Social Anxiety/ Panic Attack (please help!)

Hey XVision, no. You're not the only one. I started having panic attacks around every month starting last year (and a little bit in my early childhood) At first they were little-r, and I'd just cry with no idea of what's happening, and feel scared, and shiver, and it'd last 15 minutes-1 hour. Then they started getting worse around winter last year, where I'd start to get in a state where I'd not be controllable and start beating myself up, physically..yeah. Then I started experiencing disassociation, which was really worrisome, but not out of ordinary, luckily, for an extreme anxiety symptom.
I know that I can feel a panic attack coming on, so when I feel it, I do what calms me the best: music. If you can figure out when it's about to start, then quickly go to something that you know will soothe you. But sometimes the time between when I know, and when it starts is too short to do anything...so it may not always work.
The way to deal with panic attacks is to keep yourself connected with the world. One thing that happens when you get a panic attack is that you're not in control. I find what helps me is to be aware of my surroundings, touch something, listen to music, and just sort of describe what is actually going on around you, it'll calm you down a little. It doesn't always work for me, I haven't mastered getting out of panic attacks quite yet.
I do remember one time when it worked, though. I was experiencing disassociation (the feeling that I wasn't myself, I was viewing the world through a camera, it was unreal) and I remember picking up a plush unicorn at a store and petting it. I know, it's a little silly, however it calmed me down just to focus on something that was real, and I felt less afraid, though it didn't completely go away.

I have social anxiety too, but it's not connected to my panic attacks normally...except recently, I've panicked twice about going to school because my anxiety and depression levels have been blown out of proportion. Unfortunately I don't know any better than you how to deal with that, but I guess I could tell you that it's not too abnormal to have it.

Professional help, as in what? Therapy, medication? And how often do you feel anxiety, and panic attacks?

 

I have panic attacks and anxiety problems, but I also have depression. Panic attacks, sudden extreme sadness, and suicidal urges are pretty similar problems for me. When I notice things going in a bad direction, there are several things I do. If I remember, I take my as-needed anxiety medication. Almost always when things are very bad, I immediately tell at least one person and talk about it. Usually this helps a lot.

When I have suicidal urges (this might also work for panic attacks), I usually try to listen to some of my favorite music and focus on it, trying to keep every instrument and every note in my awareness. It works decently for distracting myself. I personally listen to some very heavy metal with screamed lyrics. I like it so much because it feels like it expresses my emotions for me. It doesn't make me feel angry or frustrated, despite sounding extremely angry and frustrated. It just makes me feel better. To me it sounds more pleasant than diabolical.

I also usually report the panic attack/intense sadness/suicidal urges to my therapist and to my best friend. I find it very helpful to be able to talk about these things. Maybe I'm just super lucky in that the people in my life are glad to help. I used to isolate myself and not tell anyone about any of my problems. I've come to really enjoy being open about them, and I still have room for improvement. Two days ago I had suicidal urges and didn't tell anyone because I felt I'd be being a burden, but my therapist reminded me that I only had reason to believe my friends would have been glad to have helped.

I definitely recommend finding a good therapist. A good match won't laugh at you. It might take a while to find a good one, but it's worth it. Meeting with a psychiatrist could also be a good idea. They might suggest some kind of medication. Therapists usually can't prescribe medication and don't have the expertise to monitor how you're doing on them.

Also, try just talking to the people in your life about your anxiety problems and how they could help. There's a good chance they can become very helpful if you reach out.

Isolating yourself can feel like the right thing, and I don't know if it's always bad, but you clearly want to be around people. Maybe look for a metal health support group or an LGBTQ+ support group? You might make lasting connections there, and if nothing else, you might enjoy being with (hopefully) supportive strangers.

 

I have extremely bad anxiety in any form you could name. And I ended up isolating myself, pushing many people away for a while. I went through extremely bad times, and am only now starting to get better. Therapy, in my opinion, doesn't help anxiety, but finding something you love does help tremendously. I found that music does wonders in helping stop an attack. If you are having an attack, or know one could be coming, put in earbuds, and listen to your favorite music as loud as you need. So if you have a hobby, like sports, music, or art just go to that when you are experiencing the anxiety.