Why Anxious People Shouldn’t Use “Deep Breathing"

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement

4.8 • 657 Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Deep breathing can worsen anxiety and trigger hyperventilation or panic attacks—learn why slow breathing with a longer exhale works better. Check out our FREE Grounding Skills course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd Check out our FREE How to Stop Panic and Anxiety Attacks course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/ending-panic-attacks-and-anxiety-attacks Learn the skills to regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell FREE Mental Health Resources: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/free-resources Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, thanks for clicking on my clickbait. I promise you're going to learn something about breathing and anxiety in this video.
0:05.0	I'm a therapist and here's what I've been seeing.
0:08.0	For decades, we've been teaching people to calm down by taking deep breaths,
0:12.0	but now we're learning more about how that might backfire, especially for some people with anxiety.
0:18.0	And I'm going to teach you some options that might work better.
0:26.1	Welcome to the Therapy in a Nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam, a licensed therapist. I make mental health skills more accessible so that you can get better at healing. Just a reminder,
0:31.0	this is education, not therapy. If you'd like to learn more free mental health skills,
0:35.7	check out our free courses at Therapy in a
0:38.0	nutshell.com. So deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing is where you breathe in deeply
0:44.6	and try to engage the diaphragm. To use your belly to breathe. And it's easiest to do
0:52.1	laying down and you'll notice your stomach rising when you breathe. And it's easiest to do laying down and you'll notice your stomach rising when you breathe.
0:59.8	Now, diaphragmatic breathing has a bunch of benefits. It can help trigger the parasympathetic response,
1:06.1	which is the calming response in your nervous system. This can slow heart rate, lower blood pressure,
1:11.7	reduce stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, etc. Now if deep breathing
1:17.6	is working for you, that's great. But what often happens when you tell someone with
1:22.2	anxiety to take a deep breath is they often take a large inhale of breath,
1:27.4	almost gulping the air.
1:30.8	Anxious folk so badly want to feel calm that they go above and beyond and try to force
1:36.5	themselves to calm down, and then that pressure can make them even more anxious. But even more
1:41.1	than that, focusing on taking deep breaths can lead to hyperventilation.
1:45.0	When you focus on the inhale, you can accidentally over-breath, which can cause a drop in carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, which can make you feel more breathless.
1:55.0	You might get tingly, dizzy, or gasp for more air.
	...

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