How to Overcome Fear and Panic Attacks with this Simple Scientific Mind Technique With Instant Online Panic Attack Risk Check

What Clinical Factors Affect the Clinical Entity of Panic Disorder?

We have learned that panic disorder is a constant fear of panic and unexpected and unpredictable occurrence of panic attacks. Now we at least understand that panic attacks are not unpredictable but rather outcomes of lack of stress exposure, leading to brain overthinking. Don’t we?

So, a panic brain is simply a brain that doesn’t have the confidence to handle stressors. So, the disorder is the lack of belief in the brain that it can handle stress and not panic. Commonly observed factors in patients with panic disorder are the following.

• Heritability (estimated at 43%), 
• Presence of nocturnal panics (in 25% of patients),
• Symptoms of autonomic overactivity,
• Behavioral sensitivity to a variety of pharmacologic challenge agents (e.g., caffeine, lactate, CO₂, cholecystokinin-4 (CCK-4), yohimbine, and m-chlorophenylpiperazine), and robust response to pharmacotherapies that enhance brain serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), and γ-amino-butyric (GABA) neurotransmission.

What is the Neuroscience of Stress and Panic?

Beneath 6,8 in the above image is our Limbic System. The Limbic brain is also known as the lizard brain, which was a brain that got developed first in evolutionary terms.

What is the role of the Amygdala in Panic?

The amygdala part of our brain is responsible for our fear or panic response. We already know that panic is the brain’s response to unpredictable and repetitive stress. The amygdala is responsible for expressing fear and aggression as well as species-specific defensive behavior, and it plays a role in forming and retrieving emotional and fear-related memories.

Why more exposure to stress reduces panic? How HPA axis handle stress?

Generally, whenever we are under stress(financial, relationship, physical, some disease), the Hypothalamus section of the brain handles the stress in conjunction with the pituitary gland and adrenal gland located on the top of our kidney, as shown in figure-4.

Whenever there is stress, our body needs to overwork, it needs more energy, the cells are to have more Oxygen; therefore, our blood pressure, breathing rate, heart rate, metabolic rate all increase. The limbic system’s Hippocampus encodes our memory and searches for an answer to a situation in the memory. So, the more one is exposed to the stressors; the more solutions are stored in the brain about the stressors. Then HPA axis replicates the past experiences, and the brain doesn’t react.

So, properly handling stressful situations needs the following primary things the brain and the body.

• More and more memory regarding the past stressful situation and the brain’s way of overcoming them (or unsuccessfully)
• Proper functioning of the memory.
• Proper functioning of our thyroid system(pituitary gland)
• Our body’s ability to produce enough cortisol, and
• Proper functioning of our stress response system.

Panic and Autonomic Nervous System

What is the relationship between tiredness and panic attacks? Do tired people get more panic attacks?

However, the above list is just the primary criteria for handling the stressors. Once the body starts the stress response system, the body has to overact. Your body must have the ability to take this overactivity. If you are already tired of handling stress for a very long period, even with a good stress response system, the body’s ability to respond to stress reduces. When the brain realizes that it knows how to respond to stress but doesn’t have the energy to respond to stress, the brain panics(that is, overreacts to the situation).

What is the relationship between the sympathetic overdrive of the autonomic nervous system and stress and panic?

When the HPA axis releases cortisol, our body shifts to the sympathetic mode of the autonomic nervous system; as the stress subsidizes, the rest and parasympathetic recovery system get activated. Therefore, when our body gets proper rest and recovers well after a stressful situation, our brain knows that it has successfully solved the stressor.

However, if we do not get proper sleep and rest, our brain cannot know that it successfully solved the stressor, and it remains confused and sometimes panics in similar situations.

Is there any relationship between allergies and panic attacks?

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter. Our cortex brain and prefrontal cortex, in particular, are rich in serotonin receptors. Therefore, when our brain produces good serotonin, our prefrontal cortex takes many decisions.
Our prefrontal cortex is also our executive brain, which is responsible for higher functions like patience, courage, deep thinking, etc. Serotonin inhibits frequent amygdala-based stress responses. So, if one has good serotonin synthesis and reception, the brain will take thoughtful actions
in a stressful situation. A lack of serotonin would lead to a frequent reaction to stress and no response.

Hormone Serotonin also inhibits Histamine. Histamine hormone is released in response to a potential threat such as a pathogen.
You may already know that Anti-Histamine drugs are used to treat allergies because allergy is a condition where the body overreacts to even harmless bodies such as pollens.
When the brain repeatedly adapts the amygdala response to any stressors, it has to inhibit serotonin, so histamine overdrive is common.

