Panic Attacks feed on fear. The fear of panic and the fear of having another attack is what makes it worse and worse. It makes you feel like it’s unstoppable.
Sadly, all over the internet the same old ineffective advice on how to stop panic attacks is repeated over and over again.
If you’ve ever done a search on stopping panic attacks, then I am sure you’ve come across these old techniques such using a brown paper bag, breathing heavily, thinking happy thoughts. If you ever tried these techniques then you already know they are not very effective and certainly are not the best way to stop panic attacks.
In this article, I am going to share with you one of the techniques I learned in the Panic Away program which is extremely effective in stopping panic attacks. This technique is so simple and yet so effective, you will be surprised you didn’t think about this yourself.
It’s called the 20 second countdown.
Here it goes.
Whenever you feel like you are going to have a panic attack, stop and do the following.
You have to talk to panic like it’s a creature that is going to attack you. But instead of trying to run away from this monstrous creature, you give it a time limit.
You tell the panic that it has 20 seconds to attack you and initiate a full panic attack. It doesn’t get a second more than the 20 seconds. And after the 20 seconds are over, it will have to stop making these empty threats.
Whatever panic has to do, it will have to do it within 20 seconds.
This is like calling the bluff in a poker game. You don’t let the panic attack stop you from doing your work. You acknowledge the feeling and give the panic a fair 20 seconds to do whatever it wants. You can’t let this feeling stop your daily routine. Aren’t you tired of it?
And then you start counting. But you don’t rush through the counting. You do it slowly. You are going to show that you are in control and not afraid of the panic.
And at the end of the count you might want to tease the panic a little bit, just to have some fun.
You might want to start counting the three quarters, halves and quarters just to make the counting slower.
5…………………………..
4…………………………..
3……………………………
2…and three quarters…
2…and half………………
2…………………………..
1…and three quarters… (come on panic)
1…and half……………… (It’s almost over now, The Time is Over panic)
1…………………………..
0.Well you’ve had your chance panic, now I will get back to my work.
And now that you have given the panic a fair chance, you can get back to doing whatever you were doing without the fear of the panic attack.
And since you went through the countdown real slowly, you showed panic that you are not afraid of it anymore. You showed that you were in control. You showed that you are the master of your mind and your body.
But I must warn you, this technique is completely ineffective if not done right. Many people take this the wrong way thinking that they can use this trick to stop panic attacks instantly. It is not a trick. Remember how I said earlier that you are calling the panic attack’s bluff by doing this. Well, if you are bluffing then the panic attack will call your bluff and strike with full force. So, to make this work you should not be bluffing. You should be truly calling the panic attack, ready to go through the experience, embracing it. Be ready to go through the attack because you know that the panic attack will not harm you. But if you are not ready to go through the attack, this exercise will be futile.
This is one of the many techniques that I learned from the Panic Away program. It is a system that can be followed to completely eliminate Anxiety and Panic attacks altogether. You can check it out by clicking here.
