How to help a stranger on the street in a mental health crisis

[Demovictory9]

You’re walking down the street, and you encounter someone crying.

Or perhaps the person seems worked up in another way — screaming at the air or rocking back and forth in distress.

A disquieting feeling follows. Do you attempt to say something? Call emergency services? Or, perhaps the likeliest option, avert your eyes, cross the street and keep moving?

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Here’s some expert advice about how to recognize when a stranger is in mental distress and how to help without adding harm.

What to look for
“You first want to establish: Is this person having a bad day, or are they in danger of hurting themselves or hurting someone else?” Bonds said. If someone is not doing any self-harm or causing danger to others but is “quietly psychotic,” he said, referring to a person hearing voices or seeming “out of it,” then intervening may not be the right idea “because that could escalate the situation.”

Give yourself a moment to take in the situation. Notice if the person appears agitated, angry, restless or engaging in risky behavior, advised Dawn Brown, national director of National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine Services.

https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2022-01-19/how-to-help-a-homeless-person-in-crisis

[Yandex]

1. I sometimes wake up with panic attacks

I live alone and do get lonely; it can be a claustrophobic feeling.

I usually will get up and walk outside for a few minutes doing deep breathing. Being outside in the fresh air eliminates the claustrophobic feeling. I try and engage in positive thinking, prayer and meditation for a short spell. Then go back to bed.

The important thing is not to "panic" over the panic attack.

[No Vested Interest]

2. I also woke up with panic attacks, when I was younger.

I did some of the same things you did to distract myself, including prayer and preparing for death.
I haven't had one in quite a while.
I believe two things helped me:

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and have used a CPAP nighty for ca 17 years. Struggling for air was, I believe, one of the causes of my sudden awakening with feelings of dread and hyper-awareness of heartbeat and pains.

I've aged so that the thought of calling for help, going to an emergency room and being sent home when nothing of import is found - all that is more than I can handle, and I'd rather wait out the incident than go through that rigamarol.

[Maraya1969]

3. I believe slow breathing is important since often a panic attack includes hyperventilation

And, at least it seems to me that hyperventilation causes the panic to get worse.