You have to have coping skills in place first. Distractions and relaxation techniques and a safe escape first before doing exposure. Exposure is a test of your ability to cope. If you have no coping skills in place all you get is panic or at best a temporary tolerance for your trigger. The latter means that you will never cure the anxiety you will just lessen it with tolerance. A good day will be good and a bad day will be horrible because you will have no way to cope. Very few can do this all or nothing type of exposure. You have to be a pretty strong person to jump in with both feet and stay till you get used to it.
I'm also really sorry to know that you had that experience. I think that the tools available to you here will really help. After my first panic attack, my greatest fear was having another, too. The site and this community will help you to unlearn this fear. Keep in touch - we are here to support you and to congratulate you on your progress, which will happen!
Sorry you had that sudden and scary experience at school.
What do you think triggered it? Is there anything you can do, like gradual exposure work, to prepare yourself before going to this new school? Have you had any other panic attacks in the past?
Take some time to go through the learning resources in the Toolbox section - start with The Panic Program.
It will help you understand and challenge your negative thoughts which can help diffuse feelings of panic.
I was going to my first year of college and ended up leaving the next day after I moved in doing to a MAJOR panic attack. I was able to avoid fees and acquire a medical deferment but I can't go back to the school. Now I have applied to a new school but I still have those anxious feelings and am terrified of having another panic attack.
It’s been a while since you were active on this site. Please extend your session below
You have been logged out due to inactivity.
Please sign back in.
We use cookies to help us learn about how our platform is used and how we can improve your experience. To
learn more please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
