Listen to This if You Are Having a Panic Attack | Ep. 418

In this episode, we dive into practical, compassionate strategies to navigate panic attacks, offering tools to help you regain control and find calm amidst the storm.

What to Expect in This Episode:

• A breakdown of the science behind what happens during a panic attack.
• Grounding techniques like the 5-4-3-2-1 method to anchor yourself in the present moment.
• The importance of self-compassion and how to support yourself during distress.
• Why it’s better to allow the panic to pass naturally rather than fighting it.
• A perspective shift on your body’s physical responses and how they’re designed to protect you.
• Practical tips for staying aligned with your values, even when panic strikes.

How to Navigate a Panic Attack: Your Compassionate Guide

Panic attacks can feel overwhelming and terrifying. Your heart races, your chest tightens, and your mind might scream, “Something is wrong!” If you’re in the midst of a panic attack, this guide is here to walk you through it with compassion and practical strategies. Let’s move forward together, one step at a time.

What’s Happening in Your Body During a Panic Attack?

Panic attacks often trigger intense physical sensations, including:

• A racing heart
• Tightness in your chest
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness or shakiness
• A feeling of being disconnected from reality

These symptoms are not signs of danger—they’re your body’s fight, flight, or freeze response kicking in. Think of it as your brain misfiring a “fire alarm” when there’s no actual fire. It’s distressing but not dangerous.

The Temporary Nature of Panic Attacks

Remember this: panic attacks do not last forever. They rise, peak, and then gradually subside. You’ve survived every panic attack you’ve had before—and this one is no different.

Remind yourself:

• “This is uncomfortable, but it will pass.”
• “I am strong, and I will get through this.”

Grounding Techniques to Bring You Back to the Present

When panic feels all-consuming, grounding can anchor you in the moment. Try the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique:

1. 5 things you can see: Look around—name objects, colors, or shapes.
2. 4 things you can touch: Notice the texture of your clothes or the surface beneath your hands.
3. 3 things you can hear: Focus on my voice, distant sounds, or background noises.
4. 2 things you can smell: Breathe in your surroundings—fresh air, coffee, or a candle.
5. 1 thing you can taste: Maybe it’s gum, a drink, or just the air.

This practice helps you focus on your senses instead of the panic.

Practice Self-Compassion

Panic attacks are hard, and you deserve kindness. Talk to yourself like a supportive friend. For example:

• “This is really hard, but I’m doing the best I can.”
• “It’s okay to feel scared—I’m here for myself every step of the way.”

Avoid harsh self-judgment. Instead, honor your experience with gentle self-compassion.

Understand the Purpose of Your Body’s Reactions

Your body’s physical reactions during a panic attack are its way of preparing you for danger, even though there’s no real threat. For example:

• Racing heart: Pumps blood to muscles so you can run.
• Fast breathing: Delivers oxygen for energy.
• Dizziness: Results from changes in breathing.
• Bathroom urgency: Lightens your body for a quick escape.

These sensations are your body functioning as designed, even if it’s a false alarm.

Allow the Panic to Be There

Counterintuitively, fighting a panic attack often makes it worse. Instead, try this:

• Allow the feelings to rise and fall naturally without resistance.
• Gently say to yourself, “It’s okay to feel this way for now.”
• Acknowledge the discomfort without catastrophizing it.

As hard as it feels, letting the panic play out often shortens its duration.

Focus on What Matters Most

When panic strikes, it’s tempting to stop everything. But staying engaged in meaningful activities—even while feeling uncomfortable—can help you regain control. Ask yourself:

• “If I weren’t panicking, what would I be doing right now?”
• “How can I stay aligned with my values, even during discomfort?”

Choosing to move forward, even with panic, builds resilience and confidence.

A Free Resource to Support You

To solidify these strategies, visit cbtschool.com/panicattackguide for a free PDF guide. It’s a helpful resource you can print, save, and share with friends.

Closing Words of Encouragement

You are not broken, and this panic attack does not define you. It’s a momentary challenge that you have the strength to navigate. Every step you take—whether grounding yourself, showing compassion, or aligning with your values—is a victory.

