What to do when you have a panic attack at work comes down to a few simple steps: stay where you are if you can, tell yourself that this is a panic attack and it will pass, breathe slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth, and use your senses to anchor yourself in the room. The NHS says a panic attack usually lasts 5 to 20 minutes, and that although it can feel terrifying, it is not dangerous and should not harm you. Once it settles, you can decide calmly whether to rest, carry on, or head home.
Over the weekend, a post on X about a 40-year-old colleague who kept having panic attacks and leaving work early set off a heated debate. Some replies mocked the coworker for being too old to struggle like this, and one widely shared post on the theme, seen more than half a million times, captured the backlash neatly: “mental health matters” until someone is “old” apparently. The episode is a reminder that panic has no age limit, and that the shame people feel about it is often fed by the reactions around them. If you are not sure whether what you felt was panic, anxiety, or plain fear, it helps to understand how fear, anxiety, and panic attacks overlap and where they differ.
Workplaces also shape how safe people feel to say they are struggling. Teams with real psychological safety in the workplace make it easier to step out of a meeting, ask for a break, or mention a health condition without fear of being judged. This guide covers what to do in the moment, how to handle the embarrassment afterwards, whether to tell your manager, and what support you are entitled to ask for.
What a panic attack at work can feel like
A panic attack is a sudden rush of intense physical and mental symptoms. The NHS lists symptoms of a panic attack including a racing heartbeat, feeling faint, dizzy, or light-headed, a sense that you are losing control, sweating, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath or breathing very quickly, tingling in your fingers or lips, and feeling sick. Its page on panic disorder adds chest pain, hot flushes, chills, a choking sensation, a dry mouth, a feeling of dread or fear of dying, and feeling as if you are not connected to your body.
At work, those symptoms often arrive at the worst possible moment: in the middle of a presentation, on a busy shop floor, during a difficult phone call, or for no obvious reason at all while you are answering emails. The charity Mind notes that you do not need to have a mental health problem to have a panic attack, and that having one does not always mean you have a mental health problem. Some people have a single attack and never have another.
One important caution: chest pain is not always panic. The NHS advises calling 999 if you get sudden chest pain that does not go away, pain that spreads to your arm, neck, jaw, stomach, or back, or chest pain with sweating, sickness, light-headedness, or breathlessness. If this is your first episode, or you are not sure what is happening, treat it as a medical emergency and let a doctor rule out a physical cause.
What to do when you have a panic attack at work
The NHS advice for what to do during a panic attack is short and practical: stay where you are if possible, breathe slowly and deeply, remind yourself that the attack will pass, focus on calm and peaceful images, and remember that it is not life threatening. Mind sums up a similar approach as ABC: accept, breathe, and connect with your senses. Here is how that translates to a working day.
- Name it: Say to yourself, silently or under your breath, “This is a panic attack. It will pass.” Mind says recognising what is happening can help you feel calmer, and it stops the spiral of thinking that something catastrophic is going on.
- Slow your breathing: The NHS breathing exercise for stress, anxiety, and panic can be done sitting or standing with both feet flat on the floor. Breathe in gently through your nose, counting steadily from 1 to 5 if it helps, then let the breath flow out through your mouth for the same count. Keep going for at least 5 minutes. You may not reach 5 at first, and that is fine.
- Ground yourself: Press your feet into the floor or stamp gently on the spot, which some people find helps control their breathing. Notice what you can see, hear, and touch around your desk, sip cold water, or chew a mint, as Mind suggests tuning into a strong taste or the feel of something in your hand.
- Skip the paper bag: Mind says breathing into a paper bag is not recommended as much as it used to be because it can be dangerous if you have lung problems. Cupping your hands loosely over your nose and mouth, or simply slowing your breathing, works too. Never use a plastic bag.
- Ride it out: Rather than fighting the sensations, let them rise, remind yourself that they peak and fade, and keep returning to your breath.
When to step away from your desk
The NHS suggests staying where you are if possible, and bolting from the room can reinforce the sense that the place itself is dangerous. In practice, it is perfectly reasonable to move somewhere quieter if staying put would make things worse, for instance if you are customer facing, in a meeting, or operating machinery. A short “Excuse me for a moment” is all anyone needs to hear. Head for a quiet room, a bathroom, a stairwell, or outside, sit down if you can, and use the breathing and grounding steps there.
If you work in a safety-critical role, stop the task first. Put down tools, pull over, or hand over to a colleague before you do anything else. If you cannot calm yourself, Mind says you can ask someone you trust to help, and that NHS 111 can support you through a panic attack via its mental health option in England and Wales.
Should you go home after a panic attack?
There is no single right answer. Mind recommends paying attention to what your body needs afterwards, which might mean resting somewhere quiet or having something to eat or drink. Many people feel drained, shaky, or tearful for a while once the peak has passed. If you feel physically unwell, exhausted, or unable to concentrate safely, going home is a sensible choice, and in the UK you can self-certify sickness absence of 7 days or less without a fit note, according to GOV.UK guidance on sick leave.
If you feel able to, staying or returning to your desk after a break can also be helpful. The NHS advice on anxiety, fear, and panic warns against avoiding situations that make you anxious and suggests building up time in them gradually instead. Leaving every time the feelings start can teach your brain that work is a threat, which makes the next attack more likely. One practical point: the NHS notes that panic disorder can affect your ability to drive, so do not get behind the wheel until you feel steady, and check whether you need to tell the DVLA if attacks are frequent.
