Why everywhere you look are top psychologists and doctors still teaching outdated methods for treating general anxiety and panic attacks?
It seems every time I do a search online there is yet another anxiety “expert” rehashing the same old ideas. Brown Paper bags, think happy thoughts, do your breathing etc. I am sure you have come across them a million times before already.
How are people supposed to solve their anxiety issue if they are continuously exposed to these techniques and methods that only teach people to cope with anxiety. Just coping is not good enough. Real solutions are needed.
I want to share with you something that does work. It is a very simple way to help end the fear of a PANIC ATTACK. (In later emails I will address feelings of general anxiety)
This is a very good exercise for people who want something practical to focus their attention on when they feel the pressure of a panic attack building.
Its very simple and easy to remember. Here goes…
The 20 Second Countdown
When you feel the sensations of a panic attack building do the following.
Tell the panic that it has 20 seconds to initiate the full panic attack. 20 seconds and no more. After the 20 seconds are complete it must stop making empty threats.
You are allowing 20 seconds for it to fully manifest but not a second more.
Whatever the bodily sensation is that you fear, it must happen within that 20 second time frame.
-If you heart is going to explode then it has 20 seconds to do so.
-If you are going to lose control, then your mind has 20 seconds to do so.
-If you are going to faint – 20 seconds! But absolutely no more time than that.
You get the picture.
By setting a specific time frame you establish boundaries of control. You turn it into a game where you call fear’s bluff. If it were a poker game, you are asking anxiety to show its hand.
This works because it establishes a sense of control within your mind and body.
You think to yourself “I am not prepared to spend my time worrying about this. I’ve had enough. I am going to be generous and give it 20 seconds but after 20 seconds and nothing has happened then the opportunity has officially passed and I am going to go back to what I was doing.”
Then start counting -but nice and slowly, don’t rattle it off as fast as you can. Really tease it out like you did when you were a child and you never wanted to reach zero. Teasing it out is the key because it allows you to feel generous and that you are giving anxiety every chance possible.
Deep down you know there is really nothing to fear.
To really help tease it out, break the last few numbers into fractions.
5…………………………..
4…………………………..
3……………………………
2…and three quarters…
2…and half………………
2…………………………..
1…and three quarters… (last chance anxiety)
1…and half……………… (I really cant wait any longer)
1…………………………..
0.
Sorry too late we’ve reached the end.
By not rushing through the countdown you will feel your confidence soar because you are demonstrating real control and authority over your anxious thoughts and bodily sensations. You are saying “look, I am really trying to give you all the time I can to unleash X,Y, and Z, I am being very generous here with this countdown.
Count your way to freedom. Count your way to confidence.
If you find this type of exercise useful then click here to learn more,
Keep an eye out for the next email… If it does not arrive check the spam folder -they tend to hide there sometimes times.
Barry Joe McDonagh
P.S. If you want to get started on the Panic Away course right now click here and you can download the course in the next 5 minutes. Join with me and let’s end the vicious cycle of anxiety and panic attacks today.
All material provided in these emails are for informational or educational purposes only. No content is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Consult your physician regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your symptoms or medical condition
It is simply astonishing
your unique service is admirable
Many thanks,
I’ll certainly give this a try whilst out on a drive….
It’s nice that you give some hands on examples that us panic sufferers can actually use. Thank you for caring.
I can control the panic attacks I cannot control the dizziness I have all day from the anxiety. Do you know if anybody else feels this dizziness and outterspace feeling.
Just wanted to let you know how happy it makes me to receive your email each day, they are helping me already.
God Bless you.
Maria
Ellen, I can soooo relate to the dizziness; it is becoming very bothersome, and I fear something more serious maybe going on. I had a brain scan years ago, but this dizziness has been relentless now for a few weeks. Not really a “spinning” dizziness, but a feeling that I am “wobbling”, and at times feel I want to pass out? Good luck to you!
Just knowing from what you have sent so far that medically nothing will happen if ‘panic’ decides to rear its ugly head, is the best news I’ve had! Lessened my feelings of anxiety already. Thanks for caring.
Ellen I too can relate to the dizziness, brain fog, i get pressure in my head i had a ct scan and it said i had a blot clot, you can imagine the panic attacks i was having, i was praying and had other people praying for me the doctor said they would do an mri, the mri was done and just showed sinusitis, and my pyschiatrist said that my pressure in my head and dizziness was just due to anxiety and panic attacks,
Dear J.B
At my panic came when I where just sitting on my chair then friends rush me to the hospital.
The Doctor said I just hyperventilated so he gave me Oxygen and a few minutes later I feel OK again.
