A normal working day begins and everyone is at their job. You are approaching your desk, turn on your computer and start your activities. Suddenly, in the middle of a seemingly normal work day, you feel like you’re dying. Or at least that’s what you think because you feel like your throat is closing up, you can’t breathe properly, and your heart beats faster. You struggle to be in control of your body, but you are sure that something terrible is about to happen to you. But what has happened?
You go to a private place, maybe you lock yourself in the bathroom. Once there, you may look at yourself meditating amid everything you feel.
You feel silly (or not) realizing you feel so afraid of not being able to take in enough air to breathe or control what you feel. Your colleagues are still in their jobs and you have no one but you.
Sounds like a suspense story, right? It is a reality that may happen to you who read this article or to a co-worker. The truth is that person is not dying. That is what our body makes us believe through a panic attack.
What is a panic attack?
Panic attacks are episodes of sudden fear or anxiety. Can create various physical and emotional symptoms that can peak in a matter of minutes. Feelings of anxiety, fright, and physical sensations of a knot in the stomach and a pounding heart can lead people to think they are having a heart attack.
People may think the episode is symptomatic of heart disease, respiratory disorders, or even thyroid disease. Despite these episodes may be extremely distressing, overpowering, and unpleasant — Panic attacks are usually not dangerous and do not need hospital treatment. A person who goes through this situation may feel that anxiety settled in their bones and stayed there to live. It may lose confidence in itself and its body.
While a panic attack, people could lead to the worst possible conclusion every time the thought pops into their mind: “You’re not getting enough air, your heart rate is too high, you’re dying, run, get out of the office.” While the other colleagues continue to do their work, this person feels alone, without support. Like they are in a life-or-death competition with their body. It may be helpful to have someone to let them know how can support you or how to help if this happens in the middle of the work day.
How can a panic attack affect a co-worker?
To promote feeling empathy, let’s clarify how a panic attack can affect someone.
Panic attacks can cost time and productivity when working. But at the moment that happens, that is not the most important thing, though, in fact, sometimes it is. It can put pressure on someone that their work routine is being interrupted because their body has started sending out danger alarms.
What the person going through a panic attack is looking for is peace of mind. In itself, they don’t want to feel it so strong, they want to cope with that and relax their body. After having a panic attack for the first time, these people can be affected by the fear that it may happen again.
What triggers a panic attack?
We explained how much a panic attack can affect someone…
A panic attack is the stronger form of anxiety. As so, it is important to know what triggers a panic attack. Panic attacks arise when the body suddenly goes into “fight or flight mode”. This consists of natural or built-in mechanisms in our body, which have evolved to be able to deal with danger. Consists of either fighting the attacker or running away. To do any of these things, we must be as fast and strong as possible, so our body is flooded with adrenaline. This response speeds up our breathing and heart rate to get more oxygen out of our body and into our cells as soon as possible to deal with the threat. This causes most of the physical symptoms.
What to do if it happens to you?
To handle a panic attack at work, or at any other place, you can make use of these techniques and tips:
1. Mindfulness.
Conscious breathing centers our body when we are caught by a panic attack. Researches associates mindfulness with a lower level of stress and fewer situations of anxiety. Being told to breathe may not be helpful help when you feel shortness of breath in the office. Try taking slow, deep breaths when you see panic symptoms increasing.
Count to five as you breathe in and then count to six as you breathe out. Why? This is to slow down your heart rate and breathing, which also activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
You can follow these steps to involve slowly in this practice of your five senses:
- Focus your attention on five different things. Be aware of each one.
- Listen to four sounds. Identify where they can from and what sets them apart.
- Touch three objects. It may be differences between its temperature, texture, and weight.
- Find near you two things to smell. Maybe your coffee, soap, or candles.
- Detect one thing you can taste. You may try a candy or notice what the taste in your mouth is.
During a panic attack, the body’s fight or flight response is activated. It is releasing adrenaline and speeds up the heart rate and breathing to allow the body to fight or dodge a perceived threat. Breathing slowly tells the body that it can keep its guard down. We want to activate the body’s “brake system” which is the parasympathetic system. Slow, deep breathing is a very good way to do this. It makes the whole system understand that we are safe, that there is no danger.
2. Confront the panic.
When we are in the throes of a panic attack, we may experience physical symptoms. That goes with that sudden panic, such as trembling, racing heart, chest pain, numb hands, dizziness, and sweating. These symptoms can be worrying, but instead of running away from the discomfort, people may accept these circumstances to shorten the panic attack.
