First aid and safety are often discussed in schools taught in schools or at home, many learn basic reactions to their parents for learning and injuries. Mental health, however, is rarely part of such conversation.

How many people really know what to do when a person is experiencing a terror attack? Is there a form of first aid for the mind?

Recently, during a flight, a passenger was reportedly felt a terror attack, slapped by a co-priest, who claimed to be upset with his behavior. After the incident, co-yatri was handed over to the authorities and placed on the no-fly list. Meanwhile, the man was shot in crisis and subject to public attention – an order that suggests the report that he was shaken deeply. He was later missing for a few days and before being taken home.

This episode serves as a clear memory of mental understanding and gaps in awareness, and the absence of widely recognized protocols for immediate response.

Anxiety vs. Terror: Clean confusion

Stress, anxiety, nervousness, depression – these words are now part of everyday conversations. Nevertheless, they are often used intervened despite the meaning of different things.

Recent studies increase anxiety: from 23.7 percent to 35 percent of India, reflects a global trend. But here is the question: How do you tell when a person is just worried, and when they are experiencing a terror attack?

First, let’s set the conditions correctly. While people carelessly use the phrase “anxiety attacks”, doctors do not. According to the clinical and statistical manual disorder (DSM), there is no such medical term as “anxiety attacks”. Instead, anxiety is a feeling – the high state of chickping or restlessness – while an attack of a nervousness is a sudden, intense episode of fear.

What does it look like

Shivani Tripathy, RCI licensed clinical psychologist, Manipal Hospital, Bhubaneswar explains, “Anxiety can be a common response to something that makes you feel afraid or anxious.”

“It can present as anxiety, fear of unknown, and infiltration negative thoughts. The person may feel restless, struggle to focus, and experience physical discomfort for a while.”

Advanced anxiety signs may include:

• Fizating or pacing
• Retreat from a crowd
• Getting unusually irritable, calm or highly talkative

These behavior vary from person to person and cannot always be clear.

What do nervous attacks look

On social media, panic attacks are often made trivial through memes and GIFs. In fact, they can be a frightening episodes marked by visual crisis.

A study published in the National Medical Journal of India states, “Nervous attacks are intense anxiety, fear, or discomfort that suddenly develop and reach the intensity of the summit within 10–15 minutes. They can live for several minutes to hours.”

• Common symptoms include:
• Breathing difficulty
• Sweat
• nausea
• Yearning
• Chest inconvenience

At their peak, these symptoms can mimic heart attack or asthma. Expert warning: If the person’s condition starts deteriorating, it is always the safest to call for immediate medical help.

The significant difference is that anxiety burns at a slow speed, dull for days, while terror attacks are more severe, sudden and short -term.

How to handle it?

According to a mental health first aid guide, when a person is suffering a terror attack, they look disoriently or confused, assuring them that they are safe. If they appear unable to communicate orally or are not answering questions, you should not ask yes or any questions and encourage them to answer non-verbally.

Tripathy shares what to say, and what not to say, once you see that a person is having a attack of terror:

What to do:

• First and most important, keep yourself calm and speak in a soft tone.
• Away from the crowd or unwanted meditation, try to take the person to a quiet place. Ask if they need help and guide them if possible. You may need to repeat your questions, but always keep your tone soft.
• Help them in breathing. Encourage slow, stable breaths: breathe through the nose, hold for a few seconds, then slowly exhale through the mouth. Display of rhythm can help help. In some cases, breathing in a paper bag may also be useful.
• Assure them in a calm voice that they are safe and heavy feelings will gradually decrease.

what not to do:

• Avoid saying things like “comfort” or “calm”. These may feel dismissal and often have the last things they want to hear.
• Do not shake them, crowd them, or attract unnecessary attention, as this can worsen the situation.
• In today’s era, people are in a hurry to film and share online moments – never create a scene or record the person.
• Do not hold, hold or restrain them, and do not touch them without their permission.

A first aid for mental health

Just as people are trained in CPR and Basic First Aid to save life, it is also important to know how to identify and answer someone who experiences anxious attack or increased anxiety.

Experts admit that the conversation around mental health is now becoming easier than before, but it is still not enough. In fact, it has to go a long way to understand these conditions.

“In school, workplace, and public -dominating roles, individuals should be able to identify symptoms, offer timely assurance, and take help when necessary. It not only creates awareness about general challenges, which can face the human body and mind, but also makes us equipped to remove some manageable adversities.