Panic Attacks-Gain Confidence One Step At A Time.

When you start out on the road to recovery from Panic Attacks,it can be very overwhelming.It can also be very difficult to gain the confidence needed to take the first step in whatever treatment method you choose.If you have struggled with your confidence levels in the past,panic attacks have probably zapped what little confidence you may have had left.

The good news is that the panic attacks recovery process can also help you gain confidence one step at a time.If you have difficulty with certain situations.I suggest choosing to try to overcome the one that cause the least amount of discomfort first,as this will be the easiest one to overcome in most case and will give you the strength and confidence to take on some bigger challenges..

For this example I will use shopping at your local grocery store but it could be any situation that makes you anxious or causes you to panic.You may want to start out very slowly at first until you become more confident in your ability to cope and remember that it will be a slow process in most cases and setbacks are a part of recovery but once progress is made recovery is usually relatively fast..

When you make your first attempt at going to the "grocery store" bring a trusted friend or family member with you if that makes the experience more tolerable.Start out by going as far as you can comfortably,and then leave as soon as you feel the first signs of a panic attack.The next time you go,try to stay a bit longer.When the familiar signs of a panic attack start to emerge this time instead of leaving immediately,try your best to tell yourself that you are perfectly safe and that the symptoms will subside.Eventually you will have to try to remain in the situation until the symptoms are gone or at the very least tolerable.If the symptoms become to much to handle always give yourself permission to leave.

Being overly critical of your actions will only make your confidence problems worse.Like the old saying goes if at first you don't succeed try,try again.It is also recommended that you keep some sort of record of your attempts so you can refer to them at a later date.I keep a journal that i write mostly about my successes and not so much about my failures as focusing too much on your failed attempts can have a negative effect on your confidence which is of course what we are trying to build upon to help us to overcome our panic attacks.

The technique is basically a for of exposure therapy and you will most likely have to practice this everyday or at least as much as possible for it to help.So now that we have made some successful attempts at overcoming our panic attacks our confidence should be to the point were we can try to put ourselves into these situations with little or no assistance and cope fairly well with the symptoms.This of course is only one of the many techniques that are helpful in dealing with panic attacks and may not be right for everyone.However I have found it very effective.

I will be dedicating a couple of my future posts to the subject of confidence building,and since I am by no means an expert on the topic I will make some resources available for anyone who is interested.I would also be very interested in your comments and suggestion on that and any other topic you wish to discuss..