Panic Attacks in woods
- Thread starter Womble
- Start date
Cant remember when i last heard of any one being munched by a wolf or bear,in their sleep in NW Europe?
Or being axed/chainsawed to death in their sleeping bags whilst in the middle of a wood?
However stabbed,raped,killed in their beds seems to be common in towns and citys.
Seems you are safer in the woods.
Hope you feel better now about the woods at night;pleasant dreams,sleep well(and make shure the doors and windows are locked)
Or being axed/chainsawed to death in their sleeping bags whilst in the middle of a wood?
However stabbed,raped,killed in their beds seems to be common in towns and citys.
Seems you are safer in the woods.
Hope you feel better now about the woods at night;pleasant dreams,sleep well(and make shure the doors and windows are locked)
I don't think I am cut out for this night time camping malarkey.
I am alright if with someone else but on my own start to panic a little. I am 6'5" and just shy of 20 stone so don't think meeting other people frightens me. Not worried about animals wanting me for dinner, so I assume my overactive imagination must assume Freddy Kruger is out there or something.
The fire is also a double edged sword for me, without it, I hate it been too dark, but with it I feel it is more of a beacon letting Freddy know where I am.
Last few times I have camped out solo, I have slept with a nice big piece of wood by my side and my GF axe under the pillow.
I am alright if with someone else but on my own start to panic a little. I am 6'5" and just shy of 20 stone so don't think meeting other people frightens me. Not worried about animals wanting me for dinner, so I assume my overactive imagination must assume Freddy Kruger is out there or something.
The fire is also a double edged sword for me, without it, I hate it been too dark, but with it I feel it is more of a beacon letting Freddy know where I am.
Last few times I have camped out solo, I have slept with a nice big piece of wood by my side and my GF axe under the pillow.
Many animals make sounds which are unfamiliar to us, and at night they come over as being much louder and closer than they actually are. I use a night scope when out alone and if I hear something which I can't identify, then using this single little luxury item I can quickly see what it is and any concerns I may have had just disappears. I really enjoy the night solitude of lone camping but it can be more enjoyable with someone else on occasion to share the sights and sounds of the flora, fauna, vistas, and experiences. No fear just a calmness and serenity.
Hi
Firstly what an honest and open thread!
As i am 'amongst' friends, the problem i have is going places, i get so worked up sometimes that i make myself ill and this has before stopped my going out on trips.
But then once im there, im fine and in my element and confident.
Drop me in the middle of no where with a knife and no boots and I would give it a good crack!
But getting me on the trip in the first place is hard and I can be a right mess!
Does anyone have any sugestions to over come this please?
As many people have said nothing bad in the woods other than a slighlty angry wasp! More likely to get 'trouble' in the city!
Firstly what an honest and open thread!
As i am 'amongst' friends, the problem i have is going places, i get so worked up sometimes that i make myself ill and this has before stopped my going out on trips.
But then once im there, im fine and in my element and confident.
Drop me in the middle of no where with a knife and no boots and I would give it a good crack!
But getting me on the trip in the first place is hard and I can be a right mess!
Does anyone have any sugestions to over come this please?
As many people have said nothing bad in the woods other than a slighlty angry wasp! More likely to get 'trouble' in the city!
Hi
Firstly what an honest and open thread!
As i am 'amongst' friends, the problem i have is going places, i get so worked up sometimes that i make myself ill and this has before stopped my going out on trips.
But then once im there, im fine and in my element and confident.
Drop me in the middle of no where with a knife and no boots and I would give it a good crack!
But getting me on the trip in the first place is hard and I can be a right mess!
Does anyone have any sugestions to over come this please?
As many people have said nothing bad in the woods other than a slighlty angry wasp! More likely to get 'trouble' in the city!
Maybe try to define your internal start of the trip as being earlier, like for you, defining that packing is already part of the trip?
