How to Deal with Anxiety Attacks

The following is a series of coping tools to show you how to deal with anxiety attacks WHILE they are happening.

The resources provided here are not intended to diagnose or treat any medical or mental health conditions. If you are experiencing symptoms of anxiety, it’s important to discuss these symptoms with your doctor or contact us for evaluation and possible treatment with a mental health care provider. Treatment for anxiety conditions. can be provided online, without the use of medication if you wish to do so.

Anxiety attacks and panic attacks are NOT the same thing

Someone with a panic attack thinks they’re dying or going crazy. Someone with an anxiety attack feels like they are cracking under the overwhelm of life.

How to Deal with Anxiety Attacks Using the 3 R’s

If you want to know, not only how to deal with anxiety attacks in the present, but also to decrease the likelihood of more anxiety attacks in the future, it’s important to Redirect… Rest…  and Reflect.

Step 1. Redirect

In the moment of an anxiety spiral, the first step is to give your brain something neutral, non-threatening, or soothing to focus on.

I-Spy Colors

1. Look around wherever you are

2. Choose one color you see in multiple objects around you

3. Count all the things you can find around you that are that same color

4. Repeat as needed with other colors until you feel your body begin to settle

Soothing Touch

1. Find an external sensation you find soothing to the touch. This will depend largely on where you are when the anxiety attack is happening. Here are a few examples:

   •  At work, you might go to the bathroom and put your hands under running water in the sink.

   • At home, you might pet your cat or dog or go take a shower.

   • Worst case scenario, you might lie down on a cool tile floor or a soft rug.

2. Describe what it feels like to the touch. What’s the temperature? It it firm or solid or fluid or soft? Is the pressure greater in one area and lesser in another. Focus on the soothing sensations of touch.

Breathing

1. Choose something around you to focus your eyes on, it doesn’t have to be relaxing, it can be anything you feel drawn to look at (i.e. I see a stapler on my desk)

2. Breathe in SLOWLY for 4 seconds

3. HOLD for 1 second

4. Breathe out SLOWLY for 6 seconds

5. Repeat for several minutes, counting as you focus your attention on the object you chose

Step 2. Rest

After an anxiety attack, the body is tired and in need of rest. Your body has just launched a survival response, complete with cortisol and adrenaline, and used up a lot of energy in the process. If you find yourself crying during or after an anxiety attack, this is also normal. Research has shown that our tears actually contain cortisol and are a part of the body’s natural method of releasing cortisol from the body.

Afterward, it’s normal to feel tired or fatigued. If possible, practice self-compassion about these feelings and allow yourself a bit of time to rest before moving on to the next task or activity in your life. You may find you need a nap or even just 5 to 15 minutes to sit and breathe before moving on. A crucial step for how to deal with anxiety attacks is to give your body and your brain some time to reset.

Step 3. Reflect

Learning how to deal with anxiety attacks is all about being proactive in working on your anxiety when you’re NOT in crisis mode. Taking some time to stop and reflect on what brought on the rush of feelings and beginning to work out next steps to deal with your anxiety can give you a sense of control and predictability. This way, you’ll have a better sense of when it may happen again and how you want to respond if it does. In other words, the best strategy for how to deal with anxiety attacks is to get at the root of what’s causing them, and be proactive about it.

Therapy Can Teach You How to Deal With Anxiety Attacks (and how to have less of them)

As Anxiety Specialists, our CBT therapists can be particularly helpful with this last step. If you have a history of anxiety or panic, a therapist can help you figure out what’s triggering the anxiety attack as well as plans for how to cope with an anxiety attack. Better yet, cognitive behavioral therapy includes techniques as part of anxiety treatment that can reduce or eliminate anxiety attacks for you, altogether. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you stop anxiety attacks moving forward, and let us teach you how to deal with anxiety attacks in the mean time. We’d be honored to help.

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We can help.

If you or someone you love is struggling with anxiety, please reach out. We offer anxiety treatment with CBT Therapists in Orlando and online throughout the state of Florida. Call today or send us your info and we’ll reach out for a free consultation to see if one of our therapists would be a good fit.