How to Stop an Anxiety Attack

An anxiety attack, in my definition, is when you're overwhelmed with stress, fear or anxiety, you may feel panicky or your anxiety is so strong and the physical symptoms are so intense that you can’t function very well. This video is going to teach you the psychology behind calming anxiety attacks and give you a ton of tools to try so that you can create your custom plan to stop anxiety attacks. If you're right in the middle of an anxiety attack and just want to be walked through one simple version of the process check out my other video- A guided walkthrough to calm anxiety attacks. This video is more educational in nature, you’ll learn a bunch of options that you can learn and apply to anxiety attacks later. Panic attacks and anxiety attacks have a lot of overlapping symptoms, and people use these terms interchangeably, but there are essentially two different pathways to treating them (rolling with them, or calming down your body). I teach option #1 in my video series on how to stop a panic attack. In today’s video I’m going to teach you a ton of options for pathway #2- the calm down approach to anxiety attacks. My goal is to teach you a bunch of tools, then you can try them and find the one that works for you in the long run. If you have chronic panic attacks and trying to control your breathing or calm down makes you feel worse, then definitely watch my other videos on how to stop panic attacks. https://youtu.be/wR8oKZ5qTfk 1. Understand what feeds anxiety attacks. This short term emotion of anxiety is not the problem. Don't be afraid of anxiety, and don’t struggle to make anxiety go away immediately. This actually makes things worse. 2. Slow down instead of speed up 3. Anxiety isn’t just in your head, it’s in your body, so when you’re super upset, the body is the gateway to resolving anxiety. 4. Remind yourself that you are safe 5. The real problem here is not that you have emotions, or that you have an anxiety attack, the real problem is that you don’t have a system to resolve anxiety, so it’s building up and boiling over. The real problem is that you haven't developed a sustainable way to manage stress in your life

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services.