Panic disorder is more than just feeling anxious. It’s when the body is gripped by sudden, intense surges of fear or dread, often without warning. These episodes — known as panic attacks — can feel overwhelming and all-consuming. Your heart races. Your breath shortens. You may tremble, feel faint, or be convinced something terrible is about to happen.
And though it may feel like something is physically wrong, what’s often happening is something deeper: a nervous system stuck in survival mode. A body that has learned to stay alert for danger, even in moments that seem safe on the surface.
Panic attacks aren’t irrational. They’re protective — a system trying to shield you from harm, even if it’s no longer needed in the way it once was.
While the terms panic attack and anxiety attack are often used interchangeably, they are not the same.
Both can be distressing. Both are real. And both deserve care.
Panic attacks can occur unexpectedly — in the middle of a quiet evening, during a conversation, or even upon waking. Common symptoms include:
These sensations can be frightening. And when they happen repeatedly, the fear of having another panic attack can create a cycle that feels hard to break.
Sometimes, panic stems from past experiences the body hasn’t fully released. Events where you felt overwhelmed, helpless, or unsafe — even if you don’t consciously recall them — can shape how your nervous system responds now.
For others, panic surfaces after prolonged stress or sudden transitions. It may be the body’s way of saying: this is too much.
Even in moments when everything seems “fine,” your body might still carry signals from times when it wasn’t. Panic is not proof of weakness. It’s evidence of a system trying to protect you — even if the threat is no longer present.
Living with panic can feel lonely. You might avoid situations where an attack once occurred. You might worry about what others think. Or feel confused that no matter how “safe” things look on the outside, your body doesn’t believe it.
These experiences are valid. They’re not all in your head — and you’re not making them up.
Your body is trying to communicate something it hasn’t had the chance to express. And the answer isn’t to fight against it, but to meet it with presence, understanding, and care.
When panic arises, the mind and body aren’t broken — they’re doing their best to protect you. But the way they’re trying to help may be rooted in past experiences, outdated alarms, or unresolved fear.
In these moments, what the system truly needs is not to be talked out of panic — but to be supported through it.
A felt sense of safety
Cues from the environment and others that it is okay to soften
Grounding through sensory input — breath, touch, movement, or stillness
Space to complete the survival response (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) that may have been interrupted in the past
Restoration of rhythm — slowing down the pace that panic speeds up
Compassionate witnessing — not correction
Validation that what it’s experiencing is real, even if it’s based on a misread signal
Co-regulation through calm, attuned relationship
Re-orientation to the present — reminders that now is not then
Gentle guidance to explore what the panic is protecting — without force or overwhelm
When the mind and body feel resourced, held, and understood, panic no longer feels like a life-threatening rupture — it becomes a messenger. And when met with kindness, even the most overwhelming panic can begin to soften.
Therapeutic support invites you to understand the story behind the panic — not just the symptoms. Together, we listen to what the body is saying, what the mind has learned, and what parts of you might still be waiting to be met.
Support might include:
Panic doesn’t need to be banished. It needs to be heard. Because when it is, it often softens.
If you live with panic, you’re not broken — and you’re not failing. Your system is doing exactly what it was wired to do: survive.
With support, it is possible to unlearn the patterns of fear, reclaim your breath, and begin to trust in your own inner steadiness again. You don’t have to navigate it alone.
Healing is not about forcing calm. It’s about creating the conditions where calm can find its way back in — one breath, one moment, one step at a time.
Sometimes the mind knows we are safe, but the body doesn’t believe it. Trauma-informed Relational Somatic Therapy focuses on helping the nervous system come back into connection and presence, especially after experiences that left us stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. This work is gentle and attuned — using pacing, co-regulation, and bodily awareness to help your system feel supported enough to begin settling. Panic is not forced away, but slowly loses its grip as safety is rebuilt from within, at a pace your body can hold.
