Panic attacks are cruel, cruel things. They can affect anyone, whether they have anxiety or not. But how do you write about one?
Here’s an extract from one of my works in progress:
The blood pounded in her ears. Her heart thudded in her chest. Her hands shook. Her feet tingled. Her vision disfigured, as if she were looking through a fish-eye lens. She had to get away. She couldn’t stay near that damned house any longer. She couldn’t look at it. There was too much of a risk of someone walking out of it and trying to talk her out of her decision. She was stranded. Drive, and she could cause an accident. Not drive, and she was still too close to what had happened.
She turned the key in the ignition, took a long, slow deep breath, then rounded the corner out of sight. There. They wouldn’t know she was there. They wouldn’t follow her. She was out of sight. That was all that mattered.
She clutched the steering wheel, her hands wrapped so tightly around it that her nails dug into her palms. Breathing was hard. Really hard. As if she’d just run the London Marathon.
She cried harder, her chest growing tight as bile rose in her throat.
How to write a panic attack
The most important thing you need to know is that not everyone knows what’s happening the first time they have a panic attack. Especially if they’ve never had one before.
The heart palpitations can often be confused with having a heart attack. In some cases, a panic attack can hurt more than a heart attack. Seriously.
The person may also dismiss it as just just ‘having a moment’ or a ‘crying fit’.
Key symptoms
- Overwhelming sense of dread
- Inability to breathe/hyperventilating
- Heart palpitations
- Dry mouth and/or throat
- Chest and wind pipe closing up
- Chest pain
- Crying
- Nausea
- Feeling like they’re being choked
- Sweating
- Hot flushes
- Chills
- Dizziness
- Pins and needles
- Need to go to the toilet (for either)
- Stomach churning
- Pins and needles
- Shaking
- Shivering
- Visions becomes like things are viewed through a fish-eyed lens
- Feelings detached from the situation (depersonalisation)
- Intense emotions
- Lashing out (e.g. throwing things)
After a panic attack
Panic attacks take a lot of energy and are very draining.
J.K.Rowling was on to something when she wrote about eating chocolate after facing dementors: getting food into the system of someone who’s just had a panic attack is a VERY good idea. It can help them to calm down by regulating their blood sugar. Naps also help.
The number one thing NOT to do—unless those around your character having a panic attack are unsympathetic—is to tell said person to ‘calm down’. This makes them worse. Every time.
If the character knows they’re being irrational, it infuriates them. If they don’t know, it could make them panic further.
Panic attack triggers
Anything can trigger a panic attack. It depends on your character.
Some people suffer from panic attacks more than others. It depends on a) what their trigger/s is/are, and b) how often they’re exposed to it/them.
If your character has anxiety, the tiniest thing could set them off. There isn’t always a definitive answer.
If they’re of a nervous disposition, it could be something as minuscule as the way another character says something.
It doesn’t matter how confident or happy your character is. Panic attacks can affect anyone. All it takes is the right trigger.
It doesn’t have to be something they fear, it could be something they hate, or even something they love. Love can very quickly turn to fear/anxiety/panic if the character is in an unknown situation.
You’d be surprised how many situations can trigger fight or flight.
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If you found this useful…
I’ve also written guides on:
- How to write anxiety
- How to write a sociopath
- How to write about grief
- How to write a psychopath
- How to write depression
- How to write ADHD
- How to write about stress
- How to write bipolar disorder, or manic depression
If there’s another mental health guide you’d like me to write about, get in touch!
Over to You
Have you ever written a panic attack before? How did you go about it? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below!
I feel like there’s one version of a panic attack you missed. The total shut-down. Your mind just stops working. You can’t think at all, about anything. The simplest tasks are beyond your mental ability. You can walk and all that, but actually doing anything is beyond you.
This is something I have and do experience, as a result of Dyscraphia (though I haven’t for some time). I get over-loaded easier than most, and what that happens, I just shut down. None of the other parts seems to happen, aside from slight dizziness, but that’s more the mind trying to run away and hide, leaving me unable to process things around me.
