6 Ways to Treat Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety attacks can be terrible, yet you can take solace in the fact that most episodes are not dangerous and settle within 30 minutes. Reaching the peak within first 10 minutes, the attack fades away bit by bit.

Anxiety attacks are harmless, but left untreated, they become persistent and affect the normalcy of life. It is at this stage, that an anxiety attack becomes serious.

Thankfully, several options are available today to treat anxiety attacks. Here are 6 of the best known anxiety attack treatments.

Breathing Exercises

Also known as pranayama yoga, breathing exercises are one of the most efficient non-medication options to manage anxiety attacks. Normally, we breathe subconsciously and often use only 33% of lung capacity.
Deep, correct and mindful breathing slows down the pounding heart, calms down nerves and unstrains strained muscles back into their normal restful mode. With deep breathing, mind attends completely to the breathing process and attention from the “trigger” is distracted which stops the anxiety attack even faster. What is pranayama?.

Meditation

Meditation is an ancient method known to lower stress and reduce anxiety. Meditation raises ‘Yang’ or positive energy, lessens ‘Yin’ or negative energy and in this process replaces fear with hope and pessimism with optimism. Meditation is for everybody and it is as simple as deep breathing or to listen to a simply moving piece of music. Simplest definition of meditation is living in the now. ‘How to do meditation.’

Medicinal Herbs

Herbs such as  Ginseng, Kava kava,  Ashwagandha, Valerian,  Zizyphi seed , Lemon balm, Iligustrum, GLA, Catnip, St. John’s Wort, Bugleweed, passion flower, lavender and Chamomile are considered to be safe and effective treatment for anxiety attacks. They are non addictive and have no dangerous side effects typically associated with prescription medicine. Herbs may not work as dramatically as their medical counterparts but overall, they are as effective but not as harmful.

Prescription Medicines

Medicines are the most widely used mode of treatment to eliminate the symptoms of anxiety attacks. Note that prescription medicines work on symptoms – not on the root  cause of anxiety attacks.
Antidepressant drugs are well known as treatment for anxiety but they need to be taken for life and results might show only after more than a month of regular intake. Benzodiazepines, Beta-blockers and SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are different types of drugs commonly prescribed for anxiety treatment. These drugs work on anxiety symptoms in different ways but all have many side effects.

Self-hypnosis

Despite a complex name, Self hypnosis simply describes a state of total relaxation and means to attain it. Self hypnosis is applied to direct your subconscious mind to center inward and attain a state of total calm. It is very efficient to avert disturbing thoughts and contain body’s reaction to those thoughts.

During an anxiety attack, follow these 3 easy steps to calm down immediately.

1. Take a seat or lie down, relax, close your eyes and imagine a wave of relaxation going through your body. Starting from top of head, feel this wave go down to forehead, eyes, cheeks, neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, pelvis, thighs, calves and all the way down to toes and out of your body, deep in earth.

2. Use self-suggestion to intensify the state of relaxation. Chant  repeatedly “I am relaxed and I am comfortable.”

3. Once you are completely relaxed and focused on your own suggestions, you are in a state of self hypnosis, and the anxiety attack has been taken care of.

Therapies

Exposure therapy as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are known as very effective treatments for anxiety attacks.

In exposure therapy, as the name suggests, you are exposed to your fears in a safe, controlled environment. Repeated exposure to fears improves self control and self-belief of patient in managing like situations in life.

CBT focuses on directing your thoughts mindfully to come out of negative thinking patterns. CBT uses techniques like role playing and relaxation. One important benefit of CBT is that it can be delivered via a computer very effectively. Medical trials of CCBT (Computerised CBT) have proven so effective in Britain that in 2006, “UK’s National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended that CCBT be made available for use within the NHS across England and Wales, for patients presenting with mild/moderate depression, rather than immediately opting for antidepressant medication.”