How to Reduce the Severity of Panic 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. Okay, now I'd like to talk to you about preventing panic attacks by building a support system. Now what I mean by support system is a network or a group of friends or family members, loved ones, spouse, even your children or your parents. Anyone who you feel comfortable in sharing personal things with and who you feel is trustworthy enough to help you out in a difficult time. Now a lot of people that I've talked to who are suffering from panic attacks, feel like no one understands them. They feel like no one could possibly understand what they're going through. They might be in a room having a panic attack and another family member is in that room and the family member might see them breathing heavy or may notice that they have a rapid heart beat but that's all they notice while internally that person who is experiencing the panic attack may feel literally like they're going to die. They may feel like the walls are closing in, they may feel like they have no control over their body and this can be frightening. And I've often found that these individuals when they do end up telling their friends or their family about what they're experiencing, two things usually happen; first the family members and the friends are relieved to have the information to know what to do to finally help with this problem rather than sitting idly by and feeling helpless to help the one that they love. Secondly, once you can talk openly about panic attacks with the loved ones, this will help end most of the devastation about the psychological damage that made panic attacks scary for most people."