Series Self-Sabotage - Article 10

Series Self sabotage 10 - hypnosis for panic attacks.jpg

Panic Attacks

Are you prone to panic attacks?

Have you ever felt the creepy sensations of anxiety crawl all over you, or felt your heart beating so fast that it feels like it wants to burst out of your chest? Perhaps you have felt faint and unable to breathe, with pains in your chest, and believed that you may be having a heart attack.

Maybe you are often nervous and on edge, made worse when your mind is suddenly filled with upsetting thoughts and all kinds of irrational fears. Sensations of tingling and shaking in the body can also add fuel to the fire, making you feel as if you have completely lost control.

If you have experienced any of these feelings – then yes, you may certainly be prone to panic attacks.

What is a panic attack?

A panic attack is best described as a series of physical feelings brought about by fearful thoughts which we have usually created ourselves. It is mainly triggered by anxiety, negativity, unresolved trauma, and a baggage-load of bad memories lurking in the subconscious mind. 

Irrational fears can become a serious drawback in your life. It has the potential to erode your confidence, prevent you from having successful relationships, getting a better job, and hinder you from breaking destructive habits in your life. 

Panic attacks happen without warning, and the feeling of being powerless to overcome the distressing symptoms, or even to regain control of your emotions, is considered to be the worst feeling of all. 

You may even begin to wonder if you might actually be mentally ill. However mental health experts are in agreement that panic or anxiety is in no way classified as a mental illness.

Why do panic attacks happen and how do they grow?

Panic attacks happen because we allow them to happen, mainly by surrendering control and logic to the imagination. Your imagination becomes your enemy, imbedding fears, negativity, and poor behavioral responses into the subconscious mind - which only fuels anxiety into the conscious mind.

The room of your imagination is the place where panic attacks grow and flourish. The imagination is supposed to be the place where you dream, make plans, and where hope for the future is born. It is supposed to be a comfort zone, but for many folk in this age of anxiety, the imagination has become over-shadowed by fearful, anxious thoughts, which conspire to steal the joy from your life.

Panic attacks develop like waves in the sea. They build up to a peak, then unexpectedly crash down catapulting you into a headlong anxiety rush, before receding again – leaving you bruised and battered.

Fortunately, a panic attack and the worrying symptoms, cannot physically harm you. There are also great mechanisms available to help you cope with panic attacks.

Coping with panic attacks.

Although antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds have a role to play, they deal mostly with the symptoms, and seldom, if ever, get to the root cause of the problem. Experts in the field of panic attacks suggest that hypnotherapy is the best way to go towards empowering yourself to gaining control of your emotions. Your thought patterns and the way you react to negative emotions and situations, play a big role in your behavioural response. The first step in the healing process will be a complete change of mindset.

How hypnotherapy works.

Hypnosis accesses the subconscious mind when you are in a relaxed state. The therapist is then able to investigate the reason for the anxious and negative thoughts, as well any traumatic baggage which you may be carrying with you which has not been resolved.

You will benefit in the following ways:

·      Develop a new positive mindset, infused with confidence and a feeling of calm.

·      Learn that what you fear is mostly irrational and may never happen.

·      Taught to practise positive, encouraging thoughts that cause fear, to be replaced by thoughts of optimism, hope, and courage.

·      The therapist will identify unresolved bad memories which are holding you back and fuelling anxiety, and help you to institute a healing process from those memories.

·      Help you to make a determined effort to always live in the moment – in the now, and not to focus on a traumatic past, or an uncertain future.

Panic attacks can be overcome, when you accept that they cannot harm you physically, and subscribe to the fact that yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is a dream, so all you have is the now. 

Hypnotherapy can give you a new mindset enabling you to move forward without the worry of panic attacks attacking you.