In simple words, if the brain starts feeling threat in any stressful situation, which may not be threatening, it starts developing allergies. Because serotonin is also our consciousness hormone, one with low consciousness develops an allergy disorder. Allergy is a comorbidity of panic attacks.

Why are hypertensive people more likely to panic?

It is simple to understand that when we feel a threat, the brain panics if it doesn’t know what to do. In a panic situation, the brain overreacts. Over-reaction means the body has to perform several times more than it can (called sympathetic overdrive). All the cells, muscles, and organs need more energy and oxygen. So, the blood supply speed has to increase. A subsystem achieves this in us called the Renin-Angiotensin system.

This system, in conjunction with the sympathetic nervous system, decreases the volume of the arteries, which is called vasoconstriction.

Imagine a water pipe; when you press the pipe, the speed of the water increase, and then when you release pressure, the water flow decrease. Vasoconstriction leads to physiological hypertension(temporary high BP).
The body follows a transitive relationship. This means that if condition A leads to a compensatory condition B, then condition B will also be highly likely to lead to condition A.

For human body,  if A=>B, then B=>A.
Examples: 
Sleep=>Mood Disorder; Mood Disorder => Sleep
Sympathetic dominance=>Essential Hypertension; Essential Hypertension=> Sympathetic dominance;
Panic<=>Sympathetic Dominance;
Hence, Panic<=>Hypertension;

The way panicking leads to physiological hypertension, an “essential hypertension,” may then also lead to panic attacks. Please remember essential hypertension is the permanent vasoconstriction when the body remains in sympathetic dominance all the time.

Why people panicked about COVID?

It is now a well-established fact that the novel coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic targetted the ACE-2 receptors​3​. Recall that Renin-Angiotensin system leads to our vasoconstriction. You may also already know that one of the prominent drugs that is being used extensively for the treatment of essential hypertension is the ACE-2 inhibitor.
Therefore morbidity in COVID-19 was higher for hypertensive individuals due to more expressed ACE-2 receptors.

We already now understand the transistive rule of human health. So,

Hypertension=>(High Risk)=>Covid-19;
Sympathetic dominance=>Mania;
Sympathetic dominance<=>Hypertension;
∴ Hypertension<=> Mania;
∴ Mania<=(Increased Risk)=>Covid-19;

Mania=> Panic attacks;
∴ Covid-19=>Panic attacks;

Mania is a habit of doing something over and over again. So, if Mania becomes a habit, then induced habits also lead to mania.
Because in COVID-19, several habits such as social distancing, hand sanitizing, and constant monitoring were induced as habits in people, they led to mania, and mania led to sympathetic dominance, which led to increased ACE-2 expressions, which led to elevated risks of COVID-19, which then resulted in panic.

Covid-19 was a panic-manic pandemic, more than a viral pandemic

Do over-emotional people get more panic attacks?

The amygdala-headed limbic system that is responsible for threat handling is also responsible for our feelings and mood regulation. Because the limbic brain is the brain that existed in our great ape ancestors much before the core human brain of the pre-frontal cortex got developed in us, the brain manages some of the primal emotions.
Hate, jealousy, envy, love, greed, desire, anger and alike emotions are all regulated by this brain.

Now understand that panic attacks result from sustained reactions of the brain to even the smallest anomalies. Any reaction creates extreme variations in the hormones. The Hypothalamus senses hormonal variations as feelings.

On the other hand, emotions are stitched memories of life (with each memory having its feelings) as a connected, contextual story that we call an experience. So, when the brain experiences extreme feelings, the emotions are also extreme. When you feel extreme changes in the feelings, they are saved in the memory. And so, when you try to recall the memories, you experience extreme feelings.

Recall how our brain tries to look for past experiences whenever there is a stressor. As the brain starts searching for past memories, it gives a preference to the ones with extreme feelings relevant to the current stressor.
All such memories have extreme feelings signature, and so the brain gets more afraid, as the more memories it searches, the more extreme emotions it experiences. That is one of the primary reasons why the brain feels threat even in the slightest of the stressors and switches to an amygdala-based threat response rather than an HPA-based stress response.

Therefore uncontrolled extreme emotions are also key hallmarks of a brain that is at a high risk of panicking in a rather not-so-harmful situation.

Is there any relationship between mania and panic? Do Bipolar disorder individuals panic more?

In a study conducted in 2025, youths​3​ aged between 5 to 9 years seen at a mood and anxiety specialty clinic were assessed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children-Present Episode. Youths with PD were more likely to exhibit comorbid BPD (N = 8, 19.0%) than youths with either non-PD anxiety disorders (N = 22, 5.4%) or other nonanxious psychiatric disorders (N = 112, 7.1%).

