Free tool · Scarlet Beast

When panic hits

A private page for panic attacks: for the minutes when your heart is pounding and you can’t get a breath, and for the days after, when you’re afraid of the next one. Ride the wave, understand what your body is doing, find your words, and make a plan. Panic is awful, it passes, and it’s very treatable.

If it might be something else, or you’re in danger

Call 911 for chest pain or pressure (especially spreading to your arm, jaw or back), trouble breathing that doesn’t ease, fainting, or weakness or numbness on one side. First time, or it feels different? Get checked. Panic can feel like a heart attack, and only a doctor can tell them apart.
Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, if it’s too much or you don’t want to be here. 24/7, free, and a real person answers. En español, marca 2.
Rather text? Text HOME to 741741.

Private by design. Nothing you tap or type here is sent anywhere. Your words, your card, your plan and your log stay in this browser on this device, and one button erases them. This page runs no analytics or tracking. How we handle privacy.

The short version

Name it: “This is panic. It will pass.” Panic rises, peaks within minutes, and then eases.
Breathe out long and slow. In through your nose for about 4, out for about 6. Longer out than in.
Ground yourself: press your feet into the floor, and name five things you can see.
Don’t fight it. Let the wave rise and fall. Cold water on your wrists or face can help.
Chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, or the first time? Call 911. To talk, any hour, call or text 988.

With JavaScript on, this page has a breathing circle with a guide, what each body feeling means, words to hold onto, a card to show someone, a private log and a plan you can print.

Good to know

It feels dangerous, and it passes

A panic attack is a sudden rush of fear with strong feelings in the body: a pounding heart, breathlessness, shaking, dizziness, a sense of doom. It peaks within minutes and then eases, even though it can feel endless.

Your alarm, going off at the wrong time

Panic is the body’s fight-or-flight response firing when there’s nothing to fight or flee. Every feeling has a reason. What my body is doing above explains them one by one.

Fighting it tends to feed it

Trying to force panic to stop usually adds fear on top of fear. Letting it rise and fall, while you breathe out slowly, often helps it pass sooner.

It’s very treatable

If panic keeps coming back, talk to a doctor. Therapy (especially cognitive behavioral therapy) helps many people, and so can medication. You don’t have to just live with it.

More help

Everything’s too much? Breathe and ground has a breathing pacer and 5-4-3-2-1 grounding.
Panic keeps you up? A quiet page for the middle of the night.
Seeing a doctor about it? Appointment prep helps you say what’s been happening. Track it with the mood and sleep diary.
Hard to talk when it hits? Speak for me. Keep things that steady you in a hope box.
Worried you might not stay safe? Make a safety plan.
All our free tools and Get help now.

General ideas from people who care, not medical advice, and not a substitute for a doctor or therapist. Only a medical check can rule out other causes. If you’re in danger, call 911.

This page, its prompts and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). Scarlet Beast is an open door for neurodivergent people and people with records, and this is for anyone. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].