Anxiety attack is a disorder that affects more and more people, especially in developed countries. Those who suffer panic attacks refer to them as a very visceral sensation that causes everything from increased heart rate to breathing difficulties and dizziness.
However, everything is not limited to the physiological level since derealization, depersonalization and an intense fear of either dying or losing control are also experienced. However, the center of the anxiety crisis is a reactive thought that, in one way or another, triggers or fuels the episode. That is why most psychological therapies to control panic attacks are aimed at teaching the person to manage their thoughts. Basically, it is thought that by changing negative thoughts to more positive and peaceful ones, the symptoms of an anxiety crisis can be minimized until they disappear completely.
However, the Mindfulness Therapy approach goes one step further because it does not consider that the problem is due exclusively to the content of those thoughts, beliefs or memories but rather to the emotional energy that they exude. That is, the emotional charge that certain ideas carry is what gives them true power and, ultimately, is responsible for the symptoms of the anxiety crisis.
For example, two people can have the same thought but they will most likely react completely differently because the emotional charge they give it is different. Therefore, Mindfulness Therapy emphasizes the search for different ways to change that emotional energy. Once this has been achieved, all the person will have is an “empty thought”, in the sense that they will get rid of that negative emotional charge that generated anxiety.
With this type of therapy, people learn to “sit” with their emotions; That is, they focus on them, without trying to avoid or control them. This is a very subtle but fundamental change because we stop being at the mercy of emotions and analyze them from a more objective point of view. We stop running away from emotions and we don’t try to control them, we simply let them flow and accept them. By assuming this attitude, we take away much of the negative emotional charge. As you can imagine, at this point the emotions associated with thoughts lose their intensity and their power to intensify the symptoms of the panic attack.
How to put these ideas into practice?
Find a quiet time during the day and choose a place where no one will bother you. So sit with your fear. Make all those thoughts that normally come to mind when you suffer an anxiety crisis come to your mind. Meditate on their veracity and, above all, discover the emotions they generate. Do not resist these emotions and do not try to hide them, simply experience them and accept them.
In this way you will begin to develop a conscious relationship with the emotions you experience when you have a panic attack. If you repeat this exercise several times, little by little the emotions will lose their intensity and, consequently, the negative impact they have on you.
Of course, this is a very simple explanation of the main principles of Mindfulness Therapy applied to an anxiety crisis. In reality, the most advisable thing is that you put yourself in the hands of a psychologist who can guide you along this path and teach you the techniques that best suit your case.
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