Don't Panic...I'm having panic attacks.

I used to get freaked out in bad situations when I first started. I would purposely put myself there if I were you. Learn to breathe, don't panic. Life is going to pressure you, can you handle it? Jiu Jitsu teaches you to handle pressure, to not tap to pressure. Feel your way through it. It can be scary rolling with bigger guys. Trust me, I'm 120lbs. We have guys 2x + Bigger than me. I roll with all of them. Sometimes I have a terrible training session, in some people's opinion, but hey if all you do is work on your defense and polishing some escapes while you're tired...that's a great session. Stop thinking, just feel your Jiu Jitsu. If you get tapped, so what. We're all a team. Sometimes we all get the better of each other. That's how we grow though. IMO.

Those of us that have panic attacks know it's a whole different level than just being tired and stuck under someone. It's a uncontrollable overwhelming sense of doom. You suddenly feel like you're going to die. I've been trading jiu jitsu for 6 years and train 5-6 days a week... most days completely cool stuck on my back but 1-2 times a month out of nowhere my psyche decides to funk me. I have no ego so I tap let my partner know it was because of a panic attack, slow my breathing for a minute then go back to rolling.

Never had a full blown panic attack, but i do know what its like when your trapped under someone and cant even choose your head direction and then you start getting the lactic acid building up in your muscles and its super frustrating

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Originally Posted by Ryan Brick

Never had a full blown panic attack, but i do know what its like when your trapped under someone and cant even choose your head direction and then you start getting the lactic acid building up in your muscles and its super frustrating

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Me, 2 hours from now. :)


Joey Diaz has been having the exact same problem, he is going to a shrink for it so maybe we'll see what she says. (the shrink)

Not 2 make light of it,but...http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=unkIVvjZc9Y

I had a chance to roll with Marco Costa a few weeks ago. I am not claustophobic in any way at all. I can handle heavy pressure from heavy guys no problem. But one thing I do do that is wrong, is I start to muscle. I do that because I am just learning, so I don't have a massive databank of techniques to draw from yet, so I start to try to use muscle in the hopes of creating space to get an elbow or a knee in, etc.

When I rolled him, it was like a steam roller. Constant pressure all over me. I was defenseless. At one point he had side control and I couldn't budge an inch. I started to try to muscle my way out to slip in a half butterfly or whatever. I tried puching him up or off or away, tried shrimping, just tried anything. I exhausted myself.

He said to me afterwards:
"Relax. When someone has you in an uncomfortable position, with your head forced to one side and weight on you or whatever, just relax. They may have you in a position that is not comfortable, they may have you in a spot you would rather not be, but it's not over. They don't have the sub. They are waiting there because they don't have the sub. Relax and try to look at the fight from the outside, try to see little things you can do to force them to move on to another position, and that is your chance to recapture control."
That is obviously paraphrased, but it was something to that effect.

It stuck with me.

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Originally Posted by kevinculp

Those of us that have panic attacks know it's a whole different level than just being tired and stuck under someone. It's a uncontrollable overwhelming sense of doom. You suddenly feel like you're going to die. I've been trading jiu jitsu for 6 years and train 5-6 days a week... most days completely cool stuck on my back but 1-2 times a month out of nowhere my psyche decides to funk me. I have no ego so I tap let my partner know it was because of a panic attack, slow my breathing for a minute then go back to rolling.

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You are suffering from anxiety. Weed can help. I have a friend who was on prescription drugs for years. He started smoking weed, and slowly lowered his dosages of the pharmaceuticals. He weened himself off them and used weed for a few years. Then he weened himself off weed. He has grips on it now.

Go to your happy place...

You say you get them at night (Which is very common). Is there anything else in your daily life that triggers the panic attacks? Have you seen a psychologist about these panic attacks? Are you currently taking any medication for them?

I suffered from panic attacks for about 6 years, from 13 years old until I was nearly 20. Mine started out from a bad experience with marijuana (Go figure ;P) since, as it turns out, I'm hyper-sensitive to THC. Anyways, my 13 year old brain wasn't prepared for the hallucinatory effects it had on me, and I suffered PTSD from the experience (Which I kept hidden for two years). By the summer of my 15th year, the panic attacks had gotten so bad I became both claustrophobic and agoraphobic--I couldn't leave my house or even enter my bathroom without having a panic attack.

I went to therapy and started on Paxil, and began the rough process of re-acclimating my mind to everything it mistook for panic-inducing.

The keys to a therapy regiment is controlled exposure to the stimuli that causes the attacks, slowly increasing the length and intensity of exposure over time, discovering and confronting the root of your mental disorder, and, of course, emotional support. Drugs can assist if the stimuli is too difficult to interact with, but it is not a substitute for therapy.

What I'd recommend is talking to some of your training partners about this and recruiting them to help you as follows: Roll as usual with them to the point of fatigue, then switch the roll intensity to more of a hybrid flow style--Have your partner's start in top position and maintain good (Though not crushing) pressure, but do everything slow and controlled. In fact, I'd probably start with them just maintaining a top control position that troubles you, and allow them to do simple transitions while you just focus on breathing, relaxing, and if possible, simple defensive posture.

During this process, it's important you try to not tap out. If you run away from the problematic stimuli, you're only negatively reinforcing the panicked reaction you feel--Keep in mind, though, that everyone is human. Sometimes the stress will be too great and you have to stop. For these situations, I'd have a simple code with your training partners to tell them when to ease up, and when you need to stop entirely.

Another thing to keep in mind is this: Most panic disorders operate as a feedback loop. That is to say, when you first begin to experience panic symptoms, you will immediately remember the sensations of previous panic attacks. This will fill you with immediate terror and dread, and in turn, will feed into your current panic attack, making it worse. It is important, when having panic attacks, not to focus consciously on the immediate symptoms you are experiencing (Trouble breathing, rapid heart rate, dread). If you do, you'll only enhance the feedback loop and worsen the panic attacks to the point of debilitation. This is much easier said than done. The art of not acknowledging your panic symptoms takes a lot of practice and experience, but the only way to develop the skill is to expose yourself to the problem stimuli and make the conscious effort to relax. Everybody has different methods of doing this (Personally, I have to close my eyes and listen to something engaging, like a conversation or a television show), so just try everything to see what works. You're situation is a bit difficult in that you are limited in your possible responses (Since you're grappling), but that's no reason to give up!

For reference, I thankfully no longer suffer from panic attacks, even off my anti-depressants (Though I've had to restart them after a long hiatus due to depression). In fact, I haven't had a panic attack since the tragic Boston Marathon bombings, though that was for personal (And legitimate) reasons. Like BJJ, the key to therapy is putting in the hours on the mat. :)

I developed copping techniques and can meditate or refocus at night and almost never even have problems at night. But because I am claustrophobic and the main trigger is a feeling that I can't breath when those worlds collide under a smasher sometimes my Jedi mind tricks just aren't strong enough with the force. I'm a zen Buddhist so not big on drugs or doctors. Though the fear or panic is intense it is very brief and most of the time I either work a little harder to improve postion or I just tap and play my top game which is pretty good so easy to stay out of the danger zone but I like to play z guard so I just deal when it's time to panic. If I would just eat right and breath more while training probably wouldn't even be an issue but I tend to grit and grind when rolling... old wrestling habits last 4 ever lol