6 Ways to Overcome Panic
Panic is an emotion that everyone has felt at one time or another. Feeling panic is normal, but if panic is taking over your daily life, it’s time to take action to reduce it. Understanding what it is and what you can do about it can help immensely.
Panic serves a clear purpose in life. It gets your adrenaline pumping and allows you to act quickly to save yourself when you’re faced with danger. Humans are complex creatures, however, and your mind may create panic in situations where it wouldn’t help you.
Also, if these situations continue to arise, you may be dealing with a serious panic disorder, so please consult with your physician.
Here are some strategies that can help you overcome panic:
1. Breathe deeply. Deep breathing techniques can bring you a certain level of calm during any situation. When you start to feel panicked, you tense up and your breathing becomes quick or heavy.
- Take a moment to find your breath and take deep breaths in and out. The deep breathing will relax you and help you focus on taking in oxygen, instead of the stressful situation.
2. Watch your health. Your mental and physical health are all part of the same system. When you take care of yourself, many of your problems tend to right themselves. If you have a poor diet, lack exercise, or don’t sleep well, take action to correct these core problems. Doing this will often address your panic directly or indirectly.
3. Seek professional help. Discuss treatment options with your physician and naturopath. There are natural treatments available as well as several well-studied prescription medications that can help with your anxiety and panic concerns. Your doctor will know best if you’re a good candidate for these medications.
- Remember that you must always take a holistic approach that addresses the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of your health.
4. Address the problem. Try to locate the source of your panic. Are you only panicking in certain situations, or do you feel anxious at all times? If you can figure out the source of your panic, you can address the problem by facing your fear directly.
- Exercises to reduce your fears enable you to become more comfortable in situations that could set off a panic attack.
5. Deal with your stress. Panic is more likely to arise in a stressed mind. If you study certain relaxation methods, you can keep your stress level down and make it less likely for you to experience a panic attack.
- There are many relaxation methods for you to choose from that can keep you healthy and happy. Practicing yoga, daily meditation, prayer, and listening to soothing music are just a few ideas.
- One of the best stress relievers is to make time for yourself each and every day. This time gives you a chance to relax, rejuvenate, and continue your day with renewed positive energy.
6. Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Alcohol and caffeine can increase the frequency of panic attacks. To be on the safe side, avoid or limit their use. While this tip may not cure your symptoms, it can be an important factor for getting you back into a healthy mental state.
Getting Help
Panic and anxiety fears are quite common and there is no shame in getting help. Recognize the triggers and early signs of panic and start fighting it. When you do, you’ll feel free once again!
Declutter Your Life
Clutter is the curse of the disorganized. You can recognize disorganized people (or perhaps yourself) by the sea of papers and reports that flood their desks and the piles of “stuff” stacked in their offices. If you are drowning in a sea of clutter, there’s a good chance you need help getting organized.
At the root of a cluttered life is failure to create a system for decision making and task completion. The organizationally challenged tend to defer decisions which interferes with task completion. Disposing of an object, whether a report, correspondence, mail or bill, requires making decisions about what action to take and how to dispose of the item — whether to store, not store or pass it along. Without systems for automating and handling these tasks, decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis. Sheer volume eventually overwhelms a person’s ability to keep up and clutter starts to pile up.
As clutter builds, it serves as a constant reminder of uncompleted tasks which increases anxiety which makes decision making more difficult which leads to more clutter which … You get the idea. Disorganization feeds on itself in a vicious circle!
Have you ever noticed that when events in your life become overwhelming, clutter seems to pile up, even in the lives of generally organized people? A cluttered office or home can be the sign of a cluttered mind. When your mind becomes overwhelmed by extraordinary or unexpected events or simply from trying to juggle too many activities or responsibilities, you feel overwhelmed. You may lose focus or have trouble concentrating. Your mind is filled with “clutter.” All the “to dos” and “what ifs” are interfering with your ability to deal with life and take action.
Efficient decision making and task completion require systems that allow us to follow pre-determined patterns when dealing with similar items. You can learn to organize the “things” in your life; but if your efforts at organization always seem to fail, it can be a sign of a disorganized mental state. You may need the help of an experienced psychiatrist to unravel the cause and develop useful systems for handling stressful problems.
If clutter is burying you, Dr. Marks’ podcast How to Get Organized can show you how to sweep away the clutter and get organized. And if you need more, Dr. Marks can help.
Learning to Recognize Symptoms of Stress
The nagging headache starts at the office. You feel tired. You’re having trouble concentrating. Your productivity starts to suffer, and you begin to wonder if you’re coming down with the flu. By the time you get home you’re ready to tuck yourself into bed. The chills and fever never materialize but your symptoms don’t go away.
While persistent headaches, fatigue, frequent forgetfulness and decreased productivity can be signs of illness, stress is often the culprit. Stress can affect your body physically, can impair thoughts and emotions, and can impact behavior.
- Physically, excessive or long-term stress can cause headache, back pain, chest pain, high blood pressure, erratic heart beat, stomach and intestinal problems, and sleep problems. Persistent stress can decrease your immunity to disease and cause heart disease.