Otherwise though, it’s a great insight into it, and very helpful to those who have never felt it.
Well, here’s also a thing! I remember when I have panic attacks, I get up on instinct and try to leave the place I’m in, no matter the trigger. I don’t even think about it, I just shut down and flee. I hope that might add to anybody who’s writing panic attacks! (~.~)
From experience, when I’m having a panic attack, I can’t move and I literally feel like I’m choking. My entire body seizes up and I end up staring at one direct spot until someone helps or distracts me from it.
Hello! You wrote this comment 4 years ago but I wanted to tell you that this comment truly helped me out! Thank you for providing this information! Have a wonderful day and please stay safe
I thought the over-use of pronouns and definite determiners fogged the overall effect or feeling of the narration. One symptom described to me was a feeling of being underwater, just below the surface with nothing under you and no way to get up for air.
I suffer from panic attacks. It started about a year ago after i turned 13, and have slowy been getting worse. I dont get them often, but each time i have one they are pretty strong. The latest one that happened to me was when i was on vacation in the mountains. I find it hard to describe it to people, but i will do my best.
It was the middle of the night and i woke up from a nightmare. I never had had a nightmare like that before. It felt so REAL. My chest hurt, it almost felt like when you get a stich in your side after you run for a while.
I was shaking but i forced myself out of bed. My stomach was churning. I remember crying as i walked down the long hallway to the restroom. I didnt even know why i was so worked up about it. It was just a dream.
I got to the bathroom and started throwing up. I dont care to go in detail with that.
I was shaking and i was crying. Everything felt weird. It was so dark, i could not really see. I tripped on my way up the stares but eventually got to my mom. She started yelling at me for waking her up but then realized what happened. It was about 1 – 2 in the morning by now.
I never went back to sleep. I stayed up all night staring at the wall in the den. My mom told me the next day about how she tried to get me to go back to bed but i started hysterically crying.
Thanks for listening. I hope i didnt waste your time :’)
I’m sixteen now, I’ve been experiencing panic attacks since i was fourteen, at first i thought being a teenager my hormones were troubling me but later i realized that it was panic attacks.i feel as though I’m trapped in my body like being underwater in the ocean unable to breathe and no place to escape ,i get restless and my heart beat becomes abnormal, i start shivering, i get irritated for even the softest of sounds, it felt like the world is going to collapse on me, i feel like ripping myself apart, pulling my hair, hurting myself in any possible way to get rid of the feeling of insecurity. Sometimes i feel as though there is a lot of unwanted energy in my body,even if every part in my body hurts, i would want to work out and release my energy .But the worst part of this whole experience is not the panic attacks itself but how people perceive it, they think that we are trying to draw attention by faking everything, there are very few people who actually understand what we are going through and helps us out
She couldn’t answer. The boys continued to laugh. Her hands became clammy and her eyes teared up. Her heartbeat sped up, taking flight, only for her chest to weigh her down and fall, into the ocean of despair. She couldn’t breathe, couldnt move, couldnt pull herself to get oxygen her brain and lungs needed. The look on the boys laughing faces slowly faded to one of worry. They could tell they did damage. They could see the distant look in her tired eyes from long nights of the memories that kept her awake. They were joking when they told her they knew about the man. The drunk bastard she called a father. The one who…. No. No air. No help. Her lungs cried and her body shook as she pulled at her silk like hair with nimble fingers. “I’m sorry… Are you okay?” The taller boy asked, pulling his sleeve down to cover a purple-ish bruise. “I didnt mean to hurt you. Michael,” he said, turning to the other boy, who also looked worried,” go get a teacher. She’s having a panic attack.” Michael ran off as the other hugged the girl slowly, as not to scare her, telling her to breathe and everything would be ok. She knew it would not be, however.
