North Bay woman copes with panic attacks by colouring

Two months ago, Jules Fleury says she was walking through the mall with her boyfriend, on the verge of a panic attack when she spotted a colouring book for adults.

The 24-year-old said she was having a very stressful day — she was running late, which can trigger a panic attack.

"And I was like oh, I'm going to pick this up and try it and see what happens. Got home, was colouring for like two hours." said Fleury.

Since that day, she's been using colouring to calm herself down.

• Colouring books for adults a new way to relieve stress

"When I'm particularly stressed, I will colour every night," Fleury said.

"It allows you to be distracted from all your problems and allows you to see — realize really — it is not that big of a deal and be able to de-stress in a way."

Fleury recalled a time she used colour therapy when she had a very stressful retail job, and experienced up to eight panic attacks a day.

"I was seeing all my friends getting My Little Pony colouring books, [as] a way to kill time in between calls," she said.

"So I picked up a Spider Man one and started colouring between my calls. It helped me disassociate with a stressful call."

Colouring for Fleury made sense, and made her "feel so much better."

Listen to the interview from CBC Sudbury's Morning North Radio program here.

Morning North5:04Colouring books for adults

There's a new kind of colouring book in the bookstores these days. They're colouring books for adults. We spoke to a woman who says the books help with stress and anxiety.