If you know someone who suffers from panic attacks it is good that you know how to help them: here’s how you can do it.
Mental health plays a really big role in everyday life. It is precisely for this reason that it is essential to know what one is dealing with in the event that a person suffers from a particular ailment.
Panic attacks are very intense emotional experiences characterized by a series of physical and psychological symptoms that can be not only unpleasant but debilitating for the sufferer. Many suffer from it, but perhaps few really know what to do when a loved one is suddenly seized by such an unexpected event.
Indeed, often the person who finds himself in this situation does not know the techniques to be able to calm down on his own, so it is essential that those around him are able to help him.
How you can help someone suffering from panic attacks: the steps
First of all in order to be of concrete help a person needs to be able to identify when a panic attack is about to occur, being aware that it is a phenomenon that usually arrives in a very short timeso you have to be ready to react.
There are some signs that anticipate the culmination of the attacks and among them we find:
- Tachycardia and a sense of tightness in the chest
- Excessive sweating
- Trembling and dry mouth
- A feeling of suffocation
- Tingling in hands or feet
- a strong nausea
- Feeling confused, lost, and detached from one’s surroundings
- Unmotivated fear of being able to “go crazy”, “die” or that “something terrible” is happening.
Also, if you are able to identify the reason that triggered a panic attack, you might be able to put the person who is suffering as comfortable as possible. If the cause, for example, is an object or a situation, one could easily distance the person from them.
When it is now clear that a panic attack is about to arise, it is important to remain as calm as possible to being able to be of real support to the person. First what you can do is address her with a reassuring tone, but that does not reveal any fear or agitation. Of course it is out of the question to play down his fearsas if it were a trifle – if you were in his place you certainly wouldn’t want to hear phrases like “you’re exaggerating”.
Finally you can help the person who is facing the panic attack explaining to her some techniques for controlling her breathing so that it settles down. Together, then, you can wait for this negative moment to pass.