The three-step method to suppress your body’s panic response to pain

February 19, 2026 — 7:00pm

Each week, Good Weekend’s how-to column shares expert advice on how to navigate some of modern life’s big – and small – challenges. This week: How to handle extreme pain.

So you’re alone in the bush, hours from help, and you’ve just chopped off half your foot with a chainsaw. It happens! But now you’re in agony, a kind you’ve never experienced before. What next?

“You’ll probably panic at the beginning – and that’s normal,” says clinical psychologist Amy Underwood, who specialises in the treatment of pain and is a member of the wonderfully named Australian Pain Society. “But if you’re sitting around for another hour, there isn’t much point having a continuous panic attack. It’s just exhausting and overwhelming. That’s why you put in place better behaviours.”

Humans have a “predicting mind”, says Underwood, meaning we can shape our experience of reality based on our expectations. “When our brain predicts a threat, we get into a protective state where attention narrows, we can’t find options and opportunities get missed, which isn’t helpful when you’ve cut off your foot.” Try not to think about the people who have died from the same injury, but the people who’ve been rescued. To reduce the panic, meanwhile, name it and observe it. “When we name an emotion, we put some distance between us and it, which reduces its intensity.”

This isn’t a once-and-done trick, though – you’ll still be flipping out because your freaking foot’s hanging off! – so you need to keep observing that emotion, almost as if you’re outside your body. If you start panicking again, try naming three things you can see, hear or touch. “It’s a diversion technique, but it also helps ground you,” says Underwood.

Remember, the object is to calm down. You’ll need to engage your parasympathetic system, a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. “Breathing is crucial,” she says. “When we inhale, we engage the sympathetic nervous system – to activate an adrenaline surge. But the out-breath is what activates the parasympathetic system.”

Underwood suggests a breathing exercise: inhale for four, hold for four and then exhale for six. “This will send a message to the brain to calm and settle.” Also, if you have something cold – ice, a cool drink, a water bottle – put it on the back of your neck for 10 minutes. This activates your vagus nerve, which is a conduit to the parasympathetic system’s control centre. “Interestingly, your vagus nerve can also be engaged by humming, singing or chanting because it sends vibrations through your vocal cords. This might explain why we hum to babies: it’s soothing.“

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The February 21 edition