This was a big help! I’ve only had the unpleasant experience once myself and I don’t remember much, just the pure panic and disorientation of the moment. So this helped me a lot in my story currently for a scene I need to write. In my fantasy story, the protagonist is a warrior, and has gone threw many different things and experiences, some of witch had been traumatic to her. Now, after things have calmed down she has ptsd, I’ve had to read up a lot on how to write that into my story. But she finds herself having to go back to a place from her journeys, a place that has ended up giving her a lot of trouble on the way of night terrors, but I didn’t have to much knowledge on how to write it very well, this helped a lot. Thanks!, only thing now is I’m not sure how to have the characters around react, Because there’s a character who wasn’t there, when the original group was in the place, he came in later on there journey. So I’m not sure how to have him react.
I’ve never myself experienced a full-blown panic attack (only a couple baby ones) so I don’t know what it feels like and before this post I had never read about one either. But, looking back at something I wrote a while back, I’m surprised at how I kinda actually wrote it somewhat accurately. Here’s the panic attack scene from my story:
“Stop.”
Garrett stopped abruptly in the middle of what he was saying. “What? Did I hit something?” he said, casting a glance in the rear view mirror.
“Pull over.”
“What–”
“Just pull over.”
“Okay. . . .”
We were still in the neighborhoods. Garrett parked in front of an older house that had a fairly large front yard with a picturesque white-picket fence enclosing a little girl and two chihuahuas. I got out of the car and walked down the street to the corner, standing there in silence.
I needed to get it together. This was the littlest thing to make a big deal of. He was just being that boy that had always had a crush on me. But that was it. Why? Why had he always had a crush on me? Why had he called me beautiful? Why were we even here together? Why?
I heard him walk up behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want him to see how much my hands were shaking or how pale my face undoubtedly was or the tears that were filling my eyes because that was what happened when I was having a stupid, unexplainable panic attack. I cried. Every freaking time.
“Are you okay? Did I say something?”
I didn’t say anything. Didn’t move. I just swallowed over and over again because I felt like I had a stone in my throat, making it difficult for me breathe.
“Mayla.”
“I’m fine,” I gurgled out. I wanted to try again, try to say that one more time, this time more convincing. But I knew I couldn’t. Because now that I had spoken those two words, the two words that I almost never actually meant, my breathing became ragged, an odd sob slash gasp sound erupting from my mouth, and my body started to shake. If I didn’t calm down soon, I’d eventually pass out. I had done it before. I couldn’t count how many times I had worked myself up so much that I passed out.
“Mayla,” Garrett said, coming over and grabbing me. He turned me around toward him and took my head in his hands, forcing my eyes to meet his. He looked me up and down, coming up with a diagnosis for what was happening to me, and then he said, “You’re having a panic attack.”
I wanted to laugh, to breathe out a little “No kidding.” or “Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.” But all I could do was nod, shutting my eyes tight and clinging to Garrett, my fingers bunching up the fabric of his jacket. I willed my lungs to stop closing in on themselves, to just stop and open up so I could breathe.
“Mayla, look at me.”
I opened my eyes and saw his blue ones trying to conceal the concern that still showed. He took a slow, deep breath and released it, nodding.
“Breathe.”
I did as I was told, breathing with him. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. We just stood there, breathing, for several minutes
It helped. So much.
I’m currently writing a scene right now for a short story. I wanted to make sure I wrote it as realistically as possible, and was glad I came across this! Thanks Kristina!
Same, this was really helpful!
I’m writing a horror fanfiction for one of my favorite animes, and this helped a lot to convey the main character’s panic attack. This is super helpful, thank you!
Something that happens to me is a shut down of the senses. It’s like going into paralysis while fully conscious, but not in the sense of being unable to process things. I’m still conscious of myself, but when I have a severe attack I lose the ability to see or hear. Everything goes black and I have trouble hearing anyone speaking to me, and all I can focus on is not fainting. Luckily, I don’t have panic attacks nearly as often as I used to, but just another take if anyone was curious.
Can you give me some tips on how to write a rape scene? I don’t want to glorify it or anything. But my main character’s trauma is meant to be a turning point for her.
I’m writing a poem for school, for you see we have a slam poetry thing going on, which everyone has to enter
And I thought I should write about my first panic attack.
And it’s something like this:
I refused to look at it
I’d always been like that
For example, I used to never go down the meat isle
I always waited at the next one
Looking down at my feet
Just in case.
