Panic Attacks Don’t Wait. This Prompt Stops Them in Under 7 Minutes
How to Use AI to Calm your Nervous System in Real time
You’re at work and BAM, out of nowhere that feeling you dread kicks in. Anxiety is here.
You can feel your mind spinning 🌪, your heart beating faster 💓, your breathing short 🫁.
You go through your options:
Run from the office hoping your co-workers don’t notice
Begin that breathing exercise that you never practiced
Quickly call your therapist
But you can’t get ahold of your therapist; she is on that ski trip in the Alps.
You have a new option. You can interact with your favourite AI and ask it to walk you through a proven framework. In 5 to 7 minutes you can restore calm.
The following prompt is based upon Barry McDonagh’s excellent framework found in his book Dare. While not using the steps as named this is how I worked through my own struggles with panic attacks. At the time I called it the ‘Bring it On’ method. Please supply feedback on how this works for you.
Copy and paste into ChatGPT or Claude:
I'm feeling a panic attack coming on.
I want you to guide me through it in real-time. Use the DARE framework (defuse, allow, reframe, run toward, engage), but don't mention the step names.
Please follow these rules:
Speak in short, calming sentences.
Act like a grounded, reassuring coach.
Only give me one step at a time.
Wait for my response before moving on.
After the "allowing" step, add a reframe: help me say “I am excited about this” to shift how I view the sensations.
After we finish, help me return to something grounding and remind me of my strength. Let's begin.