Woman wearing headphones sitting at home in the bed in lotus position, while meditating

How to Respond to Overwhelming Panic and Anxiety

By Charles Schaeffer, PhD, author of When Panic Happens

The spinning wheel of death on your laptop. The red blinking light on your game player. The text frozen on your work computer and the oh-so-helpful message “application not responding.” You likely know what it looks like when a device becomes overwhelmed and crashes. You probably also know how frustrating and terrifying that moment can be before you are able to reboot and recover. It is much harder to understand, respond, and recover when your nervous system becomes overwhelmed. If racing thoughts, dizziness, nausea, or muscle tension immobilize you, it helps to investigate what typically causes your nervous system to crash. More importantly, you can learn how to recover from panic.

When a tech device crashes, what’s the first thing to do? You might notice that you lose cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity, for example—which is similar to what happens when your nervous system crashes. When you become overwhelmed with panic symptoms, your brain retreats into a safety mode, cutting off connectivity to the environment, other people, and even empathy. You experience increased vigilance and distancing. Recovering from nervous system crashes relies on you feeling safe. Until you can perceive and experience safety, you’re likely to remain stuck in this anxious, activated mode of responding to yourself and others. Generally, the safer you can feel, the easier and faster your nervous system recovers and returns to a sense of calm and balance.

The vagal brake is a built-in tool for calming your nervous system (for example, by decreasing your heart and breathing rate) and recovering when you are overwhelmed and anxious. While there is no one specific physical vagal break, it generally refers to the part of your brain where the vagus nerve begins deep in the back of your head, near your brain stem. Your vagal brake is like brakes on a bicycle. It releases to speed up the nervous system and reengages to slow it down (Dana, 2020). This is your main mechanism of getting back to calm when you lose your sense of connection to others and begin to feel overwhelmed and threatened with panic symptoms. When your heart rate slows, that’s a sign that your vagal brake is working. One way to overcome panic and anxiety and balance and calm your nervous system is by learning to engage your vagal brake. […]

Have you lost control and crashed your nervous system into panic mode? Each of these uncomfortable sensations is signaling adrenaline and cortisol to pump through your nervous system as it prepares for a threat. Activating your vagal brake can help you not get stuck in this fight-or-flight response, a.k.a. survival mode. Survival mode happens when your nervous system becomes overwhelmed with adrenaline and sends uncomfortable panic sensations through your body, pushing you to engage with aggression (fight) or flee in fear (flight).

Let’s look at a practice drawn from polyvagal theory: the calm anchor playlist. In the Netflix series Stranger Things, the main characters are faced with a lot of creepy villains from the bizzarro universe, the “Upside Down.” None are as terrifying as Vecna. Vecna can overtake people’s minds, driving them insane to the point of death. When it seems that all hope is lost, the heroes discover that consciously focusing on music that makes them feel loved and safe repels and eventually defeats Vecna. According to polyvagal theory, the kids from Stranger Things defeated Vecna by using music as an anchor for safety. This engaged their vagal brake to restore their balance and keep out panic and Vecna. This same approach works for panic attacks.

The following exercise is an adapted version of a popular distress-tolerance practice foundational to dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) treatment and skills programs (Linehan 2014). DBT is a type of psychotherapy for people who experience intense, distressing emotions. You can practice this exercise to strengthen your vagal brake whenever you’d like. You can use it to calm your nervous system when you feel panicked.

Try This: Calm Anchor Playlist

· Make a playlist of a few songs that bring you peace, calm, and positive memories. Listen to them as you make the playlist and notice how your body feels.

· Find a comfortable, private spot where you won’t be disturbed for five to ten minutes. Sit in a comfortable position, uncross your arms, and hold your palms comfortably open facing the ceiling as they rest on your lap.

· Consciously notice any tension in your face. Try to release it and keep your mouth pursed in a half smile as you breathe through your nose.

· Start your calming anchor playlist and close your eyes, intentionally holding a half smile with your palms open and facing up. When your mind drifts to other thoughts or feelings, gently bring your attention back to the song, your half smile, and your palms.

· After each song is completed, observe and notice any different sensations in your mind or body. Do you notice any change in tension or stress?

PP. 21-23, 28-30 Excerpt taken from When Panic Happens

Dana, D. 2020. Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: 50 Client-Centered Practices. New York: W. W. Norton.

Linehan, M. 2014. DBT Skills Training Manual, 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press.

Charles Schaeffer, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, and adjunct clinical faculty member at New York University who has been teaching students and patients how to use the latest research to overcome panic, sleep, and anxiety disorders for over a decade. Schaeffer was previously research director and guest host for the Dr. Fritz Show on WWRL-AM radio in New York, NY. His writing and expertise have been featured in Psychology Today, HuffPost, Vice News, and NBC News Health. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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