To Stop Panic Attacks - Chemical versus Holistic Approaches

---

Methods regarding how to stop panic attacks often seem to fall into two camps: prescription drugs used to treat anxiety and depression on the one hand versus natural substances or means on the other. Variable causes of anxiety may help divide the camps, but probably more often they are created by two philosophical views of healing.

I. A philosophical divide in approach

According to one view, the body with its anxious brain is a chemical machine that needs to be corrected with chemicals. The other view is that a whole person is a network of biological, spiritual/emotional, and behavioral elements, each of which may need separate treatment for best remedying panic and anxiety.

This philospohical division of viewpoints, however, does not neatly match the division between pharmaceutical drug and natural substance solutions. For example, psychiatrists and doctors treating patients for anxiety disorders may prescribe both psychotropic (mind altering) drugs and some form of cognitive behavior therapy or other counseling. Or on the other hand, there are those who treat panic or other anxiety disorder solely with calming herbs, aromatherapy or homeopathy substances or the like (the "chemical" side). They may largely disregard possible emotional, behavioral, or spiritual treatments (the "behavioral" side).

Nor does the behavioral side always require treatment. Sometimes the right nutritional or pharmaceutical - read "chemical"- treatment is all that is needed. More commonly, though, one will find both sides need attention, with the behavioral treatments the more potent, if done wisely.

II. Behavioral solutions

The behavioral side needs to be handled with wisdom because certainly there are and have been methods in this area that have not been effective. For example, the typical panic attack sufferer quickly learns that avoiding certain anxiety-inducing settings, objects, or people reduces anxiety level. Avoidance behaviors become a way of life. Unfortunately the temporary relief of avoidance only serves to prolong the anxiety condition.

Indeed, both drugs and natural calming substances like herbs and homeopathy remedies can be used as means of avoiding more effective long term remedies. Initial or occasional use, or use when nothing else will do is one thing. Using them as a crutch to escape facing fear is another.

Another ineffective technique can be positive thinking. Of course morbid thinking is commonly part of the problem, but rarely can one wish away panic attacks or cure oneself merely by saying so. Positive thinking must be rightly understood and applied to be part of the solution.

As flour alone does not make bread, so controlling thinking alone may not be enough to overcome a heightened state of anxiety. More may be needed. But there are thought techniques that commonly have a calming effect.

One such technique is very simple. Gratitude. granted, that may not be easy as vivid memories of the death of a parent when you were young slam into your brain or as the accumulated stresses of life swarm like an army of ants over your consciousness, but even then everyone has things to be grateful for. As long as the thankfulness is genuine (rather than sarcastic or merely casual), gratitude has a way of reducing our anxiety. The more, the better. And the things for which one is grateful need not be big things, they can be little ones.

Another positive thought technique concerns the false assumptions which anxiety uses to point to worse things in the future. I may assume falsely that one small mistake will cost me my reputation at work or in the family. So I feel under constant stress. Or if I begin to think I am more accepted and secure than that (or if I can accept some loss), some tension and anxiety is released.

One may also falsely assume one is immediately at risk of becoming seriously ill, abandoned, or subject to other significant loss. But what if one realized that one was much less at risk than one assumed? Or what if one realized that even if a spouse left or a job was lost, that one could recover and move on?

This is not to say that bad things are not bad. Rather, some reduction in anxiety is possible with a more realistic projection and with the courage to accept what might happen. Facing one's fears is a positive-thinking way of bringing them under one's control.

Not that facing fears is easy. Most people, let alone those vulnerable to panic attacks, would greatly prefer to avoid what makes us afraid. And yielding to fear makes it stronger. Therefore, sometimes adding a counselor or other methods may prepare and aid one in the battle.

III. Physical remedies

There are prescription drugs that are used for their sedating influence. Some herbs function similarly, notably Kava Kava or Skull Cap, Hops, Passionflower, and Valerian. Some vitamins and amino acids are also known for their calming influence. Examples include GABA with Inositol and Niacinamide, and tryptophan, the amino acid in the meat of Turkey that makes one feel drowsy. If one is already taking drugs for anxiety or depression or for anything else, one must talk with a doctor before adding natural calming substances since there may be a conflict taking both at the same time. Or an individual may not react well to certain natural substances as is true of individual reactions to drugs.

Other natural remedies include physical exercise and slow, abdominal breathing. Hyperventilation is common during panic attacks. Slowed breathing reduces some of the symptoms (especially important if one is asthmatic). Regular exercise burns lactic acid and stress-hormone adrenaline and increases endorphins, thus improving mood.

And more remedies and specifics are available. In other words, there is hope for the panic attack sufferer even if s/he is discouraged, especially if all aspects of human nature are addressed.

---

---

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com