It was in Science.
Biology.
I remember avoiding looking at the lump
The featherless, pink lump
The lump that once was alive
A perhaps loved lump
People stared and laughed
I tried to ignore them
I looked at my friends
They purposely had their backs to me
Preventing my eyes to see It.
Blocking out my anxious stares
I didn’t want to see it
But at the same time, I did
I was eventually convinced just to look at it
To poke it with the metal stick
And open it up slightly
I did.
That’s when the room tilted
Blood pounded in my ears
Heart pounding in my chest
Breathing was hard
Really hard
Too hard
I felt cold
And then hot
My hands felt numb, almost
My feet tingling
My vision disfigured
The room becoming dark
As if I was looking through a tinted fish eye lens
Everyone’s shouts of disgust
Sounded distant and far off
As if they were in the room beside the class
I sat down, leaning against the side
Tears now rolling down my cheeks
My mind spinning
I stayed curled up for a few minutes
Waiting for this nausea to pass
When it did, everyone was staring
I got up
And looked out of the window
Staring at the languages block
The window was already open
A soft breeze blowing into the room
That was my first panic attack
If you read this, please tell me what your thoughts are on this. It’d be good to hear someone else’s views before I decide to go through with it.
Thank you
Okay, it’s probably too late for anything I say to help since your comment was 3 years ago, but I absolutely love your slam poetry. (If you have tips, I’d be grateful! I want to write some of my own, but I have no idea how to start)
This helps a lot, thank you! I write a lot of fanfiction, with characters who are very overwrought and stressed out, so this is a big help. These tips will definitely come in handy!
glad i came across this! never had a panic attack before but my character has one. he’s just broken his arm too and the smell of bleach in the doc’s room (as well as a terrifying situation we won’t go into) caused his panic to rise past the breaking point. never written an attack scene before so i wanted to do it right. kinda proud how it turned out XD
Here’s the scene from the story I’m writing:
Everything felt like it was in slow motion as I walked into the mansion and up the stairs to my dorm. My hands were shaking and I was sweating. My heart was beating so violently, I could hear it in my ears. I tried to calm down, I had to; I couldn’t be weak. If I was weak, I would die.
I took a long, deep breath to try to calm myself down again, but it didn’t work. I barged into my dorm as I started hyperventilating; I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was being choked. “Rose? Rose, what’s wrong?” Alix asked me, but I couldn’t answer. “Rose–”
“She’s having a panic attack,” Nathen said, jumping down from his bunk. “Lemme handle this.” Alix backed away as Nathen walked up to me. “Hey–”
“No… No,” I whispered, looking around as if I was looking for someone to help me. “No, no, no!” I started crying harder, which made me not be able to breathe even worse. “God, I can’t– I can’t brea… I can’t breathe. It’s so– so hot. Why is… it so hot?!”
“Rose, look it me,” he ordered, so I did. Even though I could barely see him through my blurry eyes, but I still looked at him. “Breathe. In and out, Rose. After me.” He breathed in for a couple seconds and held it in, before slowly letting it out. “Now you.” I nodded and slowly breathed in and out like he did. “Good. Again. It’s gonna be okay.”
I did the same thing over and over until I, slowly but surely, calmed down. I wiped away the tears and smiled at him. He seemed shocked, since I barely ever smiled. “Thanks, Nathen,” I finally whispered.
Hi! So, I was checking out how to write a panic attack and reading how others had written it and then I came across your excerpt. I really liked it. I know it’s a long shot that you will answer me and even do what I’m about to ask, but I’d love to read the whole storyor book or whatever. If this bothers you, please feel free ignore it, but you’ve got a really good hand. Thanks!
Is this story public? it sounds incredible, would love to read it if it is.
“My heartbeat in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. The room swayed. I sat down and put my head between my knees. I took deep breaths. Anxiety. I knew it well. Not first hand, of course. My uncle used to have anxiety attacks. He lived with us before he passed. Just breath. That’s what my mother always told him. Just breath. The walls were closing in. I was suffocating. I felt sick and my body was weirdly tingling. My vision tunneled. How was I supposed to breathe? My mother didn’t know what she was talking about. I tried to stand up but when I did I felt sharp pains in my chest. I started sobbing. My vision tunneled and I collapsed. I tried to tell myself it was just a dream. That I was being stupid. That only made it worse. I felt like I was going to die.”
