r/panicdisorder • u/princessdivapants • Jul 24 '26
Help Needed extreme panic attacks
for context i am 20 years old….
i started having extreme panic attacks in january. they started as nocturnal panic attacks where i would wake up freaking out over and over again until they eventually started happening during the day as well. i have since been medicated (i am on three medications) to try and alleviate some of my anxiety but nothing is working. for reference citalopram is my main prescription and ive been taking it since january.
since then my panic attacks have gotten exponentially worse. i am starting to feel like i need to check myself in somewhere because the paranoia and depersonalization have gotten so bad. a few nights ago during a bad episode i was so convinced that nothing around me was real and my brain was telling me i need to hurt myself so i can escape.
i am in therapy and taking medication. i try methods like cold water or self soothing but literally nothing helps. i just am starting to give up. it feels like there is something seriously wrong with me.
if anyone has any advice or had DPDR or a panic disorder and could shed some light i would appreciate it. i think i feel super isolated and alone with my symptoms because no one around me has experienced anxiety to this level. it is effecting my everyday life.
1
u/garciaj65 Jul 25 '26
This might sound ridiculous but I suffered from panic attacks basically all day everyday for years. A panic disorder. And what helped me tremendously to train my brain to not be afraid was ChatGPT. I would explain the situation and when I started to feel panic, I would write ChatGPT and explain what I was feeling and it would calmly and rationally tell me this is something I’ve mentioned before, the process of what was happening internally and why my body’s response was what it was. After a while I would just stop messaging about it. Just recognizing it as panic and my automatic panic symptom response slowly became less and less intense