My main character is supposed to have a panic disorder that triggers when feeling helpless for desperately alone, but I'm not quite sure how accurate that is or how to show emotions and actions correctly. Any Ideas?
Link to my character in case that helps:
So, if you're going for anxiety, I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THAT FIELD!!
When she has a panic attack, it will feel like there's not enough air in the room and she may feel like she's suffocating/drowning. Also, she could start losing sleep if she's going through a period of time where she's feeling very scared.
If she has anxiety, her imagination may run wild sometimes, and she may feel inclined to never be in the dark because she feels exposed and anxious. Another thing, she might overthink things, but that's leaning more toward OCD and stuff like that.
Your welcome.
Good luck!! :D
That's not exactly a panic disorder but it's just like…anxiety.
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Thank you so much! Sometimes it's hard to get enough of an understanding from just the medical websites to write a story.
No problem bro
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(Warning: I’m not an expert, just trying to help steer you in the right direction)
For one thing, I’m pretty sure that panic attacks when you have panic disorder do not have specific triggers. Someone might have panic/anxiety attacks with other anxiety disorders, though. Just do a little more research to differentiate between different disorders so you don’t give her the wrong thing.
I do not have panic disorder, but depression with a side of anxiety, and I have had anxiety attacks before. With my more mild ones, I only displayed a few symptoms- heart racing, crying, some hyperventilating, etc. I had my first bad one more recently, and it was kind of terrifying because I literally could not speak. I had been crying some beforehand, and I was really ridiculously nervous about something (it was finals week, and lemme tell you, a lot of stuff went down). My breathing was a little fast, and I was crying uncontrollably, and from there, it spiraled into an anxiety attack. My fingers and hands went numb, which freaked me out, and I started hyperventilating even worse. Then my face went numb. I was trying to tell my boyfriend what was happening (because I knew in this case), but I couldn’t communicate. After it did stop, everything was still numb for a good 10-20 minutes, and I don’t know how to describe how I felt other than “empty.” I felt really off for a good while afterwards.
As for comforting people while this is happening, some people really hate being touched. In my case, I preferred being held tight. Do not say anything like, “there’s nothing to worry about!” “Don’t be scared!”, etc because it’s kind of dismissive. What you should do is make sure they know what’s happening to them, try to help them get their breathing back to normal if you can, and be reassuring (bad example, but more of a “you’ll be okay” rather than saying not to worry).
Long post, but I hope it helps. I can try to answer additional questions if you have them.
@BacInMYday
That is totally helpful, and I do not mind the long post! This will really help me describe how it feels like and why. I hope you don't end up experiencing any more of those though!
Okay, great! Glad I could help!