, inexplicable attack of severe anxiety and fear. It may be accompanied by symptoms such as rapid heart rate, chills and sweating, difficulty breathing, nausea, and dizziness. Most often, a panic attack is very painful for the one who experiences it.

How to help someone during a panic attack

  1. Assess the risk of self-harm.
  2. Listen to the person without judging them.
  3. Comfort, calm and tell the person about what is happening to him.
  4. Encourage him to seek professional help. This is best done after the attack has passed: in a state of acute anxiety, a person is not up to it.
  5. Encourage his desire to learn self-help and other beneficial practices.

This is not a precise guide to action, because situations can be very different, but rather a general instruction that everyone can use. In addition, you need to be aware that you are not capable of making a diagnosis or providing qualified assistance. You only need to help the person cope with the attack.

Psychotherapist Elena Perova gives more specific advice and tells how to deal with someone who is experiencing a panic attack.

  1. Panic attacks often happen in the subway, in small rooms, so the first thing you need to do is take the person out into the open air.
  2. Sit him down and let him drink. If the relationship allows, hold hands.
  3. Talk to the person in a soothing voice, gently ask if they understand what scared them. If he wants to talk, let him talk. If he has nothing to say, try to draw his attention to what is happening around, to the fact that life goes on as usual.

It is important to be calm yourself and give the person the feeling that you are in control of the situation. Talk calmly, move calmly, so that he gradually adapts to your behavior and also calms down.

When you begin to wonder about help for panic attacks, you may become anxious. If everything is more or less clear with first aid for injuries, then here you have to deal with the human psyche, his. This means that each individual panic attack will be unique, and you need to quickly figure out how to help overcome it.

But do not worry: lack of knowledge is much worse than general and correct ideas about how you can help with a panic attack.