The presence of either PD or BPD in youths made the co-occurrence of the other condition more likely, as has been noted in adults. Patients with both PD and BPD are more likely to have psychotic symptoms and suicidal ideation. In treating youths with PD, clinicians must be vigilant for possible comorbid BPD or risk of the pharmacologic triggering of a manic or hypomanic episode.

In the above subsection, we already understand how extreme emotions lead to a panicking brain over a period of time.
If you observe overreaction to even the smallest of things, you must become aware that it may lead to panic attacks in the future. Repeated panic attacks may lead to panic disorder.

What is the correlation between Complex post Traumatic Stress Disorder(C-PTSD) and Panic?

Adolescents with C-PTSD have a higher prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and general anxiety disorder^​3​. The typical symptoms of PTSD characterize complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), in addition to affective dysregulation, negative self-concept, and disturbances in interpersonal relationships. Children and adolescents with C-PTSD have been reported to have deficits in emotional and cognitive functions^​4​. 

The research by Shin^​3​ proves that Adolescents with C-PTSD were more likely to have a history of sexual assault, dissociation, and self-harm than those with PTSD. The total and subscale scores of the C-PTSD Interview Scale in adolescents with C-PTSD were higher than that in adolescents with PTSD. In addition, neurocognitive functions, including emotional perception, attention, and working memory, were correlated with the severity of C-PTSD symptoms.

Reasons why C-PTSD may lead to Panic Disorder or panic attacks:-

1. Due to childhood trauma(for example, sexual abuse), emotional turmoil was severe for the child.
2. Because the amygdala forms the early emotional regulation and early memory has a trauma, as the child with CPTSD grows up, he/she may become emotionally sensitive to any situation that is remotely related to the trauma(for instance, someone who appears similar to the person who caused the trauma).
3. Most of the individuals with complex trauma, unfortunately, attract individuals with complex trauma.
4. Such relationships between two individuals with complex trauma become a trauma bond.
5. Trauma bonding is an extremely intense attraction due to high emotions, but it also comes with fear of loss.
6. Therefore the trauma-binding relationship between two individuals with complex trauma becomes push-pull.
7. Such a relationship itself becomes traumatic for both and therefore causes more emotional turmoils, eventually leading to panic.
8. Due to trauma bonding, relationship turmoils, extremely emotional and abandonment anxiety, and frequent panics, CPTSD individuals develop panic disorders.
9. Relationship paranoia, mania, and panic about the relationship are high risks of individuals with CPTSD.

Key Learnings from the knowledgebase to develop a simple therapeutics for Panic Disorder

1. Improve sleep, rest, and recovery to improve the parasympathetic system so that sympathetic dominance is reduced.
2. Identify harmful habits, and intervene in the habits, slowly replacing the bad habits with better habits.
3. Change the meaning of the memory of a life so that negative experiences appear to give some positive learnings.
4. Control hypertension.
5. Respond to the situations rather than reacting. Accept the situations rather than reacting(particularly anger and rage).
6. Create good memories and positive experiences in life.
7. Become aware of the traumatic past of all the individuals who come into your life and become aware of the trauma-binding.
8. Don’t exhaust energy by overworking.
9. Become aware of the primal negative energies like hate, jealousy, greed, and envy and slowly control them.
   10. Acquire in-depth knowledge. Read more to improve the cognitive functions of the brain.
10. Rather than being afraid and fearful of a situation, let yourself get into a stressful situation with awareness and handle the stress.
11. Rather than focussing on the pleasure activities which are dopamine modulated, focus on more satisfaction.
12. Control mood-swings, and extreme emotions.

Now that we have derived a strategy, it is quite obvious that everything can not be implemented at once. We need to have a small strategy to start and see if we get relief from panic disorder. Once we get relief with one immediate strategy, we can derive more strategies to implement each of the above areas.

Powerful and Simple Mind Positive Imagination Technique to Reduce Panic Attacks and improve Panic Disorder and Panic Syndrome

There are two key things we would want to fix first. Firstly, the fear(that is false evidence appearing true) that develops in the brain with frequent panic attacks, and secondly brain’s perception of what is a panic situation.
So, we want to intervene on:
a) How we look at our life
b) How we want to think about our life.