Mike
IIRC this is called 'wood shock' - there's written about it by a few psych's. Occured numerous times by people who ended up (forced) in the bush all by them self. Seems plausible it also happens with those who chose to go voluntarely.
Personaly I never encountered this ... That could tell something about my mental state (one way or another)
Personaly I never encountered this ... That could tell something about my mental state (one way or another
) 
Yes, 'Woods Shock' is the modern term, dating from at least 1873, where it appeared in the journal 'Nature'.
I didn't actually know this prior to reading of it in Lawrence Gonzales's book.
Matthew.Passmore
Settler
I sometimes start to get a bit panicked when getting ready to go to bed, I get visions of big cats coming up behind me, maybe it's because I feel in a more vulnerable state having taken my kit off and having my feet confined by the sleeping bag.
biggest fright I've ever had is when I woke up one morning to see a big spider on the inside of my hammock I jumped that much I fell out of the hammock still in the sleeping bag and hit the floor luckily no one saw
biggest fright I've ever had is when I woke up one morning to see a big spider on the inside of my hammock I jumped that much I fell out of the hammock still in the sleeping bag and hit the floor
luckily no one saw 
Panic can be infectious!
I took mt wife backpacking on Jura one time and - she is no real outdoorsy type - the sound of the silence, punctuated by the sound of deer, had her realy wigging out!
Such was her state I got paniced as well.
It took a lot longer to walk across the island on day 1 than it did to return on day 2!
I can be at total peace on my own out in the wilds (though I tend to go to bed rather early as I like early starts) but once someone you are with starts panicing - there goes the ambiance!
I took mt wife backpacking on Jura one time and - she is no real outdoorsy type - the sound of the silence, punctuated by the sound of deer, had her realy wigging out!
Such was her state I got paniced as well.
It took a lot longer to walk across the island on day 1 than it did to return on day 2!
I can be at total peace on my own out in the wilds (though I tend to go to bed rather early as I like early starts) but once someone you are with starts panicing - there goes the ambiance!
Have you ever heard a jack rabbit screaming at 2:00 am as a coyote is killing it? It sounds like a banshee is coming to get you. There will be no more sleeping after that.
We have black bears, wolfs, and coyotes in MI. Probably the wolf is the most dangerous of the three because they are protected and not hunted. Coyotes and bears will run but you want to be vocal so they know you are a human.
Of most concern to me in the US is places where their are mountain lion and brown bears. Mountain lion can stalk you without you knowing they are there. Brown bears can be dangerous but normally if they know you are human they will run. If they don't run try to look big or as unappetizing as possible.
We have black bears, wolfs, and coyotes in MI. Probably the wolf is the most dangerous of the three because they are protected and not hunted. Coyotes and bears will run but you want to be vocal so they know you are a human.
Of most concern to me in the US is places where their are mountain lion and brown bears. Mountain lion can stalk you without you knowing they are there. Brown bears can be dangerous but normally if they know you are human they will run. If they don't run try to look big or as unappetizing as possible.
Somalia saying, Even a brave man is scared of a lion three times; first when he sees the tracks; second when he hears the first roar and third when they are face to face
Somalia saying, Even a brave man is scared of a lion three times; first when he sees the tracks; second when he hears the first roar and third when they are face to face
Dorset saying: "Stop being such a big baby and MTFU" :yelrotflm
BOD
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Panic attacks are not a laughing matter. Its far more than simply being scared.
We had an American girl on her first jungle hash and the group she was with were off paper. It was growing dark and there was a powerful storm developing with frequent lightning flashes and thunder. She felt, unreasonably, that they would never get out and started hyperventilating and a nurse, who happened to be with her, was not able to calm her down and she passed out.
On being revived she soon had another attack and passed out again. This happened several times and she was carried by the group in turns. When they got comms they called for an ambulance and doctor and a miliatry ambulance was despatched. After a several hours they got out and she was sent to hospital. Passed out in the ambulance as well, i was told.
