Panic Disorder

If you feel the prodromal symptoms of a panic attack (heart palpitations or rapid breathing), start abdominal breathing immediately. The 4-7-8 breathing method—inhaling through the nose for 4 beats, holding your breath for 7 beats, and slowly exhaling through the mouth for 8 beats—stimulates the vagus nerve and rapidly suppresses sympathetic nervous system overactivation. 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding (seeing 5 surrounding objects, touching 4, hearing 3 sounds, smelling 2, tasting 1) focuses the brain on the current environment, breaking the panic cycle. At Dongjedang, we also teach a method of applying pressure to the inner wrist (PC6) for 30 seconds during a panic attack. The inner wrist is an acupoint effective for relaxing chest tension and stabilizing the heart rate; it is located three fingers upward from the wrist crease. Combining breathing techniques with inner wrist pressure leads to faster stabilization in the early stages of an attack.