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Question for Someone with success in Boxed Breathing


13 years ago 0 11213 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Dizzy,
 
Using box breathing is a great coping strategy but know that every individual is different and different things work for different people.  CBT however is the most successful method to manage Panic. 
 
Box breathing is a great relaxation technique and even when you are not experiencing panic symptoms it can be beneficial to practice relaxation techniques throughout the day.  While doing the breathing try not to focus on making the symptoms stop.  Think about breathing deeply and pausing, thats all.  Keep practicing and it will get easier.
 
 
 
 

Ashley, Health Educator
13 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Dizzy

Can you tread water. You know to do it successfully you have to use both your legs and arms.
Box breathing is the same. Breathing from the diaphram increases the surface area of your lungs increasing the amount of oxygen absorbed, but this is only half of it. The other half is distraction and positive thought. One won't work with out the other, just like treading water. If you breath but at the same time think this won't work then you will sink. All that will happen is you will hyperventilate and get dizzy. The increased oxygen is to clear your mind of cobwebs. But you have to think positive. So it is think or sink, Kick those legs also. No sabotaging yourself okay. The breathing and distraction and thinking it will work should be enough and it should with practice get down to where it works right away. 
So everyone, did I get it right, is this how it works for you. It works for me but then I seldom have to use it anymore.

Davit.
13 years ago 0 1665 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Dizzy:  I successfully use box breathing or just a few deep breaths, to just in and out visualizing calming things.  I would say that everyone is different.  If they say 5 minutes, seems to me that is an average time.  Perhaps it does take you longer for now.  As you get more expert on it, it may not take as long.  And then again, it depends on the attack too as some aren't as bad as others.  Like all physical exercises, practice makes perfect. That's what I have found.  As for the symptoms in the head, I get those too.  I just ignore them and concentrate on the breathing part.  As your breathing gets better, head symptoms get better too.  Unless of course you are having ear/balance problems which need to be addressed. (same as my BP symptoms) by a doctor.  I don't believe using this technique is a crutch, it's used for coping during an attack.  The study of both cognitive and behavioural I think needs to be done hand-in-hand and necessary for real change.  It's like taking an anti-anxiety pill, it might take the anxiety away for a little while, but you haven't addressed any issues which cause it.  That's the cognitive homework you want to do with CBT, you know, what makes you, you.  and how you change your own negatives to positives.
 
My thoughts, Sunny
13 years ago 0 118 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
 

Anyone with success in box breathing

As the session on relaxation said anxious people don’t breathe from there diaphragm, while as far as can remember I have not breathed from my diaphragm for 30 years (at least intentionally). I had seen a CBT therapist before coming to this site while a made progress in that the panic attacks did not bother me as much they still leave me with an on edge felling every day. Since seeing the therapist I started box breathing and as the session said I became dizzy within a few moments. The questions I have are one, I now can box breathe without dizziness but it takes me a while to get results (IE. I have to do it for longer than 5 min), so I am doing anything wrong if I do it for longer than 5 min? Here is my thinking on it, if I do it for longer than 5 min than I am setting myself up for my body or mind to learn that it takes longer than 5 min to reduce symptom. On the other hand if I do it for 5 min and get no result I feel as if I have failed (I know negative thinking). According to my previous CBT I should get to the point where it only takes a few breaths to get rid of anxiety symptoms (again I saw this as a failure because I wasn’t able to achieve a 5 min reduction in symptoms). By doing it longer than 5 min I can some results, which is more than my initial attempts which produced nothing, this gives me some sense of accomplishment. Two my major symptoms are dizziness which was initially caused by starting boxed breathing (as your session suggest), when I have achieved results my body calms down but nothing happens in my head IE. no reduction of pressure or dizziness. My thinking on this is that genesis of my anxiety attacks happened when I lost my hearing and had severe vertigo, so instead of I thinking I going to die of a heart attack, or I am going to faint, I attributed every symptom to my loss of hearing and, consequently my head symptoms are still my main area of attention (I am trying to reduce attention to symptoms in my head). I think this is why I am unable to get a reduction of symptoms in my head because I still give my head symptoms to much power by paying attention and maybe because I am complaining about my lack of ability to reduce symptom in my head this is also giving to much attention and power to the symptoms. So the question is what does it feel like to have success and does your whole body experience it, or is the reduction in symptoms just as personal as an anxiety attack in that it I different for everyone. Three, I seems to have this thought in my head that if I have a lot of symptoms I cannot get rid of them all at once, this is my experience, I get a reduction of symptoms after 5 min then I go longer to get a further reduction, so does a successful person get rid of all symptoms in 5 min, or is it again a personal thing and everyone is different. Finally I am still of session 3 but my old CBT told me do the breathing when I have an attack to stop it, so far I have not noticed this in your plan of dealing with panic attacks, (and unfortunately my CBT said I was supposed to stop attack this in a couple of breaths, and I did for a while but thing changed and then I could not). My negative maladaptive thinking on this is when I have a higher intensity I believe that I cannot stop it with box breathing. Again negative thinking around the attack because I was once able to reduce the attack to moments and not know. (According to him this is the behavioural part of stopping an attack which ignores the cognitive part of it). Perhaps this is a question for one of the educators do you recommend boxed breathing as an behavioural technique during an attack of does it just become a crutch that we would rely on and cause us not to seek out the negative thinking associated with the attack.

Dizzy


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