Picture this. You are third in line at a red robot on a Friday afternoon, boxed in by taxis and a delivery truck. Out of nowhere your heart starts hammering, your hands tingle and the car feels as if it has no air in it. You are certain something terrible is about to happen.
Ten minutes later it has passed, and you are left shaken and exhausted. The next week, without quite deciding to, you take the back roads.
How one panic attack can shrink a life
A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear with strong physical symptoms: a pounding heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, shaking, a feeling of unreality. It usually peaks within minutes. It is frightening, and it can feel exactly like having a heart attack or losing your mind.
The attack itself is only half the story. What often does the lasting damage is the fear of having another one. You start to steer clear of the place where it happened, and then of places like it.
- Highways, bridges and long queues at the robots
- Busy shopping centres, especially at month-end
- Supermarket queues, lifts and parking garages
- Church, school halls, cinemas, anywhere it would be awkward to leave
- Driving alone, or being far from home
When this avoidance becomes a pattern, it is called agoraphobia. The word is often taken to mean a fear of open spaces, but it is really a fear of being somewhere you cannot easily escape or get help if panic strikes. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a very understandable attempt to stay safe.
Why your brain blames the place
The brain has fast circuits that watch for threat, and a small structure called the amygdala is thought to play a central part in them. One common explanation is that during a panic attack the brain links everything around you with danger. The traffic, the fluorescent lights and the trolley in your hands can all get tagged.
The next time you are in a similar setting, the brain may recognise the link and sound the alarm before you have had a conscious thought. Your body releases adrenaline, your breathing speeds up and the very sensations you dread begin again. This is often described as a conditioned response.
Panic is a false alarm in a body that is working exactly as it was built to.
This is why talking yourself out of it is so hard. The reasoning part of your brain knows the Pick n Pay queue is not dangerous. The alarm system does not take instructions from reason, particularly when adrenaline is already flowing. People who live with a constant low level of worry may be more prone to this, as we explain in our piece on generalised anxiety.
See a doctor first
Chest pain, a racing heart, breathlessness and dizziness can have medical causes, including heart, thyroid and breathing conditions. If you have not yet had these symptoms checked, please see your GP before assuming it is panic. It is also worth knowing that panic disorder often responds well to established treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy with a psychologist, and sometimes medication. Neurofeedback is a complementary approach that works alongside that care, not in place of it. If you take medication, any change should be made only with the doctor who prescribed it.
How neurofeedback may help
Your nervous system has an accelerator and a brake. The accelerator, the sympathetic branch, prepares you to fight or run. The brake, the parasympathetic branch, brings you back to rest. With frequent panic, it can be as though the accelerator sits too close to the floor all day, so that it takes very little to tip the system over.
Neurofeedback is a way of training the brain towards steadier, calmer patterns of activity. Sensors on your scalp read your brainwaves, and the computer gives feedback through sound or images each time your brain shifts in a helpful direction. Nothing is sent into the brain.
The aim is to lower that background level of arousal. When the baseline comes down, there is more room between everyday stress and the point where the alarm goes off. The hope is that you recover more quickly from a wave of anxiety and feel more able to practise going back into the places you have been avoiding. Results vary, and no one can promise that panic will stop altogether. Poor sleep can make anxiety worse too, so if that is part of your picture, our article on chronic insomnia may be worth a read.
What to expect at Fix Your Brain
Every client begins with a 19-channel brain map, which takes about an hour and a half. A brain map is a recording of your brain's electrical activity, taken from 19 points on the scalp.
Training sessions at the practice in Krugersdorp are 45 to 60 minutes and start with a short check-in on how you are feeling. After that, the sensors read your brain's activity while you sit. Neurofeedback does not involve bringing on a panic attack or facing a feared place. Our what to expect page describes a first visit in detail.
Common questions
Can a panic attack actually harm me?
A panic attack feels dangerous, but in an otherwise healthy person it is not generally harmful and it passes on its own, usually within minutes. Because the symptoms overlap with some medical conditions, it is important to have your heart and general health checked by a doctor first. Once that is done, understanding what the sensations are can take away some of their power.
Will neurofeedback stop my panic attacks?
No honest practitioner can promise that. Neurofeedback aims to lower your nervous system's background arousal, which may make anxiety less frequent or easier to recover from. Results vary from person to person. It belongs alongside the care of your doctor or psychologist, particularly therapy that helps you return gradually to avoided places.
What if I panic during a session?
It is an understandable worry. Neurofeedback is non-invasive: the sensors only read your brain's activity, and nothing is sent into your brain. Each session starts with a short check-in on how you are feeling, which is the moment to say if you are having an anxious day. If this is on your mind before you book, contact the practice and ask.
A world that has grown small can, with patience and the right support, slowly open up again. If you would like to talk through whether brain training could be one part of that for you, please contact Irine. A phone call or a message is a perfectly good place to start.
- panic attacks
- agoraphobia
- traffic anxiety
- vagus nerve
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