A short instructional monologue teaching a practical exposure/acceptance technique to stop panic attacks by changing one’s reaction to anxious thoughts and physical sensations. The speaker advises intentionally acknowledging anxiety (‘yes, I’m anxious’) to prevent escalation and breaking the usual spiraling response.
If you get panic attacks, there's usually an onset of a physical feeling. Once you start to worry about what's happening, you're actually making symptoms worse. This technique can help you end anxiety attacks for good. It's going to sound counterintuitive, but I want you to start practicing exposure, telling yourself, yep, I'm going to have anxiety. This seems counterintuitive to tell ourselves that something bad is going to happen. But when we're afraid, we're actually creating more of an anxiety response in the brain. When we're no longer afraid of the thoughts or the feelings, it's not going to escalate. It's our reaction to it that escalates it. Your brain, it's going to stop looking for these feelings, focusing on your breath and saying, yes, I'm anxious. The more you use these techniques, you're not going to spiral like you normally do.
