For the next minute
When panic rises, you do not have to fix everything at once.
You might not feel calm right now. That is okay. Let this next minute be small enough to get through.
Sometimes panic arrives with no warning. Your body feels fast or strange. Your thoughts start asking for answers all at once. It can be frightening, especially when you do not know what to do first.
You do not need to sort it all out right now. You only need a little room around the next minute.
If something feels medically urgent, treat it as urgent.
This guide cannot tell whether physical symptoms are caused by panic or something else. If symptoms are new, severe, worsening, or make you think you may need urgent medical help, contact your local emergency service. If you feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, seek immediate crisis or emergency support.
You do not have to do this perfectly
There is no right way to look calm. You do not have to breathe in a particular rhythm, sit still, or talk yourself out of every thought. If words help, try something gentler:
“This is a hard moment. I only need one small next step.”
It does not promise that the feeling will disappear. It simply gives you less to carry right now.
A small plan for right now
- Find one ordinary thing. A colour on the wall. The floor under your feet. The edge of a door. You do not need to take in the whole room — just one thing that is here.
- Try one gentle option. Maybe an unforced breath, a cool glass, a steady sound, your feet pressed into the floor, or a small task for your attention. If it does not feel right, you can stop and choose something else.
- Choose where support could come from. You might stay where you are, move somewhere quieter if that feels safer, or reach out to someone you trust. Back’s Call my person option opens your phone’s call or message app; nothing is sent unless you choose it.
Let it be small
When everything feels urgent, it is easy to search for the perfect thing to do. You do not need the perfect thing. A small thing can be enough for this moment.
Back has six different tools because people do not need the same thing every time. Breathe may feel okay today. Another day, Ground, Move, Listen, Read, or a simple distraction might fit better. You can stop or switch at any point.
After the minute
If something has shifted even a little, you do not have to turn that into an achievement. You might have some water, sit somewhere comfortable, or remember one thing that made the moment a little more manageable.
If this is not easing, keeps returning, or is getting in the way of your life, you deserve more support. A health professional can help you make sense of what is happening and talk through care that fits. Reaching out is not a failure of self-help.
Further reading
Keep this simple.
Back is quiet support for the next difficult minute. It is not therapy, medical care, or an emergency service.
Find Back support and urgent-help information