Panic attacks can seriously affect and exhaust a group which has a member down more so than even seriously sprained ankles.
We had an American girl on her first jungle hash and the group she was with were off paper. It was growing dark and there was a powerful storm developing with frequent lightning flashes and thunder. She felt, unreasonably, that they would never get out and started hyperventilating and a nurse, who happened to be with her, was not able to calm her down and she passed out.
On being revived she soon had another attack and passed out again. This happened several times and she was carried by the group in turns. When they got comms they called for an ambulance and doctor and a miliatry ambulance was despatched. After a several hours they got out and she was sent to hospital. Passed out in the ambulance as well, i was told.
Panic attacks can seriously affect and exhaust a group which has a member down more so than even seriously sprained ankles.
Ho hum, I suspect I might be too dim to get worked up by the woods. I do however get panicked in town, and refuse to set foot in the Tube in summer because it makes me claustrophobic to be locked in a small cylinder with several hundred unwashed types...
Closest I ever had to a strange encounter was at Sandhurst. We were in a patrol harbour somewhere on Salisbury plain, and I was trying to get my head down when I heard a noise. Uh oh - Gurkhas come to spoil our night, ferret about inside bivi bag and quietly cock the rifle. More rustling about in the bushes, about to shout "Stand To" when I heard a "mew" and a kitten comes wandering out of the bushes, looking pretty scrawny and sorry for itself. Rest of my few hours kip was spent knocking up lukewarm milk and scrounging tuna out of other folks' ration packs. Shame I couldn't take the little critter with me...
Closest I ever had to a strange encounter was at Sandhurst. We were in a patrol harbour somewhere on Salisbury plain, and I was trying to get my head down when I heard a noise. Uh oh - Gurkhas come to spoil our night, ferret about inside bivi bag and quietly cock the rifle. More rustling about in the bushes, about to shout "Stand To" when I heard a "mew" and a kitten comes wandering out of the bushes, looking pretty scrawny and sorry for itself. Rest of my few hours kip was spent knocking up lukewarm milk and scrounging tuna out of other folks' ration packs. Shame I couldn't take the little critter with me...
Hmm, I've been sleeping out since I was eight, which is getting dangerously close to being forty years now so I don't regard myself as being someone easily scared by stuff going screech in the night.
Had a couple of incidents worthy of telling here though. The first being in Florida on a site with a sign saying "Do not feed the Alligators", we were woken in the early ours by something coming in the back of the tent. Turned out to be a pet ferret from another camper. More scary was while canoeing on the Zambezi during an evening we had two bull hippos disputing territory charge through the middle of our camp! A definite pulse raiser I assure you!
So I think you get the point I'm not exactly fresh to this, yet last year I couldn't sleep and rather than disturb everyone by trying to be quite while making a brew downstairs at three in the morning, I thought I'd go for a walk. It was a lovely night clear and starlit, I was enjoying listening to foxes barking etc and it was generally very pleasant. All of a sudden the thought of a big cat popped into my head and that was it. I wasn't a gibbering wreck but definitely suffering a case of the colleywobbles. Clearly the chances of being attacked are less than that of a lottery win, but the thought was there. It reminded me of Bob Perkins on one of his trips in the Canadian Arctic when he said about getting no sleep one night because 'the bear' had got into his head. Again he said the chances of being attacked where pretty small, but once the thought was there, it wouldn't go.
Clearly I know the chances of being attacked by a bear within the arctic circle are much greater than a big cat attacking me in rural Yorkshire, but it's the stuff going on in your head that is the problem.
What to do about it, not sure. I've been out many times since without a problem. I hope others get over it too.
Al
Had a couple of incidents worthy of telling here though. The first being in Florida on a site with a sign saying "Do not feed the Alligators", we were woken in the early ours by something coming in the back of the tent.
