Helping a friend with panic attacks?

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I have a friend that lives far away (not an Aspie) who has several severe panic attacks daily. They started having them after trying to taper off their depression meds (I forget the name, but they were used for manic depressives and were pretty potent from what I recall.) Now they are taking a higher dose than they were in the first place. They rarely leaves their house and fear having an attack so much that they go into one. I have some health issues as well, so I can understand the "fear of the fear" problem, and how you can talk yourself into having a problem when you don't necessarily. Should I just let them continue to complain and try my best to be realistically positive? I'm trying to give as little details as I can for confidentiality. Thank you.

My most severe panic attacks happened when I was tapering off medicine used for manic depression so I sympathize with this friend of yours.

Hmm. Maybe you could tell them what I've found useful:

a) going to see a doctor while you are in a panic attack (maybe at the hospital) so they can check you out and reassure you your vital signs are good and you're not having a heart attack or otherwise dying, then

b) thenceforth treating any panic attack you feel coming on the same way you treat someone chasing you in a nightmare. Lie down flat on the floor on your back and just breathe and tell yourself it will be fine. Nothing can hurt you. It's the fear itself that's hurting you in both a nightmare and in a panic attack in real life. If you can just remember that you are going to be okay and mentally "surrender" to the panic attack, it actually does not become a full-blown attack and quickly (within a couple minutes) subsides.

c) Take anti-anxiety medicine as needed. Clonazepam is what I take prescribed by a doctor.

Panic attacks are not fun...incredibly frightening actually.
I had them for years, most likely as a result of an undiagnosed thyroid problem since they are very rare now.
Not a lot helped me personally, once I was in the midst of one, it just seemed to take over, but sometimes when I was online with someone and had an attack, that person would suggest I tell them a story or talk about my hobbies, to distract me. They tend to go away when you focus on something else and get absorbed in that. The more you focus on the breathing and the panic, the worse it gets. I always just tried to distract myself by reading something that interested me or by playing a game.