The goal of this article is to reach those who are searching, “how to stop a panic attack,” and to help them understand what panic attacks are, how long they last, and what to do if you or a loved one is having one. It is recommended that you first check with a medical professional for screening, testing, and any evaluation for physical and medical causes that may best explain the causes of these panic attacks. Ruling out physical and medical causes is priority when it comes to understanding such bodily sensations.
What Is a Panic Attack?
A panic attack is an abrupt sensation of intense fear that reaches a peak within minutes and then begins to subside. It usually lasts anywhere between 20 to 35 minutes, although in some cases, it can last an hour or longer. It can occur in response to a stressful situation or out of nowhere. Repeated panic attacks that occur unpredictably and are associated with fear of future attacks typically fall under the category of a panic disorder.
The fear associated with a panic attack may include a sense that something terrible or catastrophic is happening or will happen and that your life or physical well-being is somehow in jeopardy to that danger.
What Does an Anxiety or Panic Attack Feel Like?
Once a medical doctor or medical team has ruled out any physical causes, anxiety is usually determined to be what’s actually causing the panic attacks. Thus, a panic attack is often described as an intense feeling of anxiety, apprehension, fear, or terror that occurs suddenly and is accompanied by physical signs such as:
- A racing or pounding heartbeat
- Feeling short of breath or unable to breathe
- Chest discomfort or pain
- Feeling faint or dizzy
- Shaking or trembling
- Sweating or coldness
- Feelings of detachment from reality
- Fear of losing control or dying
Fainting as a result of a panic attack is not as typical. Adrenaline, a hormone that is released during a panic attack, causes the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise. Your heart has more going through it; thus, fainting during a panic attack is not likely. However, dizziness or lightheadedness may sometimes be experienced.
The physical sensations associated with a panic attack will differ from person to person. This uniqueness, along with the abrupt onset and the overwhelming sense of fear, leads many people to believe and feel that they are having some type of medical episode.
How Long Does a Panic Attack Last?
A panic attack, on average, lasts between 20 and 30 minutes, but it can sometimes last an hour or more.
Panic attacks can feel incredibly uncomfortable. The most frightening aspect of a panic attack is frequently the sense that there is something physically wrong with you.
Again, if you have an underlying heart or medical condition, you should always consult a medical doctor immediately about such sensations.
How Can I Calm Down From a Panic Attack?
Grounding techniques (holding onto ice cubes, touching a grounding object, describing objects in view) and controlled breathing techniques (box breathing) can be remedies for a panic attack. When you feel a panic attack coming on, you can also remind yourself that it will pass. This can assist to distract your mind and reduce some of the physical symptoms caused by the attack.
Sometimes, the best thing to do when you feel panic rising is just to let it happen. Panic frequently feels like it will last forever, but it will pass, even if in the moment it feels like it won’t. Fighting it can frequently prolong it even further.
A skilled therapist can help you with developing an individualized treatment plan if general grounding techniques and controlled breathing techniques are ineffective. Therapists who specialize in treating anxiety and panic attacks can help you with much deeper processing to understand root causes underneath the panic.
How Can I Prevent Panic Attacks in the Future?
The most successful method of preventing panic attacks is getting therapy. Because recurrent panic attacks are typically a manifestation of a separate mental condition, they should be treated by a professional therapist.
In working with clients who struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, we often find that these current fearful and survival experiences connect back, in some way and to some degree, to childhood trauma, relationship experiences, attachment injuries, and belief systems carried over from an earlier time in their lives.
Thus, if you feel there is more to your panic, anxiety, and fears that require deeper processing to get to the root cause and core of the fear, reaching out to a therapist is highly recommended.
How Can I Help Someone Having a Panic Attack?
Supporting someone who is having a panic attack primarily comes down to being calm and present. A few suggestions for assisting a friend or family member during an anxiety or panic attack:
- Remain calm and speak slowly and soothingly
- Encourage them to take steady, slow breaths or assist them in doing so by modeling it yourself
- Avoid dismissive statements like “It’s nothing” or “You’re overreacting”
- Encourage them not to fight the attack and help them ground themselves
- Remind them that this will end and stay with them until it does
These are only a few broad suggestions. Every person’s experience with an anxiety or panic attack is unique, thus experimenting to find particular tactics and strategies that work for your particular situation is necessary.
If panic attacks have become frequent or are affecting daily life, working with a therapist can help address the underlying anxiety rather than just managing episodes as they happen.