When you’re ready, ask yourself:
“How can I continue moving forward today, even if I feel panicked?”

As always, it’s a beautiful day to do hard things. You’ve got this.

Transcription: Listen to this if you are having a panic attack

This is your anxiety toolkit and I want you to listen to this if you’re having a panic attack. Today I’m talking about exactly what I would say to you if I was with you while you were struggling with a panic attack. Let’s go.  So right now, your heart may be racing, your chest may feel tight,  and your mind might be screaming, get out, something is wrong, you have to move. 

I want you to know that I’m right here with you, you’re not alone,  and interestingly, you’re not in danger, even if it feels like you are. Panic attacks can be incredibly distressing, but they are not. dangerous.  We want to slow everything down here today, right? I don’t want you to be speeding through this.

That will only make your panic worse. So stay with me and we’re going to gently work through this one together.  Now, first let’s talk about what’s happening in your body.  Panic attacks can feel terrifying. You might have a racing heart. Your chest might be tightening. You might even feel like you can’t breathe.

Some people, they feel dizzy. Some get shaky. And some feel completely disconnected from reality. If any of this sounds familiar,  you’re probably having a panic attack. These are all very common symptoms of a panic attack.  Symptoms of anxiety and panic are not a sign of danger.  They’re just your body moving into what we call fight, flight, or freeze.

And in this case, that’s what’s going on for you right now. Your brain has interpreted some situation that must have recently happened as dangerous, even when there was no threat. Now, sometimes you see a specific thing or you meet a specific person and that triggers the panic. But for others, it might be for absolutely no reason at all.

This came completely out of the blue. You were not prepared for it, and it’s completely taken the wind out of your breath.  I always like to think of panic attacks as a faulty alarm system, right? So, just like any normal house, we have a fire alarm system, And your fire alarm system is making a huge commotion, creating significant pandemonium in your life, even though there’s no fire, there’s no smoke, there’s no imminent threat.

That happens sometimes, right? Our fire alarms can go off even when there’s no threat. And usually what we do is we walk over to the fire alarm and we wave a towel at it and we  signal to the fire alarm. that we’re safe, it’s okay, we’re just going to proceed. And that’s what we’re going to do today.  I know this is really overwhelming, but I also want you to remember that this is entirely temporary.

This panic attack will not last forever.  Like every panic attack, it will rise and then peak and then gradually subside on its own.  It’s also important to know and remember that you have survived every single panic attack you’ve had before this one, and you will survive this one too. Or, if it’s helpful, to know I have survived every single panic attack that I’ve ever had.

I’ve had quite a few. I actually consider myself quite the master of them now. Not saying that they’re gone completely, but when I do have them, when my brain sets the fire alarm off by mistake, I have all the skills I need to ride them out.  So there’s another thing I want you to remember here. Is that every single person I know who’s had a panic attack,  they have all told me that in this moment, they feel like they are the only person who has felt this bad,  and I totally get it.

In this moment, you are likely thinking that no one could be experiencing this panic sensation or symptom quite as badly as you are. But please remember that you are not alone. This is a common experience for panic.  Your job is again to just do your best to stay with me. As we move through this together, and remember that just because you think you’re the only one, or it feels like you’re the only one, Doesn’t mean that is a fact. 

So  as always, we always say at cbtschool. com that compassion must come first. Compassion first always is what I always remind my staff. It’s what I remind my employees, my admin, my copywriters, no matter what you’re doing, if we’re working for the way I want you guys to work, compassion. So I want you to pause for a moment and gently remind yourself that this is really hard. 

What you’re going through is really hard and you’re doing the best you can.  You are showing so much courage right now just by staying here with me and letting yourself feel this.  Now, I want you to speak to yourself, this is a commitment you make, to speak to yourself as if you were a dear friend.  We don’t need you to add to the suffering of this panic by beating yourself up or judging yourself harshly. 

You’re already navigating a very difficult experience and you have to honor this and be extra kind to yourself as we move one step forward at a time. Maybe you offer to yourself a little simple phrase like, this is really uncomfortable, but I am here for myself. I am strong and I’m going to stay with myself every step of the way. 