Anxiety needs to catch us resisting its symptoms to work. The problem starts when we found ourselves saying ‘OMG, it’s happening! Please no right now. I can’t have a panic attack now, It’s the worst moment!”. Don’t fight against anxiety or try to control it, just let it flow. This way, the anxiety is consumed because it’s understood that there is no danger. It seems absurd, but the fastest way to get through a panic attack is to confront the emotions.
If you know your typical panic attack symptoms, for example, repeat to yourself: “Okay… I’m going to feel my heart racing. Probably, I’m going to feel trembling and my body may be sweat for a moment”. This is a form to mentally educate yourself in matters of your panic symptoms as well as prepare yourself to let it flows.
3. Be realistic.
Due to a panic attack, we may stop thinking logically. Some signals from the brain, such as the brainstem, or hypothalamus may be taken over rather than moderated by the prefrontal cortex. The brainstem is involved in defense responses while the prefrontal cortex handles decision-making.
How can you bring the logical cortex back in control?
Put words to panic. If it’s for you, it will be helpful to write or tell yourself what are you going through. By practicing this you can help the rational parts of your brain to bring logical action when the reasoning thought is suffering a panic attack.
When you feel unable to talk what you can do to re-activate the rational part of your brain is to Remember to focus on other sensations. Look around the room and look for those things we explained before to focus on your senses. The process of taking your senses and focusing on sensory information pushes your brain to reconnect with the prefrontal cortex.
Write it all. If you have frequent panic attacks at work or it happens to you with specific triggers, write down on self-help reminder cards to give your logical side a clue.
These notes shouldn’t be statements like: ‘All will be okay’. Instead try positive phrases that you will believe when that situation arises such as: ‘This is not comfortable, but it is not dangerous or ‘I can handle it, I know how to cope with this’. Writing down how you feel before or after a panic attack also eases you to notice what’s behind that intense feeling of panic.
Anxiety is a reaction from your body drawing your attention to yourself. If you feel a sudden and intense urgency about your feelings, maybe it’s a sign that you need to connect with your emotions more often. So, your body won’t have to push you to the limit to attract your attention.
4. Connect with someone.
During a panic attack, you may be searching for something or someone to make you feel better. Go for a walk, go to a quiet place or talk to someone familiar. Calling someone close can get your heart rate down with just the sound of their voice. Feeling supported by the other side can help you get through your work day.
On the other hand, commenting on what you sometimes feel does not make you someone defective. On the contrary, visualizing what you may be suffering in silence can help you gain support from your co-workers. A panic attack can be isolating, but even if you feel vulnerable, the workplace is not a place where you leave your human side and become emotionless.
By seeking out our support structures, we remove the isolating effect of secrecy and can regain control of the situation. Instead of being reactive, which would be running away to catch your breath ― Be proactive by realizing in advance that you feel on the border of a panic attack, and could be great to have some support. Writing a text or email to a family member or a friend to see if they can talk to you on a break from work would be a useful way to call on support.
5. Identify triggers at work.
The place where you had the panic attack could be a source of anxiety. If it was your workplace the panic-inducing source of stress, would be positive to think about the triggers to know what can be changed in that situation.
List and question yourself if it was triggered because of the work environment or if it was your field of work, if it was your co-workers, or if it was your workload. It’s important to use expressive language about what exactly is so stressful about your job that it causes you to respond in that way.
Has the problem occurred with a specific person? Is it the environment? Was it for a project? Was it something particular? Identifying where it comes from can help the leader to check the situation.
Must reflect on the central trigger of this panic at work to consult with a superior if something can be adjusted.
Work stress. It becomes more of a problem if what your brain wants to avoid is also what allows you to pay your bills. Even if you’re not experiencing panic attacks, it’s helpful to know how you can deal with work stress.
Panic affects many people.
It is estimated that millions of people live with a panic disorder that gives them panic attacks. Many more people experience attacks less often. If you find yourself starting to gasp and need to get out of the office, then go for fresh air to get through a workday.
Or if you have to pause to call someone to support you while trying to deliver before the deadline, it’s okay. If you have to put on to count while you breathe in front of the computer, think that many people can support you and many tools such as those we mentioned above.
The main advice will always be to go to the doctor first to confirm that you are healthy. If it affects your daily life to the point that you are unable to do anything, it is worth seeing a mental health professional. So, they can help you to get to the bottom of the problem. You have the right to live a normal and productive life, inside and outside the office.
