Simple answer … You do! Why?
If you suffer from panic attacks then I urge you to think about this and constantly remind yourself what causes your panic attack, or more accurately, what triggers it. Make no bones about it, I know exactly how it feels, when it happens it can be traumatic, the physical symptoms are real, they are happening. Despite this, everything needs a trigger. If I fall off of a ladder and break my leg because I forgot to tie my shoe laces then it wasn’t the shoe that caused the leg to break, that was just the result of me being careless. Now this might sound like a pointless thing to say but bear with me because it is extremely relevant.
The trouble with us anxiety sufferers is we are so caught up in the fear of having another panic attack that we lose sight of reality. Yes the symptoms are real, yes it seems like you have no control over them, the heart might be racing, the numbness, the dizziness and fear of passing out, the real physical pains, none of those things are imagination, they are real alright, but just like the broken leg, something has to cause it to happen. Something causes your panic attacks and this is the trigger for the physical outcome. No trigger, no outcome, that’s pretty simple. So how do we trigger them?
There’s only one way to trigger a panic attack and that is to simply expect one in the first place, even if you don’t realise you are thinking about it, rest assured you are even if it’s within your subconscious. The physical symptoms makes it very easy to think that you have a medical illness and so believing that you think your way into an attack is easily dismissed. This causes you to have doubts that this problem is caused psychologically. If you were utterly convinced that it was your mind that causes a panic attack without any doubts, then you would be well on your way to curing your anxiety once and for all. Don’t forget this, it’s the doubt that won’t let it go.
It’s easy to prove that it’s only your thoughts that lead to a panic attack. Depending on how much you can remember, try tracing back to your first panic attack, try to remember exactly how it happened and how all the consequent ones came about. Now forget about the first one, it could have been anything but you can bet your bottom dollar it was the frightening experience of the first one that never allowed you to forget it.
Look for the patterns, how and when they got worse, what you were thinking at the time etc etc. If it was some time ago then chances are you won’t remember a lot but if you do then you should see a pattern emerge, how each attack was feeding your thoughts and adding fuel for the rest of them. More fear, more remembering, more avoidance and so on. Most of us sufferers can find a pattern, first it’s only in the supermarket, then it’s in the car, then on a plane, then walking to the shops, or standing in a queue. After having an attack in a specific place for the first time, almost guarantees we have them again when we go back to that place or do that certain thing, so we avoid it.
Nearly all my anxiety attacks were in the same places or doing the same things. This would just so happen to be in all the places I least would want one, i.e., anywhere I couldn’t walk away from, or get out of easily, anywhere that would cause humiliation or embarrassment or anywhere that it meant I had to come clean and tell someone. For the first year or two I got them nowhere else. It would only be in a queue, in a shop, in a car or on a train. A few years of this and it becomes easy to forget that it only ever happened in certain places or at certain times.
As time goes on and anxiety starts to take you over they get more random and can happen anywhere. Eventually you are in a mess that you can’t escape from. If you are a long term sufferer then they are probably much worse now than they used to be. Where you are now has been a natural progression, nothing has changed from the first ones that only happened in certain places. The only thing that’s different is it has consumed you. You now think about it and fear it continuously. You forgot how it progressed.
If this was a medical illness it would have killed you by now, it would have been discovered by now and above all it would never have only affected you when you were in a place that you couldn’t escape from or could have gotten embarrassed or whatever your fears may be. This is not a disease, it is a natural progression of your inability to clear your mind and forget all about them. Once you can see this and believe it you can finally let go and realise that your panic attacks can be gone for good. I know it’s easier said than done but all that’s required is belief and willpower. You already have all the proof you need, it’s your job to see it for what it is.
