Pretext

I have been with my man for a year and a half now, we have moved in and live together. We are both young and are attending school, we also live in the basement of his mother's house who tends to be very toxic. I am not hating on her but she does have a direct influence on his emotions and moods. Thankfully we don't have to worry about that most of the time, since we have different schedules from her.

As you can see there is a lot that can be stressed about, and sometimes he can't really handle it. I wouldn't say he "breaks" but he will start to pace the room, his face will get red, he will start breathing heavily, and I can just see on his face that he is getting stuck in his own mind, its almost like a panic attack. He will get stuck in his mind and won't be able to get out on his own, he starts assuming scenarios in the future and wont be able to focus on things he needs to in the present. It will take all of his attention and he wont be able to focus on anything else, occasionally he will cry out of frustration. (I believe we have all been there before)

What I normally do

Normally I will sit and listen to help, trying to give him helpful information that may ease his mind. I try to cuddle and hold him and give him special attention to try and soothe him. I tell him to breathe while I run my fingers through his hair, etc. Sometimes this works, but most of the time he has fallen too deep into the rabbit hole and I wont be able to bring him back out. Times like these I start to feel hopeless and that I am not doing the right thing to break his focus on the negative.

I was wondering what more I can do to help or ease him? How can I take the stress away or calm him through it?