And I’m going to do it kindly every, every step of the way.  100 percent kindness. That’s what we’re looking for.  You may also want to offer to yourself that you give yourself permission to feel scared. Without judging yourself for being scared or for having this panic.  Compassion always involves not labelling yourself as weak or stupid for being afraid.

Compassion and self compassion is honouring how hard it is  Then moving towards actions that  are about your values, what you care about, what supports you, what, what is effective for you in the long term. That is true self-compassion, and we wanna do this every single step of the way.  Now,  I know this is hard. 

Um, let’s talk specifically about what’s going on in your body and understand that a little bit. As always, anytime we’re using any of the CBT school toolkits that we have in any of our programs, we always first work on awareness, getting an understanding of what’s actually happening in your body and what’s actually happening for you so that we can target the things that.

aren’t working for you anymore.  So when your heart races, so let’s just backtrack for a second. So your brain. The oldest part of your brain has sent out a message to your body that there’s something dangerous happening. The fire alarm has gone off even though there isn’t a fire. Then it sends out a bunch of hormones and chemical reactions that causes your body to have these sensations.

So when your heart races, The whole point of that, the whole reason your brain sends that message out, it has your heart start racing so that it will pump blood to your muscles so that if you needed to run a long distance very fast, you could.  If you notice when you’re panicking that you’re breathing, the pace of your breathing speeds up, this is your body’s way of getting more oxygen, pumping more oxygen around.

So, it can feel those muscles so you can run even further.  Maybe you’re experiencing dizziness.  This can often come from the changes in your breathing. If you’ve noticed that when you panic, you need to go to the bathroom immediately, either to urinate or defecate, this is your body trying to drop as much weight as it can.

So, that you can run a long distance if there was danger.  Now, all of these sensations, yes, they’re uncomfortable, yes, they’re inconvenient, but they’re not harmful. They’re just your body doing what it was made to do. It’s actually your body acting high level effective, even though it’s all by mistake. 

Everything your body is doing is wrong. is exactly what it thinks it needs to do to prepare you to run or remove yourself from this quote unquote mistaken perceived danger.  Again, your body is doing exactly the job it is designed to do.  The only thing you need to recognize in this present moment is that there is no real danger here. 

You’re not losing control. You’re not going crazy. You’re not even having a heart attack. Your brain will present these as potential issues. So often what happens, and this is what happens to me, I’ve worked through this many years now, is for no reason at all that I was aware of, I would have a panic attack.

And I go, okay, look around. Everything seems fine. Nobody seems to be dying. It’s all good. Oh, if I’m having this feeling, it must be a sign that something’s bad has happened to my body. I’m having a heart attack. I’m losing my mental health. I’m quote unquote going crazy. I’m losing control of my reality.

And then from there, I would panic even more, sending more of those hormones out to my body, creating more and more of those sensations, causing me to think that I definitely am dying now. And now we’re stuck in the cycle. If you have taken our course on panic, you will see, we’ve actually drawn this out and we track it to see specifically how you can get stuck in that cycle. 

If you’re experiencing this surge of adrenaline again,  Our job is to recognize that adrenaline is another hormone that is released in our body, that it’s a temporary hormone, and it will burn itself off in time if you’re willing to wait and be patient. Again, if there was danger, and if you’re ever in danger, these same bodily reactions will happen and you will have what your body needs to react.

But again, sometimes our brain sets off the alarm and we have to learn not to respond as if there is an imminent threat and instead make a very wise and effective pivot in our reaction.  Before we get into the specifics of the tips and strategies I want you to use to ride this panic attack out, I want to let you know, I have a little gift for you. 

If you go to cbtschool. com forward slash. panic attack guide. I have created a free, no email needed PDF. So you don’t have to sign up for a PDF. You don’t have to put your email in. It’s just there because I wanted it to be free. CBT school and I, cause I run CBT school. I have a huge goal to deliver over 100, 000 free resources in 2025.

