What Are 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 are going to be talking about panic attacks. Here are some ideas about how to explain panic attacks and explain your situation to the people around you in your life. The first is to read a book together. A lot of times, this can be a way that they can educate themselves, or you can educate them about panic attacks in general. It's important for the people around you to understand what a panic attack is and sometimes the best way to do that is to read a book about it. Another reason this can help is that it can legitimize it to your friends and family members. For instance, maybe, you might have a husband who's not really sure that you should get worked up about things when you are having panic attacks. He doesn't understand. When he reads a book, that might help legitimize what you are going through. A second thing you can do to educate your friends or family members about panic attacks is to tell them what panic attacks are for you. What's your experience? What are you feeling like? Use metaphors and feeling words such as "I feel like I'm going to die" or "I feel like I can't breathe," "I feel like I've just run ten 100-yard dashes in a row," "I feel like my chest is going to explode," "I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest." Use words like that to explain what that's like. And tell them how long your panic attacks last, and do they make you feel sad, do they make you feel ashamed? You know, tell them what your personal experience is like with panic attacks. Now after you've explained to them what panic attacks are like generally, and you've told your loved ones and family members what panic attacks specifically do to you, or what that experience is like for you, you want to tell them action steps that they can do to help you. When you are experiencing a panic attack, a lot of times it is really hard to communicate this. And so, the best thing to do is beforehand, in a relaxed environment, confide in them and talk to them about what they can do for you. Now, this could be something like holding your hand. It could be hugging you. You're the expert; you're the person who's had the panic attacks and you know what you need. So, talk to them about what they can do for you and action steps that they can take to help you out. And if you educate your loved ones on what panic attacks are, if you educate them about what the experience is like for you, and if you educate them on what they can do to help you out specifically, you are going to have a great support system in place to deal with your panic attacks.

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