How to provide first aid for a panic attack

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Panic attacks are something that everyone has heard about, but few have encountered them in reality. In this article, we will tell you how to behave in a similar situation.

Let's imagine. You are walking down the street with your friend. Suddenly he falls and severely injures his leg. Blood flows from the wound, your friend is in great pain. What will you do in this situation?

It seems that the task is not difficult. You will most likely try first aid and help a friend get to the emergency room. You may have a patch or bandage to close the wound, or a bottle of water to rinse it out. In general, one way or another, you roughly know what to do: everyone is familiar with the rules of first aid.

But the situation is more difficult. What if your friend starts having a panic attack? How should you proceed in this case? Few people know. But being able to help with a panic attack is just as important as it is with injuries or falls. You don't know when you might need it, however, if you find yourself in an extreme situation, you will be glad that you did not spare your efforts to study.

Panic attack is a sudden, unexplained attack of severe anxiety and fear. It may be accompanied by symptoms such as a fast pulse, chills and sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, and dizziness. Most often, a panic attack is very painful for the person experiencing it.

How to help someone during a panic attack

Assess the risk of self-harm.
Listen to the person without judging them.
Console, calm down and tell the person what is happening to him.
Encourage him to seek professional help. It is better to do this after the attack has passed: in a state of acute anxiety, a person has no time for this.
Encourage him to learn self-help and other beneficial practices.

This is not an accurate guide to action, as situations can be very different, but rather a general instruction that everyone can use. In addition, you need to realize that you are not able to diagnose or provide qualified assistance. You only need to help the person cope with the attack.

Psychotherapist Elena Perova gives more specific advice and explains how to deal with someone who is experiencing a panic attack.

Panic attacks often happen in the subway, in small rooms, so the first step is to take a person out into the air, into an open space.
Sit him down and give him a drink. If your relationship allows it, hold your hand.
Talk to the person in a soothing voice, gently ask if they understand what scared them. If he wants to talk, let him talk. If he has nothing to say, try to draw his attention to what is happening around him, to the fact that life goes on as usual.

It is important to be calm yourself and to create in the person the feeling that you are in control of the situation. Talk calmly, calmly move, so that he gradually adapts to your behavior and also calms down.

When you start wondering about helping with panic attacks, you may be overwhelmed by anxiety. If with the first medical aid for injuries everything is more or less clear, then here you have to deal with the human psyche, his brain. This means that each individual panic attack will be unique, and you need to quickly figure out how to help overcome it.

But do not worry: lack of knowledge is much worse than general and correct ideas about how you can help with a panic attack.

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