Your heart is pounding. You can’t catch your breath. Your hands are tingling, the room feels surreal, and a wave of absolute terror is washing over you for no reason you can identify. You might be dying. You might be losing your mind. And then, as suddenly as it came, it begins to pass.
If you’ve experienced this, you know how terrifying a panic attack can be. You also know how hard it is to explain to someone who hasn’t.
What’s Actually Happening
A panic attack is a sudden, intense surge of fear or discomfort that peaks within minutes. It’s your body’s alarm system firing at maximum intensity — the fight-or-flight response turned up to full volume, with no obvious external threat to justify it.
Common symptoms include:
- Racing or pounding heart
- Shortness of breath or feeling like you can’t get enough air
- Chest tightness or pain
- Tingling or numbness in hands, feet, or face
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- A sense of unreality or feeling detached from yourself
- An overwhelming sense of dread or fear of dying or losing control
As frightening as these symptoms are, panic attacks are not dangerous. Your body is not in danger — even though every part of it is telling you otherwise.
What to Do When a Panic Attack Hits
In the moment, the most helpful thing you can do is resist the urge to fight it. Trying to stop a panic attack often intensifies it. Instead:
- Remind yourself it will pass. Panic attacks are time-limited — they typically peak within 10 minutes and resolve within 20-30.
- Breathe slowly. Slow your exhale down. Breathing out for longer than you breathe in activates the parasympathetic nervous system and begins to calm the physical response.
- Stay where you are if it’s safe to do so. Fleeing the situation can reinforce the idea that the environment was dangerous, making avoidance more likely next time.
- Ground yourself. Notice five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear. Bringing attention to the present moment can interrupt the spiral.
When Panic Attacks Become a Pattern
For some people, panic attacks happen once or twice and don’t recur. For others, they become frequent — and the fear of having another one begins to shape daily life. Avoiding certain places, situations, or activities to prevent panic is one of the most common ways that anxiety grows over time.
The good news is that panic attacks respond very well to treatment. Therapy — particularly approaches that work with both the thoughts and the nervous system — can help you understand what’s triggering the panic and gradually reduce both the frequency and the fear around it.
You don’t have to keep living in fear of the next one. Book a free consultation with Madeleine Sullivan, counsellor in Victoria, BC and online throughout British Columbia.