- Emotionally, persistent stress can cause anxiety, restlessness, excessive worry, irritability, sadness, anger, feelings of insecurity, inability to concentrate and forgetfulness. Left untreated, stress can lead to serious depression.
- Behavior changes associated with constant stress include overeating or undereating, problems managing and controlling anger, drug or alcohol abuse, increased smoking, social withdrawal, crying spells and relationship conflicts.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms of excessive or chronic stress, it is important to seek medical help. Naturally, a trip to your primary care physician to rule out and address any physical illness that may be responsible for your symptoms is in order. However, if chronic stress is the source of your symptoms, you will have to go beyond your primary care physician to cure what ails you.
Chronic stress can be treated and overcome and you can learn to live a happier, more balanced, relatively stress-free life. With the help and guidance of a psychiatrist experienced in stress management, you can learn to recognize your personal stressors and how they impact your life and health. Through cognitive-behavioral therapy, an experienced psychiatrist can help you learn to recognize and control your reaction to stress. With expert guidance, you can learn new techniques for responding to stressful situations and people. You don’t have to let control your life. With help, you can learn to control stress and regain control of your life.
Regaining Control of Our Anger
Has anger run amuck in America? We have always been a nation of strong opinions and diverse views, but it seems that the added stress of the economy is causing us to crack (read our Sept. 25 post). The problem with the nation’s rising anger is bedded more in emotion than reality.
Economic and government experts tell us that we will survive, that times will get better; and history tells us this is true. But so many of us have been struggling without jobs, without enough to pay our mortgages or support our families for so long, that, internally, emotionally, many of us have lost hope. We simply don’t believe that things will get better for “me.” And we’re angry about that. When events affect us personally, we’re unable to take the wider view. Constant stress turns our psyche brittle causing minor problems and small slights to elicit angry outbursts out of proportion to reality.
Poorly controlled anger fueled by anxiety and stress seems to be at the root of the pervasive rudeness that is sweeping across America. When fear and anxiety about the economy and its impact on our own lives becomes too great to handle, it either explodes outward as physical or verbal anger or is internalized as anxiety and depression. Anger needs an outlet, but unhealthy expressions of anger do not solve problems, they simply create additional problems.
There are always solutions to our problems, but there are many times, like today, when many of us may feel so overwhelmed by our problems that we cannot see those solutions. It is at times like this when many people need professional help and support from a board certified psychiatrist to cope with and find solutions to their problems. Under the direction of an experienced psychotherapist, psychodynamic therapy can help us uncover and understand the true sources of our anger and anxieties, the first step in changing destructive behavior patterns. Psychodynamic therapy is often used in concert with cognitive-behavioral therapy which can help individuals identify non-productive ways of coping with stress and anger and replace them with positive behaviors.
Are Americans Raging Out of Control?
“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore,” rants mad anchorman Howard Beale in the 1970’s movie satire Network. Beale’s nightly television rants inflame a nation of angry, frustrated citizens who have reached maximum overload and are fed up — with everything. Sound familiar? According to an article in the September 28, 2009 issue of Time magazine, pollster Frank Luntz surveyed 6,400 Americans earlier this year asking whether they agreed with Beale’s sentiment. A resounding 72% — 3 out of 4 — said yes.
The rude, angry tone in America today is the new hot media topic. Fanned 24/7 by the flames of ranting TV and radio hosts like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly, Americans are spewing anger and distrust.
- U.S. Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina shocked his colleagues and the nation when he yelled, “You Lie!” during President Obama’s nationally televised speech to Congress.
- Tennis diva Serena Williams unleashed a profanity-laced threat at a line judge during a U.S. Open semifinals match.
- Rapper Kanye West grabbed the microphone away from a startled Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for best female video at the Video Music Awards to declare that the winner should have been Beyonce.
Rudeness is a daily occurrence in any social community. The examples of bad behavior cited above received so much press because these people are supposed to be among our nation’s role models. Those who monitor the nation’s psychological temperature are concerned about the pervading lack of respect being expressed today. A 2002 Public Agenda survey found that 79% of Americans consider lack of respect a “serious national problem.”
Anger-fueled rudeness seems to be increasing along with a sense of personal entitlement. Fanned by the ravings of national pundits and the selfish examples set by national celebrities, frustrated by the slow economic recovery, angered by the excesses of Wall Street, worried about the growing national debt, and concerned about providing for themselves and their families, usually well-mannered people are starting to crack under the strain. Rabid behavior during Congressional town-hall meetings over health care reform is just one example of anger run amuck in America.
To be continued on Monday: Regaining Control of Our Anger
Stability, Not Marriage, Key to Kids’ Happiness
A new study by an Ohio State University researcher found that it is the stability of the parent and the home, not marital status, that determines whether divorced children will thrive and be happy. The study found that children who grow up with a single mother are as likely to succeed academically and socially as those who grow up in traditional married-couple homes if the parent is emotionally stable and the home environment is stable. Published in the book Marriage and Family: Perspectives and Complexities, the study bolsters support for single-parents, gay couples, children being raised by grandparents or relatives, and other non-traditional families.