Feeling embarrassed after a panic attack at work
Embarrassment is one of the most common feelings afterwards, and it can linger longer than the attack itself. It may help to know that people are poor judges of how much others notice them. In a classic set of studies on the spotlight effect, Thomas Gilovich, Victoria Medvec, and Kenneth Savitsky asked students to walk into a room wearing an embarrassing T-shirt. On average, the wearers’ estimates of how many observers could name the person on the shirt were twice as high as the number who actually could. Those studies were not about panic attacks, but the same bias is likely to make a few difficult minutes feel far more visible to you than they were to your colleagues.
You do not owe anyone a detailed explanation. “I felt unwell for a moment, I’m OK now” is enough. If a colleague was kind, a quick thank you closes the loop. If someone makes a joke at your expense, including about your age, that says more about them than about you. Mind suggests that telling someone you trust about the attack can help, and you could show them how best to support you next time.
Telling your manager and asking for reasonable adjustments
Whether and how much to tell your employer is your decision. There are good reasons to consider it, especially if attacks happen more than once. Acas guidance on reasonable adjustments for mental health says employers should take mental health problems as seriously as physical illness, and that a mental health problem can be a disability under the Equality Act 2010. If it is, your employer must make reasonable adjustments. Even when it is not, Acas says employers should still offer support and explore whether adjustments could help.
Mind explains that a mental health problem counts as a disability under the Act if it has a substantial effect on your normal day-to-day activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, 12 months or more. The Equality and Human Rights Commission adds that protection from discrimination arising from disability generally applies only if your employer knew, or ought to have known, about the disability, which is one reason why telling them can matter.
Examples of adjustments that Acas lists include:
- Breaks: More frequent, shorter breaks and flexible hours.
- Environment: A workspace in a quieter area, or a rest area away from the main staff area.
- Tasks: Reviewing workload and deadlines, or reducing phone calls and customer-facing work for a while.
- Communication: Agreeing a preferred way of communicating, such as avoiding spontaneous phone calls.
- Location: Working from home at times, so you can take breaks without feeling watched.
A simple way to start the conversation is with Mind’s free Wellness Action Plan, which anyone can complete, with or without a diagnosis. It sets out your triggers, early warning signs, and what you would like your manager to do if you become unwell at work. If you need more help, the government’s Access to Work scheme offers mental health support that can include a tailored plan and one-to-one sessions with a mental health professional, although it will not pay for the reasonable adjustments your employer is legally required to make.
If you see a colleague having a panic attack
Mind’s advice for helping someone else is to stay calm, gently let them know they might be having a panic attack and that you are there, encourage slow and deep breathing, and give them something structured to focus on, such as counting out loud. Help them find somewhere quiet to sit until they feel better. Afterwards, check in privately rather than in front of the team, and keep what you saw to yourself. Age has nothing to do with it, and neither does character.
When panic attacks keep happening
A single panic attack is not the same as panic disorder. The NHS says panic disorder may be diagnosed if you have regular and unexpected panic attacks followed by at least a month of continuous worry about having more. It is treatable, and the NHS warns that without help it can become harder to cope with and may lead to other problems such as agoraphobia. Cutting back on caffeine, alcohol, and smoking, all of which can make attacks worse, and taking regular exercise can also help.
NICE guidance on generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults recommends self-help for mild to moderate panic disorder, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered by a trained therapist, usually 7 to 14 hours in total, for moderate to severe panic disorder. It also advises that benzodiazepines should not be prescribed for panic disorder because they are associated with poorer long-term outcomes. If you are 18 or over (16 or over in some areas) and registered with a GP in England, you can refer yourself to NHS talking therapies, which treat panic disorder, without seeing a GP first. Talking therapies are sometimes also available free through your employer.
If you ever feel unable to keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E. You can also call Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night.
FAQs
- What should I do first if I have a panic attack at work? Stay where you are if you can, tell yourself it is a panic attack and it will pass, and slow your breathing, in through your nose and out through your mouth to a count of 5. Ground yourself by pressing your feet into the floor or focusing on what you can see and touch.
- How long does a panic attack last? The NHS says most panic attacks last between 5 and 20 minutes, although some have been reported to last up to an hour. You may feel tired or shaky for a while afterwards.
- Should I go home after a panic attack at work? Go home if you feel unwell, exhausted, or unable to work safely. If you feel able to stay after a short break, doing so can stop work becoming something you fear, because the NHS advises against avoiding situations that make you anxious.
- Do I have to tell my employer about panic attacks? It is your choice. Telling your manager can help you get support and reasonable adjustments, and the Equality Act may protect you if your condition counts as a disability.
- Can you have panic attacks at any age? Yes. The NHS describes panic disorder in both children and adults, and panic attacks are not limited to young people. Mocking someone for having panic attacks at 40 or older only adds to the stigma.
- Is a panic attack the same as a heart attack? No, but some symptoms overlap, such as chest pain and breathlessness. If you have sudden chest pain that does not go away, or pain spreading to your arm, neck, jaw, or back, call 999.
