Panic attacks can be scary, they make us feel like we are out of control and in the worst case that we are suffocating/dying. Luckily, there are a few strategies that can help you feel better quickly when you’re stuck in an acute panic attack. Check out my tips below and make sure to note them down on some kind of emergency note that you always carry with you. That’s because chances are that while you’re in panic you will not remember what to do.

4-4-8 Breathing

The first action to take when you are panicking is to start slowing down and deepening your breathing. There are many different breathing techniques out there but one that has helped me a lot and is fairly easy to do is called the 4-4-8 breathing method. More importantly, it’s also easy to remember which is crucial as our minds easily go blank when we are stuck in panic. How does this work?

1. Inhale for 4 seconds.
2. Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
3. Exhale for 8 seconds.
4. Repeat until you feel calmer.

The goal of this breathing method is to exhale double the amount of time that you inhale. If 4-8 is too long for you, you can also start with 3-3-6, for example. What is important is that you try to breathe into your belly, as our breath often gets shallow when we’re panicking which in turn worsens the panic. I recommend you to repeat it for at least a couple of minutes. The good thing about breathing is that it doesn’t only calm your physical symptoms of fear and your nervous system, but also your mind. You will be so focused on counting your breathing that you won’t be able to engage with your intrusive thoughts.

Grounding by using your senses

A classic strategy to get out of a panic attack is to focus on what you can perceive with your senses rather than being stuck in your destructive thoughts. This is a simple method to distract your brain from the thoughts that are worsening your panic attack. How to do this? Name three things that:

• you can see (e.g. your blanket, the blue sky, your room door)
• you can hear (e.g. sirenes on the street, birds chirping, the fridge making noise)
• you can smell (e.g. flowers, food, your skin, perfume)
• you can taste (e.g. the taste in your mouth, food, drinks)
• you can feel (e.g. the texture of your skin, the texture of the wall, the fur of your dog)

Get back into your body

As mentioned previously, the problem with panic attacks is that we get stuck in our thought spiral that is worsening the panic and anxiety. Therefore, also this third tip has its main goal in getting you out of these often automatic thoughts and back into feeling your body. There are a few different methods on how to do that, depending on what is available to you in that moment.

• Touch something very cold, e.g. take something out of your freezer and hold it in your hands, hold your hands or face under cold running water
• Push your hands against a wall and push it as hard as you can. It could also help to scream at it if you want
• Take a hair tie or rubber band, wrap it around your wrist and gently let it slap against your wrist

Final thoughts

Summing up, to get out of a panic attack we need to distract ourselves from our own mind and emotions by getting back into the body. It is good to remember that when you are having a panic attacks you aren’t really in danger. I’d highly recommend starting an emergency list to carry with you which lists all of the strategies you can use, including the ones of this article.