What Really Causes Panic Attacks

To understand this mechanism, you have to know what “conditioning” is;

It means that once your body is in a high emotional state, your brain registers little things around you that you might not even be consciously aware of, like a certain set of surroundings, the behavior of somebody else or even yourself, some specific feelings you might be experiencing, etc.

Your body remembers these things and reacts accordingly.

If you were, for example, taking a walk in the park and suddenly you fainted and panicked about it as soon as you came to, your brain might mark the park with the inner “Danger!” label without you noticing it. And when you’re in the park next time, it’s likely that you would get a pounding heart, dizziness, nausea, etc, because the survival instinct of your natural mechanism would be “protecting” you.

Because you get these symptoms, you start thinking things like “oh no, it’s happening again, why is this happening to me, why now, why here, what’s wrong, I need a doctor, I need help…”

By thinking this, you confirm the alarm your body rang and tell yourself that you are, in fact, in a dangerous situation, which makes the alarm go off once again by pumping more adrenalin into your system, which, again, causes your symptoms to worsen. Because your symptoms worsen, you get even more scared and continue thinking into the wrong direction, which will ultimately lead you into a complete panic attack, which will leave you drained and exhausted for the rest of your day.

But what does all of this mean? Well, in a nutshell: it’s YOU! You’re the only cause of your panic attacks!  Because if you didn’t give in to that first wave of anxiety symptoms, you wouldn’t get into a complete panic attack!

Imagine yourself reacting to those first symptoms differently. Imagine accepting them, and saying “Alright, I’m feeling this because it’s my conditioned response to this situation, and it’s a normal function of my body. I’m not going to struggle against it because my body is doing just what it’s supposed to do, it’s normal, and this is yet another proof that my entire system is actually working as it should. I’ll let myself feel this, it’s okay.”

Don’t punish yourself for a natural response of your body, and always talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend of yours – because you will always be the most important character in your life, so you’d better take care of that person!

Source: www.attackyouranxiety.com