“Kids like to know what to expect,” Claire Kamp Dush, OSU assistant professor of human development and family science and study author, told The Columbus Dispatch. She explained that creating family stability means maintaining the status quo. Study data indicate that single mothers who do not move in with a new partner or remarry create the most stable home environments for their children. When home life was stable, Kamp Dush found no difference in levels of academic achievement, cognitive stimulation, emotional support or behavioral problems between children from single-parent and traditional married-couple homes.
Some researchers see a connection between stability and financial resources. Many other studies have found differences between children’s welfare and happiness in single-parent and married-couple homes. Many of those differences are rooted in financial circumstances and quality of education. When poverty enters into the equation, it can tip the balance against stable home life.
Single mothers worried about finances are more likely to suffer anxiety, depression and other emotional problems that can significantly impair the stability of home life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 50% of children born to single mothers live below the poverty level. Statistics posted by The Heritage Foundation indicate that 35% of divorced mothers who receive child support and 42% of those who don’t live below the poverty line.
If you are struggling with single parenthood, a qualified psychiatrist like Dr. Tracey Marks can help you deal with the anger, anxiety, grief or depression you may be experiencing so that you can provide a stable home for your children.
Anxiety Nearly Ends News Anchor’s Career
Looks can be deceiving. Tune in perky Robin Meade on Headline News’ Morning Express With Robin Meade and you see a dynamic woman who appears supremely confident in her skills and abilities and definitely comfortable with herself. When someone achieves the level of national exposure Meade has earned, viewers expect nothing less. However, as Meade chronicles in her new book Morning Sunshine! How to Radiate Confidence and Feel It Too, the road to achievement is often fraught with disconcerting bumps that have the potential to derail our lives.
The cable television star nearly lost her career just as her star was rising. Having worked her way up through Ohio’s television markets, Meade earned at shot at the big time at a major Chicago station. It was there that the little butterflies in her stomach before a newscast blossomed into full-fledged panic attacks.
“I knew it wasn’t stage fright,” she said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. “I grew up singing in church — basically, I grew up on stage.” Yet, like many of us, Meade was reluctant to admit she was having trouble. “I just wasn’t very honest with myself,” she said. “I called it ‘the breathing problem.’ I was too embarrassed to face it.”
At the root of Meade’s severe anxiety were her efforts to constantly change to meet the demands of news directors and producers at the Chicago station. “I started filling the prescription of what many people thought was the perfect anchor. And I started to lose the real me,” she confided. Self doubt destroyed Meade’s self-confidence and nearly ended her television career.
At the insistence of her husband, Meade finally saw a doctor about her anxiety attacks. “I don’t think I’d ever have gotten help without him,” she confessed. “The same fears that led to my anxiety attacks were the same fears that kept me from asking for help.”
With therapy and a lot of hard work, Meade was able to restore her self confidence and develop new ways of processing and reacting to the demands of her job. Learning to be more assertive was crucial to managing her anxiety at work. (See Dr. Marks’ How to Be More Assertive podcast.) Meade hopes her book will help others conquer anxiety. She now greets viewers with renewed confidence when she smiles and says, “Good morning, sunshine.”
How to Tell When Sadness Becomes Depression
It’s hard not to feel depressed these days. We’re still digging ourselves out of the economic rubble, more soldiers are needed in Afghanistan and fires are raging across California. Then there’s the normal mayhem that parades across our TV screens on the local news every night. Unless these events intrude into our personal lives, however, they affect most of us only superficially. It’s when traumatic experiences become part of our personal daily experience that the risk of depression increases.
Unfortunately, the scope of today’s problems is so great that an unusually large number of people are coping with personal disasters like job loss, layoffs, home foreclosure, debt, illness, marital discord and other difficult life challenges. As time passes and these problems continue to eat away at us without solution, anxiety and grief for our losses intensifies. Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can overwhelm us. We blame ourselves and may even consider death or suicide. This is the risk and danger of depression.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 14.8 million adults experience a major depressive disorder, and an additional 3.3 million Americans suffer from mild or chronic depression. Since 1996, the number of Americans taking antidepressant drugs has increased by 100%. Many people who suffer from depression do not recognize that they have the illness and do not realize that they can recover with psychotherapy treatment directed by an experienced psychiatrist.
Depressed people feel overwhelmed by a life over which they feel they’ve lost control. They are exhausted by the struggle to solve problems for which they see no solution. They stop participating in their usual activities. They lose interest in activities that used to give them pleasure. They begin to withdraw from family and friends. When sadness or despair last more than two weeks or begin to interfere with the normal activities of daily living — working, eating, sleeping, family responsibilities — consider it a cry for help. Someone who is depressed may not recognize their need for help; and many are relieved when a family member, friend or co-worker steps in to offer assistance.
Depression can be treated successfully with competent care directed by an experienced psychiatrist. On Friday we’ll discuss successful treatments for depression. Click here to watch Dr. Tracy Marks’ helpful podcast on Depression and Anxiety Coping Strategies.