After that I always fear that it will happen again. The 2nd attack is when I am reading and I feel the
burning sensation inside me and make me panic again then my parents rush me to the hospital
the doctors check my heart,blood and lungs but they found nothing but even I heard that I still cannot
calm myself I always have panic attacks.I was searching through the internet how to fight panic attacks
then I found your advice. Thank you J.B
WOW, Jason! You must have freaked? Did that have you in the hospital? Glad it all turned out GREAT on MRI… I am headed to the doc this afternoon regarding mine! I am sure I will get the same ole’ diagnosis of ANXIETY…. which is always reassuring, but I really would feel better with a CT or MRI! Good day to all!
Ellen, I also cannot control my panic attacks.Everytime i suffer my panic attacks my heart beats fasts and I think I’m gonna have a heart attack…my husband will gonna rush me into the hospital and the doctor will get me ecg and any kinds of laboratory but its all normal the doctors said to me that I am suffering an anxiety….
Just last week, i read how to deal panic attacks in Panic Away and i feel better and now i know how to deal with it when they will strike me.Just read panic away news letter! It will really help you. Have a nice day.
This is day three and already am I seeing results. I’ve been suffering from GAD for about 2.5 months and was stuck in a loop. This was affecting every aspect of my life. I wasn’t as active with the kids fearing that I’d get palpitations. I just wasnt interested in being intimate with my spouse and I was just overall not happy and everytime someone would talk to me I’d bring the anxiety and the symptomes in the conversation. I have a great support team but now with these email newsletters I’m getting the tools I need. I’d love to be able to afford the book being a stay at home mom money is the sacrifice I’m doing to be with my kids. These emails are the light I was searching for. Thank you
Thenks , so much ! I just lost my job , and can’t afford the book. I ‘am so glad for people like you , who like healp us with panic attacks.
This works straight away!
I’m taking it slowly but am seeing results. I totally shut down an attack before it even had a chance!
The most powerful thing you can give someone with anxiety is control, its empowering!
I cant wait to be fully anxiety free.
We can all do this people!
ive read your complete course…and now experiencing setbacks….im a hypertensive person…thats why im so worried everytime my nerves pumps up into my head…im afraid that this palpitation may lead to stroke or heart attack…but im only 30 and have a light weight…theres a time im alive but the next day im dizzy again…this is so tiring…
Feel Just like you. I am having investigations for an irregular heart beat at the moment and have got so anxious, this is why the panic attacks have happened i think, but when my heart starts racing I think its because something is getting worse or I’m having a heart attack. Been to hospital twice with them! like you nothing had changed on my ecg from what I was initially being investigated for. Am hoping that once I get results from tests I will be ok and the panic will stop, or at least I will know what they are and be able to cope now I’ve found this web site. Good luck hope you feel better very soon
Can’t afford to buy the whole course at the moment but the newsletters have become my life line. I’m hoping in the next few weeks, when I get medical test results through I will calm down and the attacks will stop but until then I’m depending so much on this website and the sharing with other people to get me though. Thank you so much
I have been experiencing panic attacks out of the blue for several weeks now that tend to last all day sometimes.I find it so tiring,get palpatations all the time but the worst thing of all is feeling as though i am going mad.My brain feels scatty and i feel forever in a dream.I am scared something is wrong with either my heart or my brain and i find myself not being able to concenrate so much on my children whereas before i was very active and full on. thankyou so much for your e-mails joe,they are my one saviour at the moment and the thing that keeps me going.My sincere best wishes go out to all the people in the same situation as me right now.
Thank you very much Joe! Your method really works God Bless you!!
OMG Corin it is like you are looking into my life the only different is I have been happen to me for almost three years now. I came off all the meds that they put me on since they dont really work you have to be on them for ever and ever. I have spent thousands and thousands behind my palpations and somethimes I may even get three attacks a day. They leav me feeling really out of it . For the past three weeks it has been the worst it has ever been. Like you I now feel like I am going mad and as my husband had to work out of state I had to move in with friends. I thank you for the time you took to send your little note just knowing that someone out there is going throught the same thing is helping. I will remember you in my pray and hope that this too shall pass and we would be able live our life as we did before.
I have had panic attacks for as far back as I can remember. This forum and the emails have helped me so much, I only came across it last week and it has been a lifeline especially reading that others have the same things going on. I have had an ecg done today because I’ve been getting palpitations and chest pain.
Joe, you are fantastic, the way you explain things is easy to understand and I am definitely going to invest in the full course. I think it will help me when I’m driving because I dread being stuck in traffic alone. I have to ring people on my mobile just to talk and shake the dreaded feeling of terror off.
Thank you Joe and God bless everyone who reads this and is fighting their corner.