Turned out to be a pet ferret from another camper. More scary was while canoeing on the Zambezi during an evening we had two bull hippos disputing territory charge through the middle of our camp! A definite pulse raiser I assure you!So I think you get the point I'm not exactly fresh to this, yet last year I couldn't sleep and rather than disturb everyone by trying to be quite while making a brew downstairs at three in the morning, I thought I'd go for a walk. It was a lovely night clear and starlit, I was enjoying listening to foxes barking etc and it was generally very pleasant. All of a sudden the thought of a big cat popped into my head and that was it. I wasn't a gibbering wreck but definitely suffering a case of the colleywobbles. Clearly the chances of being attacked are less than that of a lottery win, but the thought was there. It reminded me of Bob Perkins on one of his trips in the Canadian Arctic when he said about getting no sleep one night because 'the bear' had got into his head. Again he said the chances of being attacked where pretty small, but once the thought was there, it wouldn't go.
Clearly I know the chances of being attacked by a bear within the arctic circle are much greater than a big cat attacking me in rural Yorkshire, but it's the stuff going on in your head that is the problem.
What to do about it, not sure. I've been out many times since without a problem. I hope others get over it too.
Al
A documented syndrome exists, which has been formally studied for at least 136 years, due to its capacity to rapidly lead to the deaths of even the most experienced people.
Asking if the thread is serious beggars belief and is disrespectful to those whom share their personal fears in order to help others!
Never really been scared in the woods as I was brought up on the edge of town, but one night as a fairly young lad coming home from an old Tarzan film, I was walking up a steep hill just near my home, when there was a loud scraping sound on
a wall about 3 metres above me, and a silhouette of a Panther showed up against the dark sky on top of a wall.
This was a stray Labrador that had got into the garden of the house there, the garden on the inside, was level with the top of the wall, being on a hill. The dog had come to s sudden halt when it realised it was above a big drop. Luckily I worked this out, within minutes and was OK. When I was about the same age, round 12, I was on country road passing through a wood, when there was the awful lest screech just above me, I just about s--t myself, and then realised it was the sound of a Tawny owl, not it's normal Hoot, I think that this was the first time I had heard it make this call, it had probably got as big a fright as me to make it squawk like that. The only other times I have had frights, was when in the Police Force and
a cat would knock down a Dustbin lid in a dark alley beside me, scrounging around for scraps,(the cat not me) The only
thing that would cause me concern in the woods is other humans, I make sure that I am well away from footpaths and well worn tracks of the human sort. It is the yobs who have bought cheap music festival tents, who think they will have a go at wild camping, and get really ****** that are the biggest risk, if you walk far enough from your transport or main
road, this is likely to be your best protection. There are no wild animals in Britain that are likely to bother you.
Bear country, or Alaska are a different story.
a wall about 3 metres above me, and a silhouette of a Panther showed up against the dark sky on top of a wall.
This was a stray Labrador that had got into the garden of the house there, the garden on the inside, was level with the top of the wall, being on a hill. The dog had come to s sudden halt when it realised it was above a big drop. Luckily I worked this out, within minutes and was OK. When I was about the same age, round 12, I was on country road passing through a wood, when there was the awful lest screech just above me, I just about s--t myself, and then realised it was the sound of a Tawny owl, not it's normal Hoot, I think that this was the first time I had heard it make this call, it had probably got as big a fright as me to make it squawk like that. The only other times I have had frights, was when in the Police Force and
a cat would knock down a Dustbin lid in a dark alley beside me, scrounging around for scraps,(the cat not me) The only
thing that would cause me concern in the woods is other humans, I make sure that I am well away from footpaths and well worn tracks of the human sort. It is the yobs who have bought cheap music festival tents, who think they will have a go at wild camping, and get really ****** that are the biggest risk, if you walk far enough from your transport or main
road, this is likely to be your best protection. There are no wild animals in Britain that are likely to bother you.
Bear country, or Alaska are a different story.
Similar threads
