How To Stop A Panic Attack At Work, From Someone Who Has Been There

image_jungle via Getty Images People can help manage a panic attack at work by reframing the narrative of their experience. During a panic attack, our body’s fight-or-flight response is turned on, releasing adrenaline and increasing heart rate and breathing to enable the body to fend off or flee a perceived threat. Confront the panic head-on Once we’re in the full throes of a panic attack, we may experience physical symptoms that accompany overwhelming sudden fear, like shaking, heart palpitations, chest pains, difficulty breathing, lightheadedness and paralyzing terror, according to the American Psychological Association. This is the worst time ever,’ then you’re in trouble.” It may seem counterintuitive, but the quickest way to move through to the other side of a panic attack is to confront the feelings directly, she said. “When you’re having a panic attack, your prefrontal cortex that has all that logical, sequential thought ― the reasoning, rational brain ― actually goes offline,” Reynolds said.