How to End an Anxiety Attack

By Madeline Vann, MPH
Reviewed by Farrokh Sohrabi, MD
Photo by Everyday Health

When you’re having a panic attack or anxiety attack, the symptoms — chest pain, flushing skin, a racing heart, and difficulty breathing — can make you feel like you’re going to faint, lose your mind, or die. But the reality is, you won’t. The key to surviving is to learn about anxiety attacks and practice the skills you need to get through them.

“These techniques take some getting used to,” said Chicago anxiety therapist Dave Carbonell, PhD, but learning how to cope with anxiety attacks is important so that fear of having another won’t keep you at home or limit your activities. Astudy in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine in 2013 found that multiple approaches to managing anxiety, including strategies like breathing and journaling, can help. 

Here’s how to stop an anxiety attack and recover. 

Accept the Attack

“People have this powerful idea to make the attack stop,” Carbonell said, but you can’t make it stop through force of will. However, if you look back at your history, you’ll see that every attack does indeed stop, even if it feels awful for a while.

Posted in: Anxiety Attack