If you're reading this, then you've probably had a panic attack. Pretty scary? You bet! So this article will explain the best ways on how to stop a panic attack. For more than 10 years I experienced all the classic symptoms of panic attack sufferers.

These include a rapid heart rate, chest pain, shortness of breath, chills, trembling, dizziness, and tightness in your throat.

With a few  simple techniques, you can conquer this debilitating condition.

First and foremost, you have to know what is causing you to have panic attacks. What is going on at the time an attack takes place? Are you feeling threatened? Are you just going through your daily routine and it hits you? What are your surroundings like at that moment? Lots of people around? These are important questions to ask yourself.

When you feel an attack coming on, you need to distract yourself and focus on relaxing. Consciously breathe in and breathe out. Proper breathing exercises can really calm you down.

Some other ways to stop a panic attack is to take preventive measures like practicing stress management and relaxation techniques, avoiding alcohol, sugar, and caffeine, staying physically active, maintaining a proper diet, and getting enough rest.

And I'll let you in on a secret which you may not be aware of. Did you know that one of the biggest tricks to avoiding panic attacks is wanting to have one? By wanting one, you're actually pushing it away.

I'll bet you if you try as hard as you can to have a panic attack right now at this very moment, and I will guarantee you that you cannot.Go ahead and try it. I'll wait...

Were you successful? No!

This is an important lesson to learn. The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The people who are cured no longer fear panic attacks.

You know the saying that "what you resist, persists." Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist. How do you stop resisting–you move directly into it, into the path of the anxiety, and by doing so it cannot persist. Make sense?

You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by saying this is beyond my control.

Another way to appreciate this is to imagine having a panic attack as like standing on a cliff's edge. The anxiety seemingly pushes you closer to falling over the edge.

To be rid of the fear, you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most.

How do you jump? You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for anxiety and panic attacks to appear.

Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. Never...ever...ever. This is a medical fact. You are safe. Yes, the sensations are extreme as we all know, but no harm will come to you. So your "jump" becomes nothing more than a two foot drop! Perfectly safe.