Coping With Panic Attacks Tips: Deep Abdominal Breathing

By Assam on June 13, 2008

One of the most common symptoms that someone having a panic attack will experience is difficult and constricted breathing. Sometimes the breath will feel totally constricted with the sufferer is unable to draw breath. And other times the breathing will become rapid to the point of hyperventilation. When you consider this, it seems appropriate that most methods of dealing with panic attacks incorporate some form of breathing technique.

The most useful breathing technique that can be used in a panic attack situation is abdominal breathing. Most people in times of stress, and this would be particularly so in the case of someone experiencing severe anxiety or a panic attack, start to breathe in a very shallow fashion and high in the chest. It is almost as if they are rapidly panting and unable to catch their breath. This is exactly what happens when the body goes into a fight or flight response.

Unfortunately when the person experiencing the panic attack and the associated difficulties with their breathing begins to notice their breathing difficulties the level of panic increases making them feel even worse.

Our nervous system obviously recognizes that breathing is essential to our survival and sends feedback that how we are breathing is not adequate for our needs. When a panic attack sufferer becomes aware of this physical and mental feedback, they literally start to panic which further amplifies the feedback in the hope that it will be heard and the breathing adjusted accordingly.

The vicious cycle of the panic attack has begun.

A regular practice routine of controlled abdominal breathing, will over time develop in the anxiety sufferer a very useful way of controlling and coping with their anxiety attack. However in order to be able to use this particular technique during the worst anxiety and panic attack situations a certain amount of training is needed in the method.

If you think of this as training for a sporting event. With regular practice sessions when game time arrives many of the skills you need will be almost automatic and there for you when you need them.

By practising regular deep abdominal breathing at non-stressful times it allows the body the chance to get used to the technique itself as it becomes conditioned to breathe differently. Once a certain familiarity has been gained with the technique it is very useful to begin using it during periods of moderate stress and anxiety.

This is a slow gradual progression from a safe and neutral situation and gradually increasing our skill with the technique so that we can ultimately apply it in extreme stress situations such as a panic attack.

While breathing in this way can help immeasurably during an actual panic attack, an even greater benefit is how the body becomes less prone to anxiety and stress generally, due to regular deep abdominal breathing, making the occurrence of future panic attacks less likely.

The technique of controlled abdominal breathing is quite simple. If this is your first attempt at breathing in this way remember to start slowly, as you would with any exercise, and gradually increase the length of time of your breathing practice sessions

Believe it or not abdominal deep breathing is the way we are supposed to breathe. It is out natural breathing style that we somehow forget to use. If you look at young kids they are all belly breathers, but as we age we tend to breath more in our chest.

So this isn’t learning some weird or abnormal breathing technique. It is re-learning how to do soimething that is completely natural although for the most part completely forgotten.

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