Chronic Panic Disorder

Hi syfarz,

The feeling of not being able to breath properly is common at those sorts of times when you feel unhelpfully high anxiety- your natural alarm system is going off, and part of the response is to feel short of breath - your body wants to get more oxygen to get the muscles ready for urgent action - to fight the perceived danger or to run away.

This instinctive response would have saved us at a time when we lived in jungles and were prey to sabre tooth tigers and the like.

So, what you are experiencing is not an illness, it's the mind and body responding to protect you from what it thinks is a dangerous situation. And just as a car alarm that goes off with the slightest breeze needs to be reset, it's possible to reset the internal alarm, so that you'll once again begin to feel calmer in those situations that used to be unpleasant.

Next time you become aware of the alarm going off, part of you might just remind you that that's what's happening, it's just the alarm going off, and in time it will go back to normal.

With the 7/11 breathing it can really help if you practice it a lot, when you're feeling calmer, so that it'll become easier at times when you need it.

If you haven't already, I think you'll benefit from the Panic Attacks Course.

Best wishes