Anxiety and panic attack victims, do you ever get the feeling that you will never get over it?

I had them for a while about 20 years ago and deliberately found techniques to deal.

Psychotherapy, some meds for a short time, meditation and yoga (and of course, the breathing).

This is part of the nature of anxiety and panic. The panic attacks are so terrifying, and therefore the anticipatory anxiety so real, it’s easy to get into a loop. It’s a perpetual energy machine – or so it seems. The panic attacks feed the anxiety which feeds the panic, etc. It’s very easy to feel as though this cycle is permanent.

I thought my panic disorder was permanent. It was intense and lasted a couple of years. I’m 14 years removed from those painful days, however. It’s very common to leave panic and anxiety behind. Everyone’s panic and anxiety is different – both how we get there and the path out of it. It will likely involve some combination of medication, CBT, and other techniques.

Remember – this type of thinking is catastrophizing. It’s a type of delusional thought pattern that is great at fueling anxiety. One thing to try to keep in mind, even if you don’t believe it yet, is that catastrophizing is a way of not seeing things clearly.

Breathing techniques are a good first step in keeping the anxiety down. Look into pursed-lip breathing and how to overcome hyperventilation, which is a common panic trigger. Also, if you may want to listen for triggers that pop into your head, such as “this is never going to go away” or “if only…” or “I was fine until…” or any thought that may cause unnecessary discomfort. These patterns of thinking become easy to spot if you meditate. But even without this, you can try something simple. Every time you have one of these thoughts, make a note on a piece of paper. Noting can bring attention to the amount of negative thoughts that appear throughout your day. And the act of noting them can result in a subtle shift. It’s possible to become intensely curious about the mind itself. You may find that these thoughts lose a bit of their edge if you find them appearing throughout your day. When this happens, it’s easier to not believe them. And eventually, you may find that you are able to dismiss them in real time. With much practice – and help – you will be able to break free from the rumination and unhelpful thought patterns, and look back with fascination.

@hominid fair enough and all well and good, but does the process of getting older in itself not fuel the panic? Getting older means losing strength, losing the older ones around you and entering the phase of life where your capacities wane. Surely all that no matter how hard you try, and I appreciate what you are saying, can only set the self-defeating cycle of fear/anxiety off again and in a much harsher form.

Are you asking if anxiety and panic may come back to visit as the inevitable pains of life (aging, death, etc)? I’m sure that’s possible for some people. But asking that question is in itself a thought that is of no utility. Note: I don’t say that to be critical – I’m far too aware of the ease at which many of our minds will generate these thoughts. But these are the thoughts that we can dismiss as not useful.

For what it’s worth, I’m someone who has survived this. And in the past 2 years, my body has deteriorated, and my life as I had known it has disappeared. I am dealing with severe chronic back pain that does not allow me to lie down (ever – at no angle). I also have central sleep apnea. Anyway, I don’t mean to whine. I only bring this up to say that the time in my life that was filled with anxiety and panic was a time of relative ease (I could lie down, I was free from pain, and I could sleep). The fact that I have not had a panic attack in many years should be encouraging. It’s possible to break free from this. Very possible indeed.

I had acute anxiety for 4 months when I broke up with a long term boyfriend at age 21 and I felt like it would never end. Xanax helped me be able to eat and not be completely physically out of control. I eventually got all better.

Then I developed a constant low level of anxiety for over 5 years secondary to a chronic illness. It was manageable, but uncomfortable, and I felt a cross between believing it would never end and believing there was a cure. More than one person in my life was critical about how I was handling it. Once I found a doctor who could help
me the anxiety lifted.

Now, being older, I am able to calm myself better than when I was younger. There is research that the brain feels less negative emotion as we age and I believe it. I believe everyone who suffers from anxiety should feel optimistic that it will get better as you get older and as situations change.

I tend to be an anxious person and the end of my marriage was very rough at times. I did not know how I would cope. Then the end of a close friendship sent me into another tailspin from which I have just recently emerged. I am finally less anxious than I was even before my marriage ended. And I am definitely getting older. What has helped the most is recognizing how many things I have been able to take on by myself and succeed at and starting to believe I have the resources to cope with what is thrown at me. It does help me to have a back-up plan in mind for certain situations and that relieves the tension. Also, somehow having come to terms with the existential idea that no one will be with your forever I did take some meditation classes and have therapy which has helped throughout but something basic just shifted recently.

Thank you all for valuable answers.

Just realized another few things that have helped me reduce my anxiety. One is that if I’ve made a mistake, instead of beating myself up for hours or days, I’ll just try to figure out how to remedy it and do it as soon as possible. The other is figuring out what is being triggered in me that is causing the anxiety. I know that getting up early to catch a plane will cause me a great deal of anxiety so as much as is practically possible, I schedule flights for the afternoon.

I think I will always be prone to anxiety but I am currently building up a number of coping mechanisms which I hope will make life a little easier.

Eating some protein or meat helps.