Just Chillin' in the Freezer

     Panic attacks are weird and traumatic and unpredictable, aren't they? I used to have them almost daily, and I still have them occasionally, even after my time in therapy. It seems like, even today after a lifelong battle with them, that I still sort of scramble to remember coping techniques sometimes, particularly if a panic attack just comes on quickly, with no warning, like the times I've been woken up by a panic attack at night from a sound sleep.

    As someone who lives with panic disorder, I've spent plenty of time trying to avoid having a panic attack in the first place or trying to stop a panic attack before it spirals out of control. In the early days, I did everything from standing on one foot to watch TV to practicing a British accent just so the space where the panic lived in my mind might be filled up enough with other things that I wouldn't have room left for the panic to occur. Then once I started therapy, I would do meditation and relaxation breathing, yoga, and other helpful things. Since panic disorder is so unpredictable, sometimes those coping techniques work, but sometimes they don't. I'm sure all of us living with panic disorder have been there, right? We do everything we can think of, but the panic attack still comes barreling at us like a train at full speed.

    Instead of going straight for a hard brain reset (if I'm not sobbing yet), I can do one more thing that always seems to work. I go stick my face in my freezer for a couple of minutes, and then I do some relaxation breathing while I've got my head stuck in there. If it doesn't drop my anxiety to a completely manageable level, it at least stops the panic attack. I know that sounds weird, but it works. (I also read online about someone who would hold an ice cube in their mouth to stop a panic attack, too. Holding an ice cube in your hand is supposed to work as well, but I find that putting my face in my freezer works best for me.)

    Here's why something like this tends to work: When you have a panic attack, all of your focus is turned inward. You're only aware of your mind racing and your heart racing and how you might feel like you can't breathe. You're also probably monitoring for any other symptoms associated with a panic attack. When you go stick your face in your freezer, you're shifting your focus from internal (where the panic attack symptoms are) to external (where you're suddenly feeling the cold air on your face and breathing it in). Shifting your focus from internal to external like this is a way to bring yourself out of the panic apace and back into the current reality. Also, the relaxation breathing is a way to trick your brain into thinking things are calm instead of in overdrive and out of whack. 

    I'll end with this: Life with panic disorder can be unpredictable, to say the least. Sometimes the usual coping techniques don't work, or if the panic attack comes on quickly, we can be left scrambling to remember anything we learned about how to manage moments like these. Something that shifts your focus from internal to external is ideal, like (for me) sticking your face in your freezer for just a couple of minutes, to stop a panic attack.