Posted by F43 on November 20, 2009 at 05:14:06:

In Reply to: Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) posted by Jim2 on November 20, 2009 at 01:32:37:

I like Jim's response, and that's what I've experienced. Can I add to his suggestion to "work on letting the thought in, expect it, and feel the anxiety?"

You mentioned that your body goes into panic. That's exactly what's happening: it's a very strong, involuntary somatic response at this point. It doesn't matter what triggered the panic; your body has taken over. The body is where it's happening. I've had panic attacks that sometimes went on for 5 hours. A therapist taught me a response that took away the alarm from the panic response.

This woman describes this response as a form of acceptance, what you might practice if you were on a bus, and a passenger who's loud and obnoxious gets on and sits near you. You don't like the other passenger, his presence is causing you some distress, but you still have to take the bus to your destination. So you just "say" to the passenger, "Okay unpleasant passenger, I can see that you've joined me on this bus. I don't like you and I wish you weren't here, but we'll just ride this bus together until you get off at your stop." And you just kind of let the unpleasant passenger do its own thing, until he gets off.

Similarly with the panic response. You accept that it's happening and acknowledge it. "Oh, I'm having a panic response / attack. Okay, now I can expect a racing heart, rushing sensation to my head, numb lips, trembling..." Then you greet the panic response and welcome it. "Hello panic, I see you've come to join me for a little while. Okay, settle in and do your thing. I'm going to sit back while you take over. I'll do some deep breathing, inhale some lavender. You take your time, and when you're finishing, I know you'll leave."

This way, you're not fighting the panic response; you're accepting it as there for a while. Once it gets rolling, you might as well let it do its thing, and adopt a calm acceptance about it. I was amazed how doing this derailed the power that the panic response had over me.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) electracat 10:24 11/20/09 (2)
  • Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) Jim2 12:39 11/20/09 (1)
    • Re: Question for Jim (and anyone else) F43 14:47 11/20/09 (0)

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