My first yoga guru gave me some invaluable advice for use during panic and anxiety attacks: "Use the three-part breath," she said. "Breathe to the bottom third of the lungs, hold for two seconds, then to the middle third, and hold for two seconds, and then fill your lungs all the way up and hold for another two seconds. Breathe out slowly and completely and hold again for a couple of seconds when the lungs are empty." I've used this method myself for dealing with (among other things) air-travel related terrors, and it works really well.
The problem, specifically, is hyperventilation. Panic will make you breathe much more quickly and deeply than usual (as preparation for fight or flight), and without actual physical exertion to balance the scale, the lower overall levels of carbon dioxide in the blood will worsen the physical symptoms of the anxiety. Researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, have applied technology to the problem and, perhaps, reinvented the yogic wheel on this one. The Capnometry-Assisted Respiratory Training (CART) system consists of a bunch of wires and sensors that report a subject's CO2 levels as they experience a panic attack, and it coaches them on how to breathe more shallowly and regularly so that their CO2 levels rise back into a comfortable zone.
I am, on the one hand, pleased to see this kind of sensible approach to panic disorder - it's far more useful than simply pointing out to the sufferer that there's really nothing to be afraid of (or simply drugging them senseless). One of the most awful parts of a panic attack is often that feeling of simply being out of control emotionally, even as your logical mind is screaming at you that there is NOTHING WRONG AT ALL, SO WHY DO YOU FEEL SO BAD, DUMMY? So yes, a sensible, active, and drug-free approach to physically managing your emotions? Bring it on.
On the other hand, I'm amused that SMU has taken an awful lot of effort to develop a (presumably expensive) machine that replicates all the advantages of yogic breathing practice. Our left-brained culture is intoxicated with technology! I wish more people would just go to yoga class, but if it takes a machine to teach us how to calm ourselves down physically, then I guess what matters most is that we calm down...however we achieve that.
Read more here: A new breathing therapy reduces panic and anxiety by reversing hyperventilation via the SMU research blog
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