The number one best way to beat your anxiety and panic attacks is to beat the fear of the fear.
But before I get into how to remove the fear of the fear there are some things you need to know:
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Supporting your body is HUGE in healing anxiety. Have you addressed vitamin and mineral deficiencies? like B12: Vitamin B12 Deficiency Anxiety: What You Need to Know. – SoulMedicinals.
Are you supplementing with Magnesium? if not you should be. Read about that here: Magnesium deficiency and Anxiety: 4 Reasons your Body Needs It – SoulMedicinals
Gut health is also important. read here: Does A Heathy Gut = A Healthy Mind? – SoulMedicinals
Balancing your blood sugar is also crucial for healing anxiety, panic and DPDR. Why Blood Sugar Balance is so Important to Healing Anxiety – SoulMedicinals
Anxiety and panic are usually symptoms of a larger issue in the body. When we fail to listen to the body when it whispers and speaks to us, it will eventually start to scream. This scream from the body is meant to get our attention, our attention to a bigger issue or problem going on in the body. Sometimes this scream can come in the form of anxiety and panic. This is why it is important to note some of the examples above. Supporting your body by trying to find the root cause will serve you in the long run.
Trauma can also cause the fight or flight response to get thwarted causing a person to become stuck in the stress response and cycle. Thats Why I love Yoga as a somatic practice to work with not only the mind but the body. Check out this post Yoga for Anxiety: 6 poses to try today – SoulMedicinals.
Also, if you are struggling with DPDR, Check out my 4 part anxiety and DPDR series where I talk about my story, what it is, what causes it and ways to start healing!
Now on to how to beat the fear of the fear!
How to lose the fear of the FEAR
Have you ever had a panic attack and when it was over constantly feared having another one? terrified to experience the racing heart, sweaty palms, shortness of breath and feelings of despair again? The fear of having another panic attack literally consumes your world that you do everything you possibly can to keep from experiencing it again only for the stress and worry to catapult you right back into another panic attack? and then bam before you know it your stuck in the panic loop and you have no clue how to escape?
Yea, me too.
It was intense, and it felt like there was no way out. So, I understand what you’re feeling and experiencing.
But there is a way out, it’s not necessarily easy but this way out brings lasting change. This way out literally breaks the grip that fear has on you and sets you free.
And it is literally learning to let go of the fear of your symptoms, The fear of having another panic attack, The fear of DPDR (derealization/depersonalization) symptoms. It’s learning new ways to handle anxiety and changing your conceptions and perceptions of anxiety and panic.
So, how do you do this exactly?
I’ll get there but first I want you to think of your worst fear imaginable. What scares you the most when you are panicking, anxious or experiencing DPDR. Ok got your worst fear in mind? great.
I’ll share mine with you, my biggest fear was losing my mind, developing some form of psychosis that I wouldn’t be able to recover from and also that I would hyperventilate and pass out.
ok so now that we have named our biggest fear let’s look at it in a different way. Has this fear ever actually come true for you? have you hyperventilated and passed out in public? have you ever lost your mind? has your heart raced so fast that it blew up? I know these seem like real fears in the moment of panic but be realistic has it ever came true?
Chances are NO they have not. You end up panicking and feeling very uncomfortable in the moment but it eventually ends every single time right, the issue with these fears is that they are coming from the analytical mind, and when you are in the fight or flight response of the nervous system the rational thinking part of the brain is cut off to send all the energy to the parts of the brain that are going to keep you alive in an emergent situation. Rational thought is thwarted in the panic response and therefore our thoughts can be extreme and scary because out brains are desperately trying to make sense of why we feel the way we do. This is obviously unhelpful.
So what do we do with these scary and intrusive thoughts and worries about what will happen to us when we experience episodes of anxiety, panic and/of DPDR?
Stay with me… We challenge them. Wait what? Yes we challenge them, we go full force into the situation or the experience or whatever it is that causes us to panic or be anxious and we CHALLENGE THEM.
When you’re confronted by your fear of passing out or your heart racing so hard it gives out, you challenge it by saying ok then, go ahead, go ahead and let me pass out, go ahead and let my heart give out. I’ve been through this experience before and those things have never happened. So, go ahead anxiety make it happen now I’m ready.
By challenging what you are most afraid of and by speaking it aloud and acknowledging it in this way you actually begin to dissolve the fear, why? Because these things, thoughts and emotions are not real, they are just intrusive thoughts and emotions. your thoughts and fears can’t ACTUALLY hurt you. once you call them out for what they are and call their bluff you can begin to see that your fear is really the only thing keeping you stuck.
When you challenge these thoughts, feelings and emotions you begin to learn how strong and resilient you really are. Nothing in this world will make you feel stronger than conquering your own fear.
So, give it a try, what’s the worst that could happen? you’ll have another panic attack or episode of DPDR? So what? Your now equipped with the knowledge that its truly nothing to fear.
Check out this post on these books for anxiety, panic and DPDR. I recommend all of those books but this one specifically for helping you learn to beat the fear of the fear.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you have any medical or psychiatric concerns, please seek the advice of a licensed healthcare provider.
I’ll leave you with this:
“sometimes the fear wont go away, so you’ll have to do it afraid”