If it’s not 2025 and it’s a year later, maybe I’ve increased it, but that is my goal to deliver 100, 000 free resources to people on all different types of anxiety. You can go to cbtschool. com forward slash panic attack guide, and you’ll get a PDF that will solidify all the skills and strategies that we’re going to cover in this episode.

So you can just download it, print it out. Put it everywhere, mail it to your friends, whatever you want to do. This is a gift to you from me to thank you for being such amazing podcast listeners, for supporting me every step of the way. I have a huge goal besides that 100, 000 that I have also put aside for this year.

I am all about it this year, like nothing will stop me. I know how hard these moments can be when you’re panicking. I know that I do really well when I have a visual. Visual is my way of learning. So this is here for you. The episode and this PDF is here to help guide you towards being the most compassionate, effective person you can be.

So enjoy that.  CPTSchool. com forward slash panic attack guide.  All right, so let’s get back to it. As the panic starts to rise and fall, I really want, I’ve already mentioned this, but now we’re going to double down. I want you to remember that you do not need to stop it or fight it or make it go away.  In fact, I want you to do nothing. 

I want you to do absolutely nothing. Just let it be there.  Allow it to be there. You might say to yourself, yep, this is uncomfortable,  but it’s not dangerous.  It’s okay to just feel this way for now. For me, I often say, yeah, it’s messy. I’m going to let it be messy. I’m going to let it be chaotic, or I might even say, I’m going to let my brain have a massive temper tantrum.

That’s fine with me. Go ahead, brain. I love you, brain.  I’m here for you. You’ve served me well in so many cases. This is time where you’ve made a little mistake. It’s okay, we all make little mistakes, but brain, go ahead, have a tantrum. I’m going to stay here kindly with you until  you’ve had enough, right?  If your thoughts are racing,  You might try a calming phrase, like reminding yourself that this will pass, and that you are strong.

There’s nothing wrong with reminding yourself you are freaking strong, whether you believe me or not, you are. I want you to know you’re stronger than you know. And When you actually stay with a panic attack,  you’re actually going to realize how strong you are. Some of the times where I felt the most vulnerable and I stuck it out and I stayed with the panic attack, once the panic attacks had subsided, I was like, Dude, literally nothing can stop me now.

Some of the confidence I have gained. A large degree of the confidence I have grained was by staying gently in the presence of some really uncomfortable emotions, really, really, really uncomfortable emotions.  Okay. So again, we’re going to say this will pass. I’m strong. I don’t need to do anything about this.

I just have to stay steady until it passes. Um, I love that word steady. There’s something about the word steady. When I am panicking, I just like steady as it goes, Kimberly. Steady it goes. Steady. Steady. Steady.  Now, another important mindfulness skill that we always talk about in any new toolkit that we have.

is really focusing on the present.  What is happening right now?  Besides your panic, what else is happening? Besides your heart rate, or your, or your rush to the bathroom, or your dizziness, or your depersonalization,  or your whatever a symptom you’re feeling, what else do you notice? Zoom out and notice. What else do you hear?

Do you hear the sound of my voice?  What do you feel? The feeling of your breath? What other sensations do you notice in your body?  Over the years, I have had many, many panic attacks, and I have learned to practice putting my attention on things other than the panic.  I might look for 10 blue objects. I might look for how many squares I can see. 

I’ve been known to plan. I know I’ve told you guys this before, but I’ve been known to plan my 90th birthday a million different ways. And that’s not a compulsion. If you’re doing it, you know, in a way where you’re saying, I’m doing this not to get the anxiety to go away. I’m just. Doing it as a way to keep myself focused on something while that anxiety rises and falls on its own. 

The real work here, again, is not giving your attention to the sensations of panic.  We want to find this sort of sweet spot, this balance, this steady balance of allowing the discomfort to be there without catastrophizing what it means about the fact that we are panicking. So we’re allowing it there.

We’re not avoiding it. We’re not trying to get it to go away, but as we allow it, we’re also not hyper-focused on it. We’re not catastrophizing that this means something terrible is going to happen.  Now, remember here, you’re not broken for having this panic. Your brain isn’t broken. You’re not broken. Your body is doing exactly what it’s meant to do, even if it’s being a little overreactive right now. 

