The Power of a Panic Attack Selfie

Those suffering with panic attacks can feel like they are completely out of control. Happening suddenly and often with no clear reason, panic attacks usually elicit a racing heartbeat, a shortness of breath and choking sensation, and dizziness or nausea. Sometimes, panic attacks make people feel as if they are about to die, and can be a terrifying experience.

Panic attacks are physically harmless (even though they don’t feel this way) but emotionally they take a huge toll. At times they are even debilitating, with people having real trouble going about a normal life. Yet, as an “invisible illness”, anxiety and panic attacks can be misunderstood and wildly underestimated. Despite feeling terrible, people don’t always exhibit many obvious outward signs of their internal panic, especially in scenarios where they feel the pressure to keep their feelings bottled up. Instead, they will excuse themselves, or simply stay quiet until the panic has passed.

This means that those who have never experienced a panic attack or anxiety can at times trivialise the condition and the effect it has on people’s lives. Tired of this trivialisation and stigma, twenty-two year old Amber Smith took a photo of herself before and after experiencing one of her habitual panic attacks, accompanied by a long message which included the following excerpt:

“I’m so sick of the fact that it’s 2016 and there is still so much stigma around mental health. It disgusts me that so many people are so uneducated and judgemental over the topic. They say that 1 in 3 people will suffer with a mental illness at some point in their life. 1 in 3! Do you know how many people that equates to worldwide?! And yet I’ve been battling with anxiety and depression for years and years and there’s still people that make comments like ‘you’ll get over it’, ‘you don’t need tablets, just be happier’, ‘you’re too young to suffer with that’.”

The first photograph is a typical selfie, where Amber is posing and self-possessed, while the second shows Amber close to tears and clearly distressed. The discordance between the two images is striking, powerfully depicting the impact that anxiety and panic attacks has on sufferers, even those who outwardly seem fine.

The photographs went viral and encouraged other sufferers to post their own photos and messages of their stories and support. On social media, people usually only share what they’ve carefully picked and reflects their lives at their best, so in showing a small glimpse of a hidden and difficult reality Amber and others like her have bravely shone light on a problem that people struggle with every day.

Issues like these need more discussion and visibility in the mainstream, especially when these problems appear to be worsening across society and it’s easy to go undiagnosed, having to cope with bouts of intense anxiety alone. By sharing her personal experience Amber Smith has helped raise awareness and remove some of the stigma associated with mental illness, stigma which can lead to sufferers feeling dismissed, being discriminated against, and finding it difficult to find support.
Here at Will Williams Meditation we often work with people who are dealing with panic attacks. If this is something that affects you, you can talk to a member of our team through our contact page.