Panic attacks are no joke. They involve an overwhelming surge of fear and anxiety, often accompanied by physical symptoms like chest pain, nausea, sweating, chills, and difficulty breathing. They can strike suddenly, leaving you feeling terrified and incapacitated. So, what can you do when panic takes hold? How do you stop it in its tracks?
We asked Charles Schaeffer, a psychologist, adjunct professor at New York University, and author of *When Panic Happens*, for his advice. He explained that panic attacks are essentially a misfire in your nervous system, sending out an emergency signal that throws your entire system into chaos.
“It’s like a blue shell in Mario Kart,” Schaeffer says. “No matter where you are in the race, when you see that blue shell, you’re going to be taken out. Panic often does the same thing to your nervous system.”
To combat panic, Schaeffer recommends finding ways to distract or reboot your system, which he describes as essentially primal and simplistic. “We think we’re sophisticated machinery, but we’re not,” he says. “We’re chatty apes. A lot of the software underneath is just like mammals, and that’s pretty old. That’s not even talky – that’s just sensory stuff.”
By diverting your mind and body from the panic to another perceived threat, you can defuse the fear bomb going off inside you. And there’s one simple item you likely have in your kitchen right now that can provide quick relief: ice.
“If you use ice exposure, for example, you can trick your hand by squeezing an ice cube, making it think, ‘This is the threat I’ve got to pay attention to,'” Schaeffer explains. “You’re getting this really uncomfortable sensation of freezing. By doing that, it’s pulling your attention and your nervous system into your hand.”
This redirection of focus helps to alleviate the panic’s effects on other parts of your body. “It actually opens up all these lanes again,” Schaeffer says. “Now I can breathe deeply again, my heart rate slows down, because my nervous system automatically slows down my heart if it thinks I’m freezing, because its job is to make me alive, not talky.”
Taking a cold shower or splashing cold water on your face can also be effective. “Any cold exposure that is jolting, invigorating, will make it really hard for your nervous system to not pay attention to that, because feeling like you’re going to freeze will always supersede everything else,” Schaeffer says. “Ice in my hand will always beat out, ‘Am I going to be late to this interview?'”
Another potential way to reroute your nervous system away from panic? Sour candy. “That could work,” Schaeffer says. “I think if you overwhelm your system in any way, where it beats out whatever you’re thinking of.”
Of course, if you experience regular panic attacks, seeking professional help is crucial. A medical professional can develop a long-term care plan tailored to your needs. But in those intense moments when panic strikes, these simple tricks can help you regain control quickly.