Now.  Let’s take a pause to check in. How are you doing? I want to really make sure before we move forward that I celebrate you. You are handling this just by listening to this episode. You’re showing courage and strength. You’ve gotten this far.  This moment is so freaking hard,  but you’re getting through it one breath at a time.

Every panic attack that you’ve had before this one has passed. And this one will too.  You are way, way, way stronger than you realize, and I’m so freaking proud of you for staying with me through this. Really, truly, I am. You guys, I just, inspire me so much.  Okay,  let’s again slow things down. I’m gonna bring you back to the present moment.

I want you to start by placing your feet on the ground.  Can you feel the floor beneath you?  Wiggle your toes just a little bit and notice where your hands are.  Can you rest them on your lap or by your sides?  Feel the weight of your body in the chair, wherever you’re sitting or standing.  Again, look at you.

You are here. Riding this wave of Pennycat.  You’re doing the work.  You should be so incredibly proud of yourself.  Now let’s try something together.  I want you to look around yourself, around,  and I want you to name five things you can see. We call this the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  I know, don’t leave me here. Stay with me. 

Name five things you can see.  I’m gonna let you have a couple seconds here.  Maybe it’s a picture on the wall, a light, or colors in the room.  Now, I want you to name four things you can touch.  Maybe it’s the fabric of your clothes.  Maybe it’s the surface beneath your hands.  Or maybe it’s your feet on the ground. 

Maybe it’s the steering wheel if you’re driving.  Next, I want you to listen for three things you can hear. It could be the sound of my voice, a ticking clock, or it could be distant noises.  What can you hear? 

And then finally,  name one thing you can taste. Maybe it’s the lingering taste of a drink,  or it could be your breath, or toothpaste, or the gum.  Maybe the flavor of your lip gloss.  Again, keep grounding yourself in the here and now.  In, we’re really just focusing here on one sense at a time. 

Now, as we conclude this episode, I want to leave you with one very important question. How  are you going to move into your day now?  Are you going to go back to fighting it or running away from the panic? Catastrophizing the experience?  Or, could you keep going with these practices into your daily routine? 

Can you move towards actions that are in line with your beliefs, your values, your goals, your long term goals?  Can you continue to allow the panic to rise and fall on its own while you go and do the things that are meaningful or enjoyable to you? They’re going to be less enjoyable while you panic. That is a fact.

I’m not going to take that from you,  but you have a choice here. You can either do the things that are in line with your values and are meaningful to you.  While you panic, or you cannot do the things that are meaningful to you while you panic. Which one would you prefer? Of course, we’re going to choose the one that is effective and meaningful. 

If you weren’t panicking right now, what would you be doing?  Can you go and do those things, even though you’re having some discomfort?  Now, please.  I want you to remember, think of it like Kimberly on your shoulder reminding you that you are strong enough to manage this. Do not let panic dictate how you spend the rest of your life.

You’re not going to implode or explode or break. These panic attacks will not ruin you. Your job is just to stand up to them and not let them take you away from doing the things that really matter to you. When I have a panic attack,  again, for reasons sometimes I’m not sure why, I just let them.  I have absolutely no business trying to change experience about my day. 

I know that they will pass faster if I just let them fizzle out on their own. And that has been a practice that has come over time. and repetition.  Now, thank you for trusting me to guide you through this moment. You are not alone.  Panic attacks feel overwhelming, but they do not define you.  You have taken an important step today by bringing your mind and your body To this episode, and I am so incredibly proud of you.

Thank you for trusting me. I know your time is so important whenever you need support, you can come back to this episode or any of your anxiety toolkit episodes. And remember. You’re doing an amazing job. You’ve got this. As always, it is a beautiful day to do hard things. If you would like to download the free PDF, go over to cbtschool. 

com forward slash panic attack.  I hope you find it helpful.  Please note that this podcast or any other resources from cbtschool. com should not replace professional mental health care. If you feel you would benefit, please reach out to a provider in your area. Have a wonderful day and thank you for supporting  cbtschool.com.