How to Overcome Panic Attacks - Breaking the Vicious Loop of Panic and Overcoming Panic Attacks

I know the intentions were good, but the help and advice I got for how to overcome panic attacks, from people who didn't suffer from them, was just rubbing salt into the wound. It's no good trying to overcome fear, when your biggest fear is the fear of fear itself.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. You say your worried about flying, and they just tell you that's irrational, they run off loads of numbers and statistics to convince you that flying is the safest transport in the world. Thanks, I already knew that. But what do the statistics say about the chances that somebody who suffers from panic attacks, will get an attack, while flying? It's the bit they don't understand.

At least with flying people accept that you might have fear, you just can't explain to people how you can get an attack in a supermarket, or just sitting at home.

My doctor was very sympathetic, but you could tell he didn't really understand the issue, he just knew the textbook solution. Tranquilizers. OK, drugs can help you stop a panic attack, if you take enough of them you end being so drowsy you don't feel anything. But then you can't drive, or work, and you never get any enjoyment out of anything.

But I found the worst bit was trying to stop using them just made things worse. If I didn't take the medication, then I was afraid that I would get an attack, and the anxiety of getting a panic attack just made the attack more real, I got more anxious about the fact I didn't have the medication to help me through the attack.

It always boiled down to the same thing, the slightest fear or doubt, however minimal, just creates more anxiety, the fear of the attack itself. It's just a vicious loop of self generated anxiety.

I found lot's of things that helped, and they did help with avoiding panic attacks, or getting through them. But they didn't eliminate them. The big question for me was how to overcome panic attacks, how to eliminate them.

It was the Internet that taught me how to overcome panic attacks. When I started surfing I could find so much more information than before, I was no longer limited to the advice of my friends and local doctors, who didn't suffer from these attacks themselves.

On the Internet, I found people who have been through the same nightmare, people who could explain what is happening, people who had been through it all themselves. Understanding what's actually happening was the key to being able to eliminate them, and leading a normal life again.

There is one key factor that makes the difference between those who fully eliminate panic attacks from their lives and those who do not. The key ingredient is not medication, lifestyle changes, or relaxation exercises.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Richards

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3664942