I find it a coincidence that this site is called no panic as I know of someone that used to experience panic attacks. He had the words No Panic tattooed on his arm in Hebrew. That way no one else knew what it said but he knew the meaning. When he felt a panic attack looming he would look at his tattoo and repeat over and over "No panic, No panic". He found that a very successful strategy to stop panic attacks in their tracks.

S - Slow your breathing. This is a powerful signal to the nervous system to calm down.

T - Take a step back into the bit of you that can see what’s happening.

O - Observe and scale – how scared am I on a scale of 1-10? Using numbers forces your thinking brain to engage.

P - Perspective – is there another way of seeing this situation?

P - Positive thought or action – what do I need right now? Self-kindness? Distraction?

Find: 

5 things you can see,

4 things you can hear,

3 things you can touch,

 2 things you can smell,

1 emotion you are feeling – Ask yourself “Am I more settled? Or do I need to go through each step again?”

We have thousands of thoughts a day – being clear about the difference between thoughts and actual events is key to managing anxiety. Having a thought doesn’t make it true, doesn’t mean something will happen and doesn’t mean we need to act on our thoughts.  

Learning to worry well might sound like a strange idea but it can be very helpful in preventing anxiety and panic attacks.

Being able to anticipate things going wrong can be very useful. For example, anticipating a river might flood and endanger your family and home led to people moving to another town and surviving to tell the story. 

Set aside 20-30 minutes a day to worry properly, maybe toward the end of the day but not right before bed. If worries pop into your head in the day, tell them gently you will consider them later. At the time you have chosen, write out all your worries and concerns.