This was SUPER DOOPER HELPFUL THANK YOU!!!! Also, good to know if my friends, or me for that matter, ever experience a panic attack.
I’m writing an angst fanfiction of a webshow I like, and there’s a part where a character has a panic attack after she has some intrusive thoughts and becomes stressed out from it. Thanks for showing me how I could write it accurately!
Thought I’d add another element for anyone who needs some more description on this. Whenever I had panic attacks my joints would lock up. My hands, fingers, and feet would contort into a horrible crooked shape that can only bring to mind what happens to a body during rigor mortis. Sometimes my jaw would lock up too. It was absolutely terrifying. I couldn’t move them at all once they were locked in place. It took at least an hour until I was able to move them again and when I could it was incredibly painful for a long time after. The first time it happened I thought I was having a heart attack and the person I was with called paramedics. They sat with me, gently massaged my hands and told me the stress in my body had released acids in-between my joints and that was causing my paralysis. Hope that helps someone else. Panic attacks can be truly debilitating.
This is an excerpt from a story I’m writing. In the excerpt, the main character, Jack, has a panic attack after seeing two dead bodies. Jack is a cat with ice powers and Wes is a wolf with fire powers.
“The world around me started to blur as I stared at the scene in front of me. I could hear the blood roaring in my ears, my breathing became fast and short, my head spinning. I closed my eyes, trying to shake the feeling, but that only made it worse.
My entire body started to shake uncontrollably and my legs buckled and finally gave out as I sank to the ground, the world spinning and roaring in my ears making everything seem like a horrible nightmare. I tried to slow my breathing and calm my heart but my mind and heart were racing each other, my mind winning, and I couldn’t focus on anything. Time felt like it was stopped and going way too fast at the same time.
I vaguely heard a voice coming from somewhere behind me but then it was gone, the roaring in my ears now overwhelmingly loud. Every sound echoed loudly, my head hurt worse than a migraine, the air was dense around me but it felt like I was flying, not touching anything but myself. I saw colors I’d never seen before flash around my closed eyes and I felt like I was about to die. My heart pounded loudly in my chest-
Something touched my shoulder and I felt my body being pulled into a gentle yet firm embrace. Time slowed as I heard the heartbeat of the one who was holding me. My body still shaking violently as I pressing my pounding head against their chest, letting their warmth seep into my frost-covered form. Slowly but surely, the world stopped spinning and I began to hear their voice, young and gentle, calming and reassuring.
“Shh, you’re alright, Jack,” Wes woofed soothingly, trying to pull me out of my head and back into the here and now. “I’m here now. Nothing is going to hurt you, I promise. I’ll protect you from whatever happens, okay? Just focus on my voice, Jack. Try focusing on my heartbeat.”
I did as told, to the best of my ability, focusing on the steady sound of his heart, my face pressed against his chest. My heart slowly calmed, the blood in my ears quieting, my body stilling, my claws retracting from his soft belly, my breathing slowing and deepening, the sounds of the forest starting to tickle my ears once more. I let out a sigh of relief, letting the panic leave finally me. I stayed in Wes’ embrace for a long moment, trying to figure out what just happened. He seemed to sense this.
“You had a panic attack. You’re alright now,” he told me. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay as long as you need, so don’t rush yourself. Take your time, okay?” I nodded in reply, letting my body relax.” – Pages 49-50
I hope you enjoyed the excerpt! Leave feedback if you’d like.
How do you write how people feel after a panic attack? This was super helpful but now I don’t know how to write how he feels. He went through the panic attack alone and I don’t know if that would make him feel lonely or what. Please help.
Great question, Emma! It’s different for everyone, but it generally takes while for someone to fully come down from a panic attack. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes even days. It depends what triggered it and the severity of the attack. So your character’s heart would likely still be racing, they might be hungry as all that anxiety has burnt off a lot of energy, and they may want to sleep to restore their energy. Hope that helps!
