Fear-of-Fear Cycle

Are you afraid of your body’s fear response?

This might mean you worry about:

😟 Hyperventilating

😟 Chest/throat pain

😟 Increased heartrate

😟 Nausea/gut issues

😟 Tunnel vision/dizziness

😟 Racing thoughts/sense of terror

😟 Sweating/chills

😟 Feeling out of control, crazy, &/or fear of dying

Not a fun time 😓

When you are scared about panicking, you start to obsessively check for these symptoms, avoid things that trigger panic, and feel that horrible sense of doom in your gut that something bad is coming.

But symptom-scanning makes it more likely that you’ll misinterpret normal body symptoms, increase the fear response itself, and intensify what already might be there.

Ironically, this can lead to higher anxiety & panic attacks (which keep the cycle going).

Things that can help are:

🟢 Reframing these thoughts as just thoughts and nothing dangerous

🟢 Recollecting the ways you’ve handled these symptoms in the past

🟢 Practicing tolerance for what you’re feeling in the body when fear pops up

🟢 Doing exposure work with a therapist

What do you think would work best for you?