Nobody can live an absolutely stress-free life. The Dalai Lama, Kim Jong Un (the supreme leader of North Korea), Lady Gaga, and Arianna Huffington all practise meditation to calm their nerves and fight stressful situations and anxiety. In today’s time, it’s very important to know about the treatments for anxiety attacks, as many people suffer from anxiety disorders these days. As per a study conducted by The Centre of Healing (TCOH) in Delhi, 88% of Indians suffer from Anxiety. But before knowing the treatments for anxiety attacks, it’s important to know what anxiety is, what an anxiety attack is, and what the causes of anxiety attacks are.
What is an anxiety attacks?
Anxiety attacks are rooted in the intense physical sensation of fear due to excess worry. These episodes of anxiety attacks occur without warning. Anxiety is triggered by different reasons and is often caused by outside situations. Before knowing about the treatments for anxiety attacks, it is important to understand these triggers of anxiety-attacks as well. We should know what causes anxiety-attacks.
What causes anxiety attacks?
So, what causes anxiety attacks? What is the root cause? There can be hundreds of reasons for anxiety, but we will list the main ones here. Sometimes the triggers for the anxiety attack can be very obvious, but sometimes anxiety-attacks have no warning. So, if we treat these triggers, it can be a well-working treatment for anxiety-attacks as well.
Below is a list of a few generic triggers for anxiety attacks:
1. Financial Troubles: If one has financial stress, it comes from how welook at money. Either guilt or greed. This relationship with finance can be cultural or developed through certain life situations. Leading to intense anxiety episodes or anxiety attacks.
2. Career-related anxiety: As unemployment rates are increasing, career-related stress is peaking in our country. The competition is veryhigh, and the average education does not meet contemporary job requirements. Just the thought of not landing a proper job or the toxic work environment can be the reason for sleepless nights and anxiety attacks.
- Performance-related anxiety: This stress arises due to doubt in one’s own abilities to perform any task. The feeling of not being good enough to perform properly This kind of stress starts to arise even before the task has started. The individual generally starts going through feelings of failure and rejection. The thought of not being good enough can turn into an anxiety attack.
- Relationship-related anxiety: The most common factor of stress in any relationship is ‘conflict’. Be it a personal or professional relationship, conflict can cause very severe anxiety in any being. We are all not equipped to overcome the conflicting situations peacefully. Either people try to escape the conflict or argue it out. That can flare the relationship stress to a higher degree, thus causing anxiety attack. So, one needs to understand that when people with different points of view and perspectives come together, there is going to be a difference in opinion. Those differences need to be handled mindfully and tactfully while avoiding unnecessary anxiety.
- Social situations related to anxiety: How many times have you thought, “What do people think of me? What do they want from me? How am I coming across to them?” Almost everyone of us fears being judged at some point in our lives. This voice inside our heads can lead to negative feelings and thinking errors that can disconnect us from reality in a social situation. Our rationality is cut off. Causing deep and intense distress. Thus, one can have an anxiety attack at a social gathering.
- Children’s anxiety: Parents are deeply concerned about their children and their growth and development. Many questions and doubts haunt them. Such as: Are they reaching their potential? Are they doing things on time? Are they doing their best and being productive? At the end, all the thoughts are for their own good, but these emotions often intensify and become a major cause of our anxiety.
These are the basic causes of anxiety-attacks, and anxiety attack can activate a fear and flight response in the body. That leads to an adrenalin rush in the body and a rise in the levels of the cortisol hormone. The repetitive and continuous rise in these hormones can also trigger hormonal imbalance. The brain sees these triggers as dangerous attacks. It cannot differentiate between the psychological stress and physical danger. For the brain, survival is the primal instinct.
The above-mentioned triggers are the main triggers of the anxiety attack. Certain minor situations can also be the cause of anxiety attacks, like being stuck in an elevator, being on stage for a speech, giving a presentation, being in crowded places, etc. The treatment of anxiety attack can be common for all situations and causes of anxiety attack.
What are the treatments for anxiety attacks?
There are different kinds of treatments for anxiety attacks that can be used in different situations. Some people require proper psychotherapy, medications, or both, depending on the intensity or severity of the anxiety attack.
But for less intense anxiety-attacks, one can use simple remedies to calm oneself down, such as:
- Mindfulness
- Breathing Exercises
- Relaxation
- Healthy Diets
- Different workouts (low-intensity workouts: Swimming, Pilates, Yoga, etc)
- Laying on the floor and relaxing while focusing on the breathing
- Cold showers
- Support Groups
In conclusion, we can say that stress can make the brain work faster and better. But chronic stress can turn into anxiety. Anxiety prepares our body to fight or run away from danger. It’s like the train is speeding up, and you won’t jump into the speeding train; you will watch it leave the station.
While our body goes through the anxiety attack, we cannot let our body react, like not jumping or engaging; just watching and being mindfully aware of the situation is the best way to tackle it. Stress levels are rising due to contemporary lifestyles. We need to be fully equipped with treatments for anxiety-attacks, not just for ourselves but for our loved ones or colleagues as well. We never know when we will need it.