If we can change our feelings and thinking, then we can intervene in the amygdala-based threat response. The number of situations that will trigger the brain to a perceived threat will reduce, and therefore the panic will reduce too.

a) Method-a of Reducing Panic: Change the way we look at our life by Observe don’t Absorb Technique in an Abusive Relationship

Observe but don’t absorb is one of the most extraordinary techniques developed by Ross Rosenberg, a renowned psychologist. This technique was developed to help codependents to deal with narcissistic relationships.
In a narcissistic relationship, a codependent often gets emotionally drained because of the extreme energy-sucking by the narcissists.

Because energy drainage, emotional turmoils, and relationship trauma are three associated causes of panic attacks, we can adapt this technique in our relationship and other life situations to minimize the emotional response to the stressors. Once our brain stops reacting with emotional outbursts to any stressor, the brain will feel less threatened due to stable emotions, and slowly but surely, our frontal brain will handle such situations more and more, rather than amygdala-based responses.

But how not to absorb when someone is crushing our emotions?

Remember the first example of crazy dogs that led to panic? What did we learn at the beginning? If we are systematically exposed to stress every day, the brain learns from the stress, and slowly but surely, the brain gets convinced that this stress is not life-threatening. Once the brain is convinced that the current threat is not life-threatening, it reacts less to the situation.

Using this theory, now develop self-talk.

Why “Observe, don’t absorb” is such a powerful technique to reduce stress reactions and panic?

Let us recall the transistive relationship of our health and mind-body.

childhood trauma=>cptsd;
cptsd=>attraction of cptsd partner;
attraction of cptsd partner=>trauma bonding relationship;
trauma bonding relationship=>abusive relationship;
abusive relationship=> trauma;
trauma=>pain;
pain=>fear;
fear=>anxiety;
fear+anxiety=>panic;
panic=> ↓cognitive ability;
panic=> pain;

Trauma therapeutic strategy based on transistive rules;

↑ knowledge=> ↑ cognition;
↑ cognition=>↓ stress;
↓ stress=> ↓ panic;
↓ stress=> ↓ sympathetic activity;
↓ sympathetic activity=> ↑ reserved energy;
↓ panic=>↓(fear+anxiety);
∴ ↓ panic=>↓fear;
↓fear=> ↓pain;
↓pain=> ↓trauma;
∴↓pain=> ↓ panic;

Let us apply rules of knowledge into the code.

learning=>↑ knowledge;
pain=> brain's alertness;
alertness => ↑ observation;
↑ observation=> ↑ Learning;

So, if we can consider the painful and traumatic situations(such as when the partner has become abusive), as a learning opportunity, brain focusses on learning instead of reacting to the situation. By changing the brain’s focus to learning, from the current state of emotional turmoil, we intervene the trauma path with learning path.
Therefore observe, don’t absorb

b) Method-b Positive Imagination to Reduce Fear, inorder to reduce Panic

We now know that observe, don’t absorb alters our perspective about an abusive situation of life, into an opportunity to learn.
Learning more about abuse improves our cognitive function, reduce our emotional reaction, helps us preserve energy. That is how we reduce stress, anxiety, and finally panic.

Panic is obviously a problematic situation where brain finds no solution. Existing solutions appear traumatic. It is this lack of solutions that is affecting the brain to suffer panic. So, what if we convert the problem into an opportunity to solve?
If we can shift our focus from the problem, towards a solution, then irrespective of how effective the solution is, brain will feel saltisfied as it will not feel helpless. We now know that satisfaction synthesizes Serotonin hormone.
Serotonin inhibits histamine and lizard brain reactions. Therefore if we can somehow transform a problem situation into an opportunity to learn and create, then obviously using the principles we saw in the case of observe don’t absorb, we can heal from panick attack. Right?

So, because when you are suffering with panic disorder, brain is constantly thinking negative, and chains of thoughts are occupying your brain. Now if you can see this situatuon as an opportunity, brain’s thoughts are focussed on new solutions(where you have convinced yourself that the solution need not to work 100% and that’s okay).
So, with this, your random chain of thoughts would be converted into distinct, definitive, focussed thiking about solutions, and eventually you will overcome panic to a great degree.

The trick is to shut that circuit of imaginative brain.

When you face extreme challenge, go back to a task you often do, and think that this task helps you to solve the current problem . It may be cooking, coding, art, writing, and tell yourself, if I do this, X ways it will solve my problem. No need to hurry(panic).

So, you are telling yourself a story to shut your story-brain and focus in small real task.

(please remember, it has to be a task, not an addiction like drinking, scrolling social media etc).

Practical Example of Replacing Storified Fear Brain to Solution-centricity

Say you lost your job.
You say:-
-If I plant some potato, I will have things to eat. You now focus on planting potato!

By tricking brain to believe you have solution and focussing on the perceived solution, you forget the threat. Imagination is shut, panic is shut.