How to help my spouse with depression panic attacks? If you have been asking that question lately, you are hardly alone.

Panic attacks related to, or in addition to depression affects around 20 million Americans at any given time. If you have a husband or wife suffering from these panic attacks, read on to find out some simple ways you could help them.

While depression and anxiety are not the same, it seems that they go hand-in-hand in many cases. A person who has had panic attacks for a long time often becomes depressed when thinking about living with anxiety any longer.

Likewise, a person with depression may have many of the symptoms of an anxiety disorder, and may or may not have full-blown panic attacks on a regular basis.

So, if your husband/wife has panic attacks brought on by depression or simply brought on by an existing anxiety disorder, there are some things that you can do to help your spouse through this tough time in their life.

Become knowledgeable about anxiety:

Getting as much information as you can about anxiety and panic attacks will really benefit the both of you very much. Although it is your spouse who must make the ultimate change to conquer anxiety, if you understand what he/she is going through and are understanding, you stand a better chance at defeating the disorder as a team.

If your wife or husband often changes plans to accommodate their anxious mood, you may become agitated, but knowing why this happens is crucial to understanding that they don't mean to be this way, they just can't help it many times.

Anxiety sufferers often don't think the same way as you may think about a given situation, and although it may be tough for you, you will help them a lot by simply understanding that their thought process is simply different from that of a non-anxious person.

Be supportive:

It can be really frustrating living with someone who has an anxiety disorder, but the worst thing that you can do as a spouse is to criticize them for their behavior.

Encouraging healthy behavior to an anxious person is a really simple, and great thing that you can do for them. Something as simple as going to an event, whether it be a family outing or a simple dinner can often times be a very big move on their part.

If a small step is taken by your spouse to try to live anxiety-free, encourage that behavior and be proud of what they have accomplished. There's no need to over-do it by any means, just be supportive of anything they can do that is positive.

On the same token, you need to avoid criticizing them for the times when they do avoid certain situations.

A person who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks often thinks that if they had a panic attack doing a certain thing, or being in a certain place that they are more prone to having further attacks by doing that specific activity again.

While you know this does not make much sense, in the mind of an anxious person this is perfectly rational behavior, and patience with them is needed to overcome their anxiety.

Helping them through a panic attack:

If you find yourself right in the middle of your spouse's panic attack, just be patient and re-assuring to them. A person in the middle of extreme panic does not process thoughts the same as a calm person, so they may need to go off by themselves for a few minutes.

If this is the case, do your best to help them through the attack, and try to remember that they didn't choose a panic attack to happen to them. They feel bad enough just being anxious, so there is no need to make them feel worse by blaming them for ruining your good time or criticizing them for a disorder they can not control.

Most sufferers find that someone who understands what they are going through is enough, and since panic attacks don't last for hours on end, you will help them greatly by being patient with them while they are feeling anxious.

So my friend, if you have been asking the question; how to help my spouse with depression panic attacks, you could follow the advice I gave above which will help your spouse out a lot.