Coping Mechanisms For Panic Attacks And Anxiety

In my previous post, "You Want to Get Rid of Panic Attacks? Do This!" I shared the idea that doing nothing was the best thing I could do to calm down. The reason for this was that I found by not doing anything about it, I was giving my body the message that there was no threat to run from, no danger; that it was safe to feel safe. But how did I find that out?

If you go anywhere online, you will find that mostly everyone provides similar coping mechanisms: walking, breathing, distracting yourself, and for the most part, even unconsciously, I did all of them. At the beginning, they worked, but with time, in my experience, some of them started losing their effectiveness as my body got used to and adapted to them. It was like it would be saying to itself, "Oh, he is doing that coping mechanism again, we are probably in danger. Let's prepare," and I found that by trying most of them, starting with walking.

It was during the pandemic that we experienced a significant disruption to our social connections. I believe this had a profound impact on us as human beings and on the world as we knew it. Take working from home, for instance.

My brother passed away during the pandemic. I had very limited social interactions — the real, face-to-face kind — as I was working from home and attending all meetings online.

It became common for my mind to wander while I was trying to concentrate, and I would have fearful thoughts such as "What if I have a panic attack now?" and "What would I do if I had one and I was alone?". I remember being on calls where this pattern would take over, and I would need to leave mid-call to go for a walk. Interestingly, almost every time I obsessively checked my pulse, it triggered a panic attack.

When this started happening regularly, I assumed that the safest option was to go for a walk in case I had a panic attack. That way, someone would be able to help me and take me to hospital if necessary, and someone could inform my wife.

This worked for a while, but then I started noticing that, over the next few times I went for a walk to calm down, my heart rate was not decreasing as much or as quickly as before. Why? Probably because my body got used to it and started to associate walking with danger. This makes sense when you think about it. If I was signalling danger, why would my body want to stop the panic attack? I needed to be prepared to run or escape, didn't I? My body was just doing what it needed to keep me safe from the danger I thought was there. So I needed to do something else. Maybe a distraction?

Now that I knew walking around the block was ineffective, I added distractions to my coping strategy. I mostly went to YouTube to find funny videos that would take me out of the spiral of fearful thoughts I was experiencing. Videos of people burping and farting did the trick (I still find them hilarious today!). They worked because the video would get more attention than the panic attack, which would eventually subside and allow my heart rate to return to normal. What? Was I controlling my heart rate again? Yes, it took me longer to stop doing that, but I'll share that story another time.

As with walking, watching videos eventually became less effective, so I went online to find a more effective way of coping with panic attacks and anxiety. And I found it, right?

If you go online to find the best ways to cope with anxiety and panic attacks, you most likely find breathing being the most recommended. I had been doing the Wim Hof Method breathing on and off for a couple of years already, and so it made sense. The first one I found was box breathing, which essentially is 4-4-4-4:

4 sec. Inhale 4 sec. Hold 4 sec. Exhale 4 sec. Hold

I remember one day, after returning from a hike, I had a severe panic attack that lasted for hours. I did the box breathing technique all the way back, but it wasn't working, so I decided to use the Wim Hof Method to calm down, as it had calmed me down in the past (i still do it and its amazing! I just wouldn't do it if I experienced a panic attack). This time, however, the opposite happened! I became more anxious and stressed. I was sure that was it.

It was one of the most difficult panic attacks I have ever experienced, but it made me realise what I was doing wrong.

While experiencing panic attacks, I realised that coping mechanisms did help, but they were certainly not the ultimate solution. When it comes to anxiety and panic attacks, I believe that, rather than labelling them as “coping mechanisms”, these are practices that must be integrated into our everyday life in order to develop the resilience of our minds and bodies so that they are able to handle whatever life puts in front of us. It's a shift from being reactive to being preventive.

It has been a long journey for me to discover all these methods, tools and habits (breath work, Faster EFT, tapping, cold exposure and others), and I'm still on it. I will share them with you one by one, along with my experiences of using and implementing them, in the hope that they will help you become stronger and more resilient. Remember, we are all different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Anxiety and panic are NOT the enemy. They help us to protect ourselves from possible dangers, so rather than trying to get rid of them, we should listen to them and learn to work with them. They are part of us and one of the best tools for achieving peace. Who would have thought?

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