Life

[LkMN]

HOw do i control my anxiety..

[deborah27]

you don't. it's coming from somewhere, so it's more about rational thinking and managing catastrophic thoughts. look at situations that cause you to become anxious and write down how you feel and how you behave. see if you can make some sense of things and even small steps towards changing how you respond to certain things.

[schrodingercat]

First, I'm so happy you reached out to this community! That's a strong step in the right direction and hopefully some of this advice will be helpful for you. ^^

I'll just sort of start with some practical advice for coping in the middle of a panic attack; probably you already know these things, but it ever hurts to reiterate them:

- When you're panicking or about to panic, go to the safest place you can -- "safest" in the sense of a place where you feel least threatened. Sometimes it isn't always possible to leave a situation immediately or to go straight to your most comfortable place, but if you can, it can help to be someplace quiet, crowd-free, and relatively private. Of course, these criteria vary from person to person.

- If you start to hyperventilate, it can help to hold your breath to the count of ten. This forces your body to regain control of your breathing and sometimes helps you feel more in control yourself.

- Rhythmic motions like patting, tapping, or clenching and unclenching your hands can also help ground you and give you a sense of control.

- A grounding exercise that's been recommended to me is the five-to-one rule: when you're having a panic attack and feel like you're starting to lose yourself, try to pick out five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can feel, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Like most of the other things in this list, this can help you feel more in control of yourself and the situation by letting you focus on your physical surroundings, which are often a lot more understandable than what's going on in your head.

Some other tips that might help you out --

- In moments of clarity, when you feel less or not at all anxious, remember to pause to focus on the fact that at that point in time you are okay, that you have survived every panic attack up to that point, and that statistically you will survive every panic attack after.

- Like deborah27 suggested, looking for patterns in what makes you anxious can be really helpful to developing a plan for avoiding these triggers and for coping with anxiety in the moment. Don't be afraid to keep a log of how you feel each day or at different time throughout the day -- and that in and of itself can be kind of therapeutic, reflecting on your day and experiences.

- If it's an option for you and you think it might help, do please consider a counsellor or therapist. A good therapist can be incredibly helpful to your quest of working through this, and they can help out with more grounding techniques.

I hope this helped! Stay strong, friend!