Lesson video

Welcome to the third lesson in this unit on mental well-being where we will be developing our understanding about panic disorder and panic attacks.

I'm Mrs. Harris and in this lesson, we're going to be exploring what panic attacks are and how to identify helpful coping strategies.

For this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper and a pen.

This is what our lesson is going to look like today.

You should already have completed the intro quiz.

I'm now going to recap our previous lesson.

We looked at how we can break down the stigma surrounding mental health.

We examined the right vocabulary to use when referring to mental health and how to look after our own mental health.

In this lesson, we are going to explore what the causes and symptoms of panic attacks are.

Once we have learned how to identify panic attacks, we will look at how to identify helpful coping strategies to help us deal with them and support others.

At the end of the lesson, there will then be an exit quiz for you to reflect on what we have learned.

Here are our keywords for this lesson.

We've talked about anxiety in previous lesson.

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, like worry or fear that can be mild or severe.

Remember that we we all have feelings of unease from time to time.

This is totally normal and a healthy reaction.

When our anxiety becomes disproportionate to situations, that's when we might need self-help strategies or to talk to someone about it.

A panic attack is a feeling of sudden and intense anxiety.

Panic attacks are your body's exaggerated response to fear, danger or exciting situations.

During a panic attack, physical symptoms can build up very quickly and we will talk about theses symptoms a little later in this lesson.

When you regularly have attacks of panic or fear, then this referred to as panic disorder.

The NHS tells us that someone with panic disorder has feelings of anxiety, stress and panic regularly and at any time, often for no apparent reason.

So what do we mean by the anxiety continuum? If you look at the image, you can see that it's a continuous sequence, starting from low-level, every day anxiety up to higher level anxiety.

If we apply our keywords to this diagram, we might say that anxiety might be compared to the green arrow on the diagram, occasional panic attacks might fit somewhere near the blue arrow and those living with panic disorder might align themselves with the red arrow on the diagram.

Reflect on how you feel today and write down where you fit on this anxiety continuum, noting down reasons why you feel like this.

Remember, in a previous lesson about exam anxiety, we said a useful self-help strategy was acknowledging your worries and writing them down.

We are working towards completing an independent task nearer the end of this lesson that will consolidate all our learning from this lesson.

So you might also want to make a copy or sketch of this image in order to give you useful information for later on when we could do our independent task.

So you may wish to pause the video again at this point and you can always restart it once you've done your notes and diagram.

This is your task.

Can you think of a time when you might have chosen a different point on the anxiety continuum? If you're feeling quite anxious today, then try and remember a time when you felt less anxious.

Conversely, if you are feeling more calm today, can you remember a situation that made you feel more anxious? This is a useful exercise to carry out as it encourages us to reflect on what situations might trigger anxiety at different points in our life.

Spending time understanding how and when we get anxious is an excellent self-help strategy and increases our resilience moving forward when coping with different situations in our life.

Pause the video to complete this task and then resume when you are finished.

We are now going to spend time identifying what panic attacks are and when they occur.

Remember that a panic attack is a feeling of sudden and intense anxiety.

The triggers for panic attacks differ from person to person.

The situations depicted in the pictures on this slide may not resonate with you at all but to others, some of them may cause feelings of anxiety that might even escalate into a panic attack.

Some people find it very stressful going to the doctor or the dentist and that can trigger panic attacks.

It may be that they have had an unpleasant experience there or just that they worry about potential outcomes.

For others, it is the thought of taking an exam or test.

We considered in a previous lesson exams can cause stress and anxiety.

Sometimes it can be when someone is not prepared enough for an exam or just that they found sitting in one place for an extended period of time puts them under intense pressure.

A common cause of panic attacks for some is being on a plane.

This is sometimes linked to claustrophobia, which is the fear of being in an enclosed space.

It might also be agoraphobia, which is not just a fear of open spaces but a fear of being in a situation that is difficult to get out of, such as a crowded place.

And some people are scared of quiet places or are anxious around animals.

This is your task.

What situations might you find a trigger for a panic attack? Reflect on the situations we saw in the previous slide and make a list in your book or on your piece of paper of situations that make you anxious and could trigger a panic attack.

Pause the video to complete this task and then resume when you are finished.

