Oh i totally understand me I get a panic attack over having a panic attack but just think nice thoughts this is what I do I say breathe in and out since having a panic attack makes you breathe fast and shake breathing in and out will help you your heart slow down and you won't feel nervous also talk to somebody you trust a lot and know or think to yourself why are you afraid of hospitals fear phobia or trauma . Good luck hun

Panic Attacks are not attacks, they are your body protecting you when you get scared, they are caused by you fearing fear. Fear is just a collection of bodily sensations (the symptoms of a body operating completely within normal operating parameters). If you dont fear the sensations, you wont fear the panic attacks and they will vanish, because without you fearing them, they will have no purpose to be present. Yes they make your heart pound, yes they make you dizzy, yes they make you sweat, yes they make your head throb, yes they make your vision heave, yes they make your skin tingle, burn or crawl, yes they make you feel disconnected ... but none of these are dangerous in any way.
They are anatomically identical to the changes you go through when you get excited, they are powered by the same chemical, which affects the same organs in the same proportions in the same way.

They are identical to the physical changes you would get if you found out you won the lottery (yes IDENTICAL), if you won a television game show, or if you were exercising a good session at the gym, and justy like being at the gym strengthens your heart muscles and fine tunes your circulation, panic attacks do exactly the same thing, they make your heart stronger.

Why do we get them initially? Because the body is clever it recognises need to purge ourselves of the stress chemicals we build up during the day, that's why you got your first panic attack, because you had built up stress chemicals, the body has ONLY one way of getting rid of them, and that is to initiate an adrenaline purge (a panic attack) we either had too much work on our plate or led too much of a sedentary lifestyle, or ate too many 'bad' processed foods, worried about stuff that should not have been worried about, had a genuine trauma, sleepless nights due to children ... whatever.

If we knew this prior, we would not have started with the what-if thoughts, what if I die? (fast beating heart) what if i'm going mad (vision going wobbly etc).

The body was tring to help up, but we misread the signals because no one told us before hand. The body is CONSTANTLY trying to help you by getting rid of the excess adrenaline, but we resist it, we fear it and thus produce more of this chemical.

Acceptance is letting the body get rid of the adrenaline without resisting it, acceptance is letting the body cure itself (that's all its tring to do ... ALL THIS TIME).

Why do you get it more than others (because you are more creative, your what if thoughts are more detailed). That's all. You are smartly tring to dig your way out of a hole that doesn't exist. That's why you have this. You are not in a hole, you are not in anything. In the entire notion of anxiety and panic there is no defect. Ill repeat that ... Your body has NO DEFECTS, your mind has NO DEFECTS.

To let anxiety flow is to let the cure come to you.

Let it go, let it flow, nothing is ever going to happen to you, there is nothing behind this fear, there is nothing beyond this fear, nothing below it, nothing above it, nothing in it. Just the body prpoducing some feelings that you can interpret any way you want.

Anxiety is nothing but the body curing itself.

That's why panic happens.

That's why acceptance works.

Brilliant Chris! Thanks so much for this and your Claire Weekes thread as well. Incredibly helpful.