Panic attacks... how to stop them/fear of them

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Here's an issue that I spent a lot of time thinking about during this summer.
I have a fear of deep water. I only half understand why. I'm fine on days when it's sunny and there's good water visibility. I am an excellent swimmer, two years of very intense swim team. I have no really logical reason to be afraid. My father has the same phobia, says he nearly drowned doing a triathlon once. Genetic? I once was swimming at a beach(I was no older than 5 at the time) when I saw dogfish in the water below me. For those of you not too familiar with marine biology, dogfish are very small sharks, never more than 1.5 meters or so. I was very little at the time, and it freaked me out. I swam back in as fast as I could. It was at high tide, the water couldn't have been more than seven feet deep, and it was kind of murky. I swim at the same beach regularly in summer to this day, frequently going over the same spot. I've never seen dogfish in the water there again. In the summer of 2011, to the best of my understanding, I had a panic attack in the water. Swimming a short distance(25 meters?) in the harbor between boats, I totally freaked out. It was like being in a situation where I'd ordinarily have a fight-or-flight type reaction, with two or three times the fear and no adrenaline rush. It was really creepy. Things started moving in my peripheral vision, and stopping two seconds after I'd turn my head to look at them. My friend who was with me at the time(she's a remarkably emotionally perceptive person, says that she's felt other people's strong emotions before) said that it was the most scared she'd ever felt from any one person at a time. Summer 2012, I had a moment at the beach where I saw the dogfish, when I sort of had a half panic attack, with things moving in my peripheral vision again, but only half the fear of the first one, still a very substantial amount. This summer, on days with murky water, I didn't go swim too far out from shore or a boat unless I was in a group, for fear of having a panic attack and not being able to get back. Is there any way to get rid of this? Has anyone else had similar experiences?

One of the things you can do to alleviate panic inducing situations is cognitive behavioral therapy. For me the most important thing I've learned is to find the off-switch for certain kinds of thoughts. The important thing is to learn to realize what kind of thoughts or associations trigger and/or sustain a panic reaction and learn how to redirect those thoughts, to gain control over what is going on in your mind. Simply focussing and making yourself believe that a panic attack will blow over and that you'll be fine and focussing on these thoughts can go a long way to get you through a situation like that.

You seem to focus a lot on the dogfish in your story. Could it be a phobic reaction? Dogfish are perfectly harmless. Some aquariums even have open pools where you can touch and play with them. Perhaps going to one and doing so will reduce your fear response.

Huh. I didn't relate the dogfish thing to the panic attack until several months afterwards. I have known for a long time that I am terrified of sharks, and it probably extends to dogfish too. I see them all the time in labs, as they're good for experimentation, and if I'm not prepared for them to be there I get a feeling of shock and fear, but not too bad. For me, there's just something creepy about seeing them. Oddly enough, I have never felt afraid in the middle of the forest, where the chances of being attacked by a coyote or bobcat are significantly higher than those of being attacked by a shark in the water. I really wish I could eliminate the panic attacks. I can't enjoy the beach and the harbor as much as I did before the first one. Would doing long swims in conditions that scare me desensitize me to it? I've been wondering.

I have never liked swimming in any sea water after a jellyfish was thrown at me when I was six. I'm generally ok when, like you said I can see through the water it makes me feel safer. I don't know but this might mean that yes it is your dogfish experience that has put you off