10 Steps for Turning Off the Panic Button

When something trips your panic button – the fight/flight/freeze response from your amygdala – don’t get stuck. Here are 10 steps for hitting the off switch.

A few years ago, an event tripped my amygdala response, and I was stuck in panic mode for not just weeks, but months. Everything sent me into high anxiety, I was looking for life-threats everywhere, and I just couldn’t bear it. I was lucky enough to find outside professional help who helped me with this key insight:

• Is the threat physically in the room with you?
• If no, do you think you would be able to respond if it WAS in the room?
• Since my fear was actual physical attack, I thought about it, and my answer was yes.
• So, if it’s not in the room, but I would be able to respond if it WAS in the room, then I could let go.

For me, this turned off the switch.

More recently, I had a severe attack of “freeze” in response to what felt like a threat to my existence. My amygdala took over, and I was just ruled by overwhelming emotion. I was literally curled up in a ball, unable to think or act.

In the past I would have gotten stuck there for much longer.

But this time I had tools.

I recognized I needed help, and I asked for it.

I got help and support from friends. I reached out to professionals.

And then I listened to them. I took in their suggestions, and I applied them immediately.

The result: I flipped the switch on the amygdala, and returned to my rational mind. I still had work to do to stay there, but the crisis was past.

So if you’re struggling with heightened or irrational responses to truly terrifying things, you’re not alone. The amygdala does serve a very important purpose. But you don’t want to get stuck there. You can bring it down a notch.

Here are 10 steps to turn off the panic button.

1. Get help.

2. Be willing to apply the suggestions you receive.

3. Instead of focusing on catastrophic thinking, focus on this moment. Staying present is an exercise in turning away from obsession over the past and fear of the future.

4. “Feed the good wolf” – the part of your mind that brings you to the light, not the bad wolf that drags you into the dark.

5. If the thinking spirals out of control, bring it back to the moment.

6. If you can’t bring yourself back with your rational brain, reach out for more help: call a friend who can help you get present, watch something with a message of staying in the moment, meditate, chant a mantra, write a gratitude list, anything that shifts your brain into the present.

7. Do everything you can to nip the downward spiral in the bud because the farther down you go, the harder it is to stop the cascade and get back to balance.

8. Ask yourself if the threat is immediately in the room with you? If no, ask yourself if you could handle it if the threat WAS in the room with you. In either case, take step 9.

9. Remind yourself you are safe IN THIS MOMENT; nothing is happening, all is well.

10. Keep repeating these steps as necessary.

When you’re triggered into fight, flight, or freeze, how do you handle it?

Photo by mwangi gatheca on Unsplash