I’m curious about how to write a panic attack from an outside perspective, I want to write someone’s point of view while watching another character have one but it’s proving very difficult, I would be grateful for recommendations.
This is the first time I’ve written a panic attack from third person, or any panic attack at all. Hope it helps.
“Father is going to be furious if I come second to Hermione again!” he moaned.
Draco’s breathing sped up and his shoulders started to shake. Harry tentatively wrapped his arms around Draco, expecting the blond to push him away, but to his surprise Draco melted into him.
Harry slowly shifted them so they were lying down on the couch.
He was surprised when Draco buried his face in his neck and wrapped his arms around his waist, and a shiver went down his spine. He tried to ignore it, now wasn’t the time. Draco was hurting and Harry hated to see him like that.
He gently rubbed the other boy’s back, and he could feel his breathing slow. He moved his hand up to his hair, running his fingers through it. It was so soft.
Also, it was a very mild panic attack.
Hey Lily,
This excerpt intrigued me. If you don’t mind, I would like to read the whole story. Thanks.
Everything you mentioned hits spot on for me. I have a recurring escape tendency, where whenever I start to feel panicky, I must leave wherever I am. I normally don’t have extreme panic attacks at home, so I haven’t had the issue there, but in grocery stores, even just in the parking lot sometimes, I have to hurry to get out, and if I can’t, the panic accelerates. Also, just to share something, despite how personal it is, maybe it could inform or even help someone else, the other day after having a tiny panic attack in the car, I felt so embarrassed when I got home. Even having I was alone, and no one saw my meltdown, I felt pathetic, and in my in my own eyes, I was embarrassed. I cried a lot that afternoon, but regardless, I try not to be too hard on myself. Good luck to anyone else reading this, if you also suffer from panic attacks, I hope you will always remember you’re not alone.
Great tips. It’s almost 2am and I’m writing MCU fanfiction where a character has a panic attack. Somehow I’m not falling asleep either.
I just skimmed the initial example. Far too flowery and composed. Too much fucking control.
Looking at the 3 replies following the fictional account, the reality of a panic attack becomes more clear: You are dying. You don’t feel like you’re dying you don’t think that you’re dying You are dying !
The fact that one may somehow find oneself, in another time of alternate space, back in the familiar world of flesh and granite is entirely irrelevant. Irreparably damaged, the self of sunken eyes tries to scream but retreats, having made no sound.
Falling to earth in an elevator gut sac, quivering; trembling; status denatured; a sharper nausea than i birthed of my own child. I fear what has to be vomit. Reduced to arrhythmic contraction the horrors are gut-piped back up. splintered undreamed – this uncured hambody bellies soft muscle retching – circular and serpentine gashed Death Stars too massive to hold inside rip outward. When the black hole pulled you apart, and turned your outsides in- spectral imposters hollow and dead. The race of shadow manikins radiates naught, pulls frayed rope despair to fix upon only, the absence of where life had been. Reverently alone like the seven year old church child, supine, clawing and gasping at stale air with a hangman’s noose dropped through one troup rouge like some zombie undead fetus unborn of the dormeur du val.
Perhaps a mere taste….
A scene where the MC has a panic attack. Not sure if this is a hundred percent correct though.
His words sunk deep into my mind and I felt terror creeping it’s way up from the pit of my stomach.
I couldn’t breathe.
The man was still talking but he sounded a million miles away. I clasped at the table as the world started spinning.
Why couldn’t I breathe?
I could hear my breath coming in short frantic gasps.
What was happening?
A grey haze crept across my vision and I frantically looked around, trying to find something, anything, to pull me back to reality.
Someone else was talking. My mind registered the voice but not the words.
“Saber.”
My name. It was the female detective. She had risen from her seat and walked to stand where the man had been before. She was clasping my shoulders, shaking me.
“Saber.”
I took a deep shuddering breath and focused on her face.
“What…what happened?” I asked, my voice rough and quiet.