Have a look at this list of symptoms. Some of them are symptoms of a panic attack.

You should choose the ones you think are correct and add them to the list in your book or on your piece of paper to use in our consolidation task nearer the end of the lesson.

Some of these symptoms will be very frightening to experience.

As a challenge, you should reflect on which of these you might find the most frightening and why.

You should pause the video in order to give yourself enough time to fully consider all the symptoms listed here.

Does your list match mine? These are all physical symptoms someone might experience.

Feeling faint, racing heartbeat, feeling sick, or trembling and shaking.

A panic attack usually lasts between five and 20 minutes and can come on very quickly.

Symptoms will usually peak around 10 minutes.

Let's take a minute to consolidate our knowledge of what constitutes a panic attack.

Which of the definitions below represents a panic attack? Is it a feeling of anxiety that lasts for a couple of minutes? Is it a feeling of slight anxiety? Is it a feeling of sudden and intense anxiety? Or a momentary feeling of unease? Did you agree with me? A panic attack is a feeling of sudden and intense anxiety.

This is different to panic disorder.

We are going to look at this on the next slide.

This is your task.

What is panic disorder? See if you can crack the code below and write the definition down.

Have a look at the information in the box.

All the vowels, A, E, I, O, U have been removed.

Can you work out the correct definition of panic disorder and write it in your book or on your piece of paper? Pause the video to complete this task and then resume when you are finished.

How did you do? Did you manage to crack the code? Panic disorder is when you regularly experience panic attacks over a period of time and worry about having more attacks.

This would be a useful definition to add to your exercise book or paper.

We are now going to spend some time identifying some coping strategies to help us deal with panic attacks and panic disorder.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy? Have you heard of it before? It's often know as CBT.

Here is a definition.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, is a talking remedy that can help you manage your anxiety by altering the way you think and behave.

This is just one of the many ways that anxiety can be managed.

Remember, we have learned in this and previous lessons that sharing your worries is a very positive strategy to managing anxiety.

This piece of information will be useful to use later on, so you may wish to pause the video, write this definition into your exercise book or onto your piece of paper.

Here is a piece of text that summarises some information about cognitive behavioural therapy.

More detailed information on this can be found by typing CBT into the NHS website search box.

Remember that there are a wide variety of coping strategies for anxiety and CBT is just one of them.

I would like you to read it.

You may wish to do this more than once, and then reduce this information to three key facts.

You are probably going to want to pause the video in order to do this effectively.

You should be adding this to your ever-growing list of information from today's lesson.

Let's recap for a moment.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, focuses on past problems. Is this true or false? Did you get it right? Unlike some other talking treatments, CBT deals with your current problems, rather than your past issues.

You will have learned from our lesson today that during a panic attack, it is very common to experience a shortness of breath, a racing heartbeat and a tightness in your chest.

We are going to have a go at box breathing now as it is a useful way of regulating your breathing during a panic attack or when you feel your anxiety building up.

Let's have a go.

First, slowly exhale.

Sitting upright, slowly breathe out through your mouth, getting all the oxygen out of your lungs.

Concentrate on what you are doing.

Slowly inhale.

Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose to the count of four.

In this step, count to four very slowly in your head.

Fill your lungs completely until the air moves into your abdomen.

Hold your breath.

Hold your breath for another slow count of four.

Exhale again.

Exhale through your mouth for the same slow count of four.

And hold your breath again.

Hold your breath for the same slow count of four before repeating this process.

This technique is something you may wish to add to your notes.

An infographic is a way of presenting information.

It includes both images and short, sharp facts.

It is quite often used to summarise information about a particular topic and this is what you are going to do with all the information you've gathered in our lesson today about panic attacks, panic disorders and coping strategies for both of these.

This is your task.

Can you produce an infographic on panic attacks and panic disorders? You should include a title, definitions, causes and symptoms of panic attacks, a definition of panic disorder and details of coping strategies.

Pause the video to complete this task and then resume when you are finished.

That brings us to the end of our lesson on panic disorder and panic attacks.

Before you go and complete your exit quiz, I'd like to thank you for engaging with the tasks and ask you to reflect on today.

What are you grateful for? We've talked about the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal.

Why don't you start it today? I look forward to carrying on our learning in the next lesson in this unit.