So you're committed to making a change and taking steps to stopping your panic attacks. You are going to need a detailed journal of your panic attacks so that you can better understand when they strike, what triggers them and all the other factors that contribute to your panic attacks.

The first step you need to take towards stopping your panic attacks is to track your experiences of panic and anxiety so that you can learn about your pattern of symptoms and the situations that trigger them. Be prepared to feel more anxious as you focus on your fears and anxiety, but remember that this anxiety will be temporary and will gradually improve as you learn the necessary strategies to stop them.

Panic and anxiety often feel overwhelming and uncontrollable. One helpful strategy for dealing with panic is to break it down into more manageable components that can each be targeted directly. These include a physical component – what you FEEL during a panic attack, a cognitive component – what you THINK during a panic attack and a behavioral component – what you DO during a panic attack.

For the next week record the following in your journal each time you feel anxious:

The situation: What were you doing? Where were you? Who were you with? Are you aware of any triggers for your anxiety?

Level of anxiety: Rate your anxiety on a scale of 0-100, where 100 is the worst imaginable type of panic attack.

Physical sensations: What physical sensations did you experience in your body? Shaking, Sweating?

Anxious thoughts: What was going through your mind? What were you afraid might happen? What were your expectations regarding your coping abilities? Did you fulfill them?

Anxious behaviors: What did you do in this situation? How did you react to the panic attack? Did you escape from the situation – or did you avoid it altogether?

To analyze your journal ask yourself these questions and see if, by reading back through your journal, you can answer them.

1)What did you learn about the triggers or situations that are associated with feeling anxious or panicky? Did you notice any patterns? Were any of your panic episodes triggered by a physical sensation?

2)Was there a pattern to the symptoms or fearful thoughts that you experienced when you felt anxious or panicky?

3)What was the worst thing that happened when you felt anxious? Did your fearful "predictions" come true?

4)When your anxiety was at it's worst, how long did it typically last before starting to decrease?

You can use your journal to better understand your panic attacks and hopefully glean some information from it with regards to why, when, where and how. This will help you as you progress to identify the particular issues you will need to work on.

A former sufferer of panic attacks, Joe Barry, has developed a system that he calls "One Movement Technique" and can be learned quickly and easily.