I am mostly looking for healthy ways to cope with stressful situations. what do you do when the panic kicks?
If I’m in panic mode, I focus on being fully present without thoughts. So if I’m home, I might start to clean, or make tea or just any activity that I can wholly focus on without thinking about what I’m doing. When I’m not in a panic, deep breathing usually helps. I try to meditate throughout the week when I’m not anxious to help with practicing staying present when the panic and anxiety does come.
For somatic regulation: breathing and progressive muscle relaxation
For mental regulation: first, noticing what’s going on and naming it. Then stopping the thinking (which is a process) and examining thoughts (snapshots of the process of thinking). You don’t want to push the thoughts away (hence the differentiation between thinking as a process that can be stopped and thoughts as snapshots to be examined).
For example: I feel really anxious a couple of hours before an event and don’t want to go. First, I notice it and name it (“Ok, I’m noticing I’m feeling anxious, especially tight in my chest, and it’s hard to breathe”). Then, I do some deep breathing for 2 minutes or so. Finally, I visualize a stop sign (it’s just something that works for me) and try to identify and challenge my thoughts.
Let’s say I’m thinking “No one there likes me anyway, why go” - I might change that to “Realistically, I know at least one person there doesn’t mind hanging out with me. I really don’t know what everyone else thinks about me, and I might as well not make assumptions. This is a good opportunity for me to practice my skills. It’s scary, and I can do this.”
I really apprechiate that insight. thank you for shareing :)
You’re very welcome. I love hearing from everyone on here.
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i tend to use fidget toys to give me some sensory input on my skin. and then try to get into a quiet spot on my own asap! breathing exercises have helped a lot too. and if im still in a head space where i think rationally, i start describing my surroundings. like three things i can see. two things i can hear, one thing i can smell. its distraction of my brain that sometimes works, or at least buys me enough time to get into “savety”. after i spend some alone time i sometimes even reenter the social situation. tbf that mostly happends in my own apartment where i feel save ^^
