I’ve been having off and on panic attacks in the shower

I get terrible anxiety in the shower as well laci, your not alone. Seen a number of people having similar issues on the forums, have you tried just having a luke warm shower rather than hot? Find it helps me to stay a bit calmer.

I've experienced this in the throws of my anxiety over the years. I used to get panic attacks in the bath. I suspect your anxiety, like mine is a learned response and a trigger is now firmly in place, so when you are in the shower your brain perceives it as danger. I think we can both agree having a shower is not dangerous to your well-being, but your fight flight response is telling you different. I developed this response to talking to people I didn't know. I remember waiting for someone to come to my house to pick up something I had sold on ebay. I started thinking about what would happen if I started feeling anxious when they arrived and got into a right state about it. Every time I had to meet someone I didn't know after that my brain just went into fight flight mode and I would panic. This became a problem for years and all from that one thought. The only way to break the fear response is to practice exposure therapy. Keep having showers and when you feel panicked, stay in the shower. Each time you do your brain will reprogram, but each time you flee from the shower it will only enforce the fight flight response. This is how I overcame my panic talking to people or meeting people I didn't know and each time it got easier to the point now I just don't understand why I panicked so much, it seems ridiculous, but the brain is a powerful thing and although it thinks it is protecting you, it's actually making your life a misery. Hope you understand you are not alone.

Hello Laci,

It sounds like the shower is a trigger for you - have you tried having a bath instead? and then maybe turning the shower on when you're feeling a bit more relaxed and calm?

My daughter has panic attacks too. We've found the Mind website really useful when looking into panic attacks (including causes and getting help), especially because I didn't really understand them to start with. That could be a good place to start if you want to help manage panic attacks or get some help.

Good luck!

Janet