ISO any tips for panic attacks while traveling

[purronica]

First time posting here, so I’ll try to keep it simple. I’ve had anxiety and panic attacks for about 12 years, as far as I can tell I don’t necessarily have any triggers. I love to travel (local, 2-4 hour road trip type things) and usually do it for concerts or events, but my anxiety has really hindered it. I can’t count the amount of events I’ve missed because I get so anxious about a possible panic attack.

My anxiety is mostly centered around getting scared I WILL have a panic attack in an unfamiliar place and I won’t be able to get help, or something along those lines. I know anxiety doesn’t deal in logic so I can’t rationalize this idea. I don’t have anxiety re: actually traveling, more that once I’m out of my comfort zone I will have a full blown panic attack because like I said I don’t seem to have any triggers it’s completely at random.

I’m hoping someone has some tips for if and when I do get that panic attack and get totally in my head that I’m going to die in a strange state, etc. I know panic attacks don’t cause death but I’m sure everyone on here understands that it feels like that in the moment. Thanks in advance!!

[ankietyjoe]

Hi

By far the best thing you can do is deliberately expose yourself to anxiety when you're out somewhere relatively local and just let it happen. It's the attempted avoidance of anxiety that's actually the biggest problem, not the anxiety itself. Next time you have one, keep telling yourself you KNOW it's not dangerous, that it's not going to kill you etc. These are called mantra's and they are incredibly effective over time. It takes practice, but accepting anxiety is at the core of all the most successful treatments like CBT. The mistake most people make is trying to find a way to stop panic attacks, and you can't. The paradox is that once you start accepting them, they will become less and less frequent and eventually happen rarely, if at all.