As bad as panic attacks are, you don't have to live with them. Sadly, most people are sabotaging their quests to end them without even knowing it. In this article, you will learn the common mistakes that are made by those trying to get over their panic and anxiety attacks.
The first mistake is lack of knowledge concerning the condition and possible treatments. It's so much harder to believe in something if you don't understand how or why it works. If you don't believe in something, you won't commit to what you're doing on the same level as a part of you expects it to fail, and that part of you wants to be proven right. Additionally, when you understand something, you won't fear it at the same level. When you know what's going on to some degree, you can choose a treatment you can get behind completely, again helping you to believe in it.
Make sure you give the treatment a fair amount of time to work. Many people will mentally retreat before they've reached the finish line and start beating themselves up for not seeing results in an arbitrary time frame. Take into account the expected times for each treatment to work when choosing. Not so you can give up after that amount of time, but so you can stay patient. The treatments themselves can vary widely in expected recovery time.
There is also the issue of a general lack of support. Your own attitude and actions are included under this category, but often it is of great help to have outside aid. Many people are embarrassed about having panic attacks and consequently don't enlist much help or push people away. It is monumentally important to have people who believe in you, because often in these situations you may not believe in yourself.
There are support groups that work well for this and they also reinforce that other people have gone through what you are and they beat it. Being around normal people who have not only faced but conquered this problem lets you know that you can too. Support groups aren't necessarily for everyone though. Try to find both elements in other places if you don't go to one. For example, you can get support from your friends, and learn about how other people ended their panic attacks by reading in online forums.
Finally, you aren't cured just because you aren't seeing symptoms. I'm referring to pills and avoidance on this point. Pills can help you, but they only exist to cover up the problem, not eliminate it. Should you not deal with the root cause, the problem will be apparent if you ever stop taking the pills. You will always be afraid or crippled on some level if you don't deal with the underlying problem. In these situations, you might find yourself avoiding stressful situations as a defense mechanism. In addition to leading a sad life, this reinforces your fears. This often leads to an even greater hesitation when it comes to leaving your home. Even your home isn't completely safe from the problem as you will worry about when you have to leave or beat yourself up for living your life in this manner. By exposing yourself to a portion of the fear, a portion that you can handle without your brain overloading, you can often desensitize yourself towards that fear.