Psychologist shares panic attack tips

Following Monday's 5.6 earthquake, hospitals and health centres, particularly in the Corporate Area, reported scores of persons turning up suffering from asthma and panic attacks.

One mother recounted her experience when her daughter got her first panic attack after Monday's earthquake.

"Some teachers and a few parents were at the hospital to monitor the girls but not enough to monitor all of them, so nobody was with my daughter before I reached there. When I got there she was in and out of consciousness," said Natalie Lebbon.

"I wouldn't want to relive that experience of seeing her in an anxiety attack. She was sitting in the wheelchair and her head was resting on it. I think she was unconscious and I was trying to speak to her to let her know I was there. She got up in shock and started the convulsion again and then she just flung her head down looking like someone who passed off and I started screaming," she added.

A nurse rushed over with smelling salts that revived her daughter but she was still not speaking.

"She was looking at me as if she was just a shell, she was giving me that dead stare as if she didn't know who I was," Lebbon said, her voice trembling. "It's like she wanted to respond but couldn't respond. I thought I was going to lose her."

According to clinical psychologist Deborah Smith, most Jamaicans who have never experienced panic attacks don't take them seriously, and cautioned that under certain circumstances, they can be very serious. Smith, who is a specialist in trauma therapy, said that touch can be helpful for someone having a panic attack.

"Holding on to and hugging is a way to make the child feel safe and protected. It is really important for the parent to talk to the child. Talk them through what is happening but do so calmly, because if they [the parents] are not calm, then the child will not be soothed enough to relax," she said.

Breathing exercises are also recommended and should be practised even by those administering assistance since it allows them to control their own emotion rather than heightening the anxiety of the person experiencing the attack. There are also grounding exercises like naming what you can see, smell and hear. This forces the child to pay attention to something else rather than what is frightening them.

"If the child becomes hysterical to the point that they are not registering anything around them and all of these methods have failed, then it is time to take the child to the hospital," Smith explained.

"Teachers will have to undergo training to learn relaxation and calming techniques to keep children calm enough to prevent panic attacks. They could let it be a part of the guidance and counselling or mental health curriculum to teach the students, and for parents, there could be a public health campaign to demonstrate the use of these exercises," Smith advised.