Summary

Before you can learn to gain control over panic, you must first believe that you have the ability to take control. Many people feel helplessly out-of-control, experiencing panic as something that rushes over them from out of the blue. The truth is that many of the early stages of the panic cycle take place outside conscious awareness. In this step you learned what these typical stages are. By first identifying these stages, we can begin to design a self-help plan that accounts for the entire cycle of panic not just those stages we consciously notice during panic. As you continue exploring this self-help program, here are some important ideas to keep in mind:

1. Our body properly responds to the messages sent to it by the mind. If we label a situation as dangerous, and then begin to approach that situation, the body will secrete hormones that prepare us physically for crisis. Even if the situation appears relatively safe, if the mind interprets it as unsafe, the body responds to that message.
2. If we become mentally involved with thoughts of a past event, the body may respond as though that event were taking place now.
3. When we question whether we can handle a fearful situation, we tend to unconsciously predict failure. Our body responds to our fearful thought by becoming tense and on guard.
4. If we visualize ourselves failing to cope with a future event, our body will tend to respond as though we are currently in that event.
5. Within the panic cycle, the body is responding appropriately to unnecessarily alarming messages sent by the mind.
6. By changing our images, our thoughts and our predictions about our ability to cope, we can control our physical symptoms.
7. When we become anxious, our rate and pattern of breathing change. These changes can produce hyperventilation that may cause many of the uncomfortable physical symptoms during panic. By changing the way we breathe we can reduce all of those uncomfortable symptoms.

next: Step 3: Change Your Attitude!