Panic often emerges from subconscious patterns that were formed during times of distress. Clinical hypnotherapy supports access to these deeper layers — not to override them, but to gently reshape the internal associations that link calm with danger or vulnerability with threat. Hypnosis can offer a space where the nervous system feels safe enough to soften, explore, and begin forming new pathways. It also helps build subconscious safety, which can be a key part of interrupting the cycle of fear and panic.
Talk therapy can offer a grounded space to explore the deeper stories and beliefs that shape our relationship with fear and safety. For many, panic is not just about the present moment — it’s connected to past experiences where safety, control, or connection were disrupted. In therapy, we work to make sense of these patterns, notice what triggers activation, and slowly develop new ways of responding. Having someone sit with you in those inner places — without rushing or fixing — can itself be part of the healing.
When panic takes over, the body often feels hijacked — breath becomes shallow, muscles tighten, and energy floods or collapses. Breathwork and movement therapy in tandem with clinical interventions offer a structured yet gentle way to reconnect with your body, release excess activation, and find your rhythm again. Instead of trying to calm down through force, we work with the breath and body to create space for regulation to emerge naturally. These practices can help re-establish trust in the body, reintroduce flow where there has been freeze, and provide a sense of agency when things feel out of control.
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) is a subtle, hands-on approach that listens to the body’s rhythms, tensions, and patterns. Panic often lives in the body long after the threat has passed. BCST, in conjunction with clinical interventions supports your system to find stillness, process residual activation, and reconnect with a sense of internal steadiness. For many, this gentle contact — rooted in presence and respect — allows the body to begin trusting that it no longer needs to stay on high alert.
Anxiety attacks typically build gradually in response to stress, while panic attacks are more sudden and intense. Panic attacks often come “out of the blue” and peak within minutes, with physical symptoms that can feel overwhelming. The two may overlap, but they come from different nervous system patterns.
It’s common for panic attacks to feel like a medical emergency because the symptoms are so intense. While panic attacks often involve rapid heartbeat, chest pain, and breathlessness, it’s important to rule out medical causes first — especially if it’s your first time experiencing these symptoms. If in doubt, seek immediate medical attention.
Panic can be triggered by overwhelming stress, trauma (past or recent), major transitions, or even seemingly neutral situations that feel unsafe to the nervous system. Sometimes, the mind may not know the trigger, but the body remembers.
Yes. Many people experience panic attacks without an obvious cause. That’s often because the root of the activation lies in earlier life experiences, trauma, or conditioned associations — not necessarily the current situation.
No. With the right support, many people experience a reduction in frequency and intensity. Therapy can help untangle the patterns that underlie panic, create internal and relational safety, and restore the system’s capacity to feel grounded.
Many people have had unhelpful or even invalidating experiences with therapy. At Sol Therapy, we integrate relational, somatic, and cognitive approaches to meet you where you are. You are not expected to talk your way out of panic — we work with your whole system, not just your thoughts.
Yes, they can impact many areas of life — from avoiding social events or public transport, to struggling with communication or performance. Therapy helps address not just the panic itself, but also the ripple effects it creates in your daily life.
It’s not always easy to put panic into words. In therapy, we can support you in finding language that helps others understand your experience — so you don’t have to go through it alone or feel like a burden.
Medication can be an important part of support for some individuals, especially when symptoms feel overwhelming. At Sol Therapy, we take a holistic approach — which means we honour both the physiological and emotional aspects of your experience. While we don’t prescribe medication ourselves, we support clients who are on medication and work collaboratively to integrate that into the broader healing process. If needed, we can refer you to a trusted psychiatrist or doctor for further assessment.
Healing doesn’t always mean the panic disappears overnight. It often means recognising early signs, having tools to regulate, and no longer feeling afraid of your own body. It looks like softening the shame, finding safety in connection, and trusting that your system knows how to come home again.
For more information on our holistic panic attack treatments in Singapore, please WhatsApp us at (65) 89422211 or email us at beinghuman@soltherapy.sg
"The way we breathe reflects the way we live, and the way we live reflects the way we breathe."