Iam 31 yrs old and this has been a long road for me its been going on for alittle over 8 years but i found this website and finally going for some therpy.. im totally sick of the anxiety syptoms and i have all of them but the fatigue! from the “i cant breathe to choking sensation” all the time! several test later and im totally fine! im hoping i cotinue to gain knowledge from these news letters that have helped already just with three of them. i am a total fan and hope for total recovery.
thanks
I’ve jaz read the third newsletter…i couldn’t believe that i was actually laughing…laughin in a sense that, with your ways, i felt it through my heart that it is really that easy to lessen or even eliminate panic attacks permanently…i couldn’t wait more for the next issues…i really can’t express how much you move my life…thank you so much…
I have only been getting panic attacks for just over a week now but since my 1st one i havent been able to get rid of this dizzy feeling i havent had 1 day where i feel even half myself i seem to be dizzy all day and get awoken all night every night with mini panic attacks. i would like to thank you though for giving me hope of being back to my normal self soon
I have only got a newsletter 3 times now and yesterday i actually controlled an anxiety attack I went to a place that made me feel really uncomfortable and when my heart started pumping faster I just kept telling myself that it could not hurt me and it just went away. So, that helped me alot.
My panic attacks returned two weeks ago after having been nearly panic free for around 5 years. It has left me terrified that I am at the beginning of a long road again. 5 years ago was awful….I thought that I was losing my mind… but I didn’t and it’s not going to happen this time either!!! I am re-evaluating my life and stress levels every day. I have asked family for help with collecting my child from after school club as I was so stressed rushing through the dark winter weather to get there on time. I would spend the afternoon at work feeling the panic rise about being late. I’ve also cut down on the few glasses of wine that I used to think helped to relax me……it doesn’t!
Supermarkets and shopping malls are so scary some days but my mum will come with me if I feel uncomfortable. Having support really is helping me to get through this. One good thing about the situation (every cloud has a silver lining) is that I am re-learning how to relax and stop feeling under pressure to do everything myself. Everything that happens in your life CAN make you stronger! By news letter 3 I have realised that accepting this is happening and challenging it is the way to regain control of my life. I am determined that this time I am in charge. Everyone stay brave and keep going…….there are wonderful things out there in the world waiting to happen for us all!
This is very helpful, I was having this type of attacks. Just two days back I came across your website and things seem to be under control now. This is really working.
Thanks a lot.
Ajay
i dont even know what to say everytime ive felt my stomach ready to kick off (thats how my panic attacks start) i do the method from the first newsletter , i really dont know what to say this is excellent thank you so much !!!
I’m with you Ellen. I’m having more dizziness than anything else. Also, there’s a pressure in my ears and I’ve had tension headaches. Maybe you can relate to my story below. Best of luck and God Bless.
I will try to 20 second rule today. My first panic attack happened while I was running several months ago. The pressure began in my head and then scared my body (apparently resulting in a panic attack, shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, going mad). Today, I mainly have a ringing of the ears and can really feel my head when exercising…making me think somethings going on with my head. Sometimes I get myself dizzy from talking. Then, I feel the shortness of breath, etc. Is this the case with anybody?
THANKS,
Wes
Day 2… I am stuck to your emails like glue! Hope this works… I feel a bit better. I am hanging on to your words.. Trying to follow your concepts. Hold thumbs!
I used to experience almost eighteen years keep and coming back anxieties sometimes i could not sleep, eat, concentrate and others with reasons … big thanks for providing as great positive advised and guidance sir ..
hi, i too can relate with everybody that has experienced the feeling of dizziness. i have had panic attacks since i was a child and i am now 30. i hate the dizzy feeling and i too can experience it when i am talking to someone. i have 3 children and it is restricting the things that i do with them, i so much want to do the things that normal mothers do with their children, but i feel asthough i have to gear myself up just to take them to school which is around the corner. i really thought i was on my own with this dizziness and i find it comforting that i am not the only one and i hope you do too, GOOD LUCK EVERYONE XXX I HOPE YOU ALL RELIEVE YOURSELFS FROM THIS AWFUL CONDITION XX
Wes, Claire, I also have the terrible dizziness!! Oh its just horrifying when it happens! It feels so comforting to know that what I experience is not THAT uncommon… actually not uncommon AT ALL!!! Look at how many people suffer from the same symptoms! Wow, I don’t feel alone anymore! Seeing others fighting against this STUPID anxiety disorder makes me hopeful! I do believe we can all overcome this! Good luck everyone!
Hi. Many thanks for your panicaway newsletter 3 which I do highly appreciate.Axcept your helpful advices I do every day at 4 o’clok PM exercises as well I walk every day evening 6 km on the sea shore.Really i’m feeling
better. Thank you ever so much.
Im happy with the email i received evryday. It helps me alot and hoping all this feelings will gone and I’ll be with what I am before. Thank you for your help. I appreciate your daily emails.