Panic-anxiety-depression cycle

[Dude5]

Hello, I’m 22 years old and I have been struggling with panic attacks for a little over 2 years now. It started with just panic attacks then some anxiety. Now my anxiety is pretty bad. Lately I feel like I get in a cycle that I can’t break and I’m wondering if anyone else gets like this or has some help or ideas on what I could do... So I fear panic attacks then I get very very anxious thinking/worrying about getting one, then I get wicked down on myself because of how anxious I am and how there are days I can’t seem to live a normal life and I have to worry about “nothing” all the time, and then I get into a depression because of all of that. I sort of spiral out of control pretty quickly into a depression and don’t know how to prevent it from happening or how to get out of it when it does happen... FYI I see a therapist once a week and started taking Zoloft two weeks ago. Hope you can offer some advice. Thanks.

[CatIsMyCopilot]

I get in a similar cycle with anxiety and depression (minus the panic attacks) so I feel for you. Has your therapist helped suggesting better coping mechanisms for the panic/anxiety? Generally exposure (i.e. experiencing attacks) can be good, as long as you are getting better at coping and using helpful methods. I used self-help books at first to learn some good methods, and now I also go to therapy.

[Sabio77]

@dude5, I'm glad you reached out on this site. nice to meet you. you are not alone. many people go thru this cycle. I have overcome such thing myself. it is a process that takes discipline and determination. here is what worked for me, may it will for you too. Whenever I felt those negative thoughts invading my mind, I began one by one telling myself, "not today, I am better than that". I was taking control of my thought process. so one at a time, one day at a time, did I begin to feel stronger, and change my thought process. changing the negative into a positive by changing my thoughts. I took deep breaths, drank water, stepped outside for fresh air, wrote a journal, played the piano, did some gardening and even started walking around the block. I changed the negative to positive things. I even changed the foods I ate to help keep my body feeling better. its amazing what foods can do to help you feel better. I hope this helps you my friend.

[Dude5 in reply to Sabio77]

Thank you so much for responding to me. this response, from someone who went through something similar, gives me the confidence to try it. I will definitely be doing all of that and look forward to doing my best to beat this... Thank you

[Sabio77 in reply to Dude5]

Hi @dude5. How his your day going? have you tried any of the things we talked about? there are so many ways that a person can naturally counter act such negativity. if you would like to you reach out to me, I can share more details with you. think about what you would like to talk about and we can go from there. I speak from experience, im not a dr of any kind. so what works for me is only a suggestion for you to try and if you want to do it. ok.. Hope to hear from you soon.