Overcoming social anxiety panic attacks can be an embarrassing and psychologically crippling experience for anyone. Millions of people all around the world suffer from anxiety of crowds, flying, driving, public speaking, even something as basic as socializing can bring on an anxiety or panic attack and ruin your day. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is unfortunately something that many people have to live with every day, but thankfully there exist some basic approaches to help you reduce the effects of an anxiety or panic attack..
Overcoming social anxiety has been one of the hardest things for me to deal with in my life. Luckily I am a very logic oriented person, and I have to admit it has done wonders for me in helping reduce the severity of my anxiety and panic attacks. When you are able to rationally explain the situation to yourself and present it to your mind in a manner that reaffirms your safety and that you have nothing to be fearful of, the overall effect and intensity of your attacks decreases significantly. The more emotional you are the worse it gets. You have to try and stay as cool and calm as you can while you analyze the situation to reassure your safety.
An anxiety attack will simulate feelings and reactions in your body that mimic a state of imminent danger and make you feel like you are in a hazardous environment. So the first and most important thing I do to calm myself down, is look around and survey the environment. Reassure yourself that there aren’t any real dangers threatening you and that you are in a safe place. Once you make that logical conclusion turn to your body and notice your physical reactions i.e. sweating, increased heart rate, shaking, weak knees, heavy breathing, shortness of breath, blurry vision etc. Making your body consciously acknowledge these two facts, will help your mind create a logical link between the actual situation and your reaction to it. The resulting comparison of information will allow your mind to understand that it is overreacting and help you gradually bring your panic attack to a stop. Although the feelings brought on by an anxiety attack can be overwhelming and even make you feel like you are dying, understand that your body is simply reacting to your fear and that you’re physically safe.
Some people actually have no idea exactly what it is that triggers their anxiety panic attack. It just happens and they have to deal with it. On the other hand those who have experienced them more frequently may have a good idea of exactly when and where to expect one. If you find you fall under the second group of people and have to go somewhere or do something, which you know has a high probability of starting an attack. I recommend you ask somebody whom you trust to accompany you and be there to comfort and reassure you through your difficulty. It is imperative to remember that no matter what happens you’re safe and you can deal with the situation. Even if you find it embarrasses you, or temporarily frightens you. It is only momentary, and everything will return to normal as soon as it is over.
This last piece of advice might be hard to swallow, but the truth is that the more you avoid a particular situation which creates anxiety, the more you exaggerate that it somehow poses a threat to you and the worse it gets. If you’re in that second group of people and you know exactly which situations bring on your anxiety. You should consider yourself lucky. Can you imagine if it were absolutely random every time? Now that… that would be hell. So if you know what you have to deal with, what it is, where it is and when it is. I strongly urge you, every now and then to voluntarily place yourself in that environment and try to accustom yourself, your mind and your body together. Allow yourself to soak in slowly until you can overcome the experience. Don’t push yourself at first. Take baby steps. If you feel yourself getting too anxious to fast, leave the situation and return once you have composed yourself to try again. With practice and careful repetition you’ll find that approaching the problem in this way rather than avoiding the situation entirely by hiding at home will help you significantly overcome your anxiety disorder.
Stay in touch!