Celebrating Victories to Prevent Future Attacks

Video Transcript

"Hi this is Ben Brennan from Austin, Texas. I'm coming to you on behalf of Expert Village and today we're going to be talking about panic attacks. Now I'd like to talk to you about celebrating your victories as a way of reducing future panic attack occurrences. One of the hallmarks of experiencing panic attacks is feeling defeated after an attack hasn't occurred. There are some relief when the attack subsides but we're left with a feeling of being defeated and we usually consider it being a bad thing that we had that panic attack. The downside of this thinking is that it leads us to feeling less powerful and less in control in our body's and actually being in little control or having no control over our body's is one of the most frightening things about a panic attack. And so this can actually lead to future panic attacks triggering because of the fear or this loss of control. So thinking positively is crucial to feeling more powerful and more in control of your body. A great way to accomplish this is to really celebrate each time a panic attack ends. You made it through, you feel like you're going to die, you feel like the walls are closing in, but that feeling has abated now and you're able to calm yourself down in a situation which initially felt like relaxation was impossible. This is especially affected when you've been actively working on your own plan to reduce the severity of your panic attacks. Your goal was to bring your panic attack to an end and you did it. Now be creative on how you reward yourself. You can reward yourself in any way whether it is buying something, treating yourself to a walk, a day at the movies, anything that is special to you. You deserve it, you're working hard and you deserve to celebrate defeating this panic attack just like you would any other victory."