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Thursday March 28, 2024

Elizabeth Olsen opens up about suffering panic attack in her 20’s

The 'WandaVision' star revealed she was put in touch with a professional who taught her some 'brain games' to help her focus

By Web Desk
October 04, 2022

Marvel famed Elizabeth Olsen recounted the time when she had the first panic attack she had in her 20’s, adding she was going to 'drop dead.

The 33-year-old actress detailed her experience of the panic attack when she was 21 and living in New York City and started experiencing the attacks 'on the hour every hour' for a six month spell.

She told Variety: 'I didn't understand what anxiety or a panic attack was until I was 21. I remember I would get them on the hour every hour.

'I used to live on 13th Street between 6th and 7th. I was crossing 6th Avenue at 14th Street, and I realised I couldn't cross the street — I stood up against the wall, and I just thought I was going to drop dead at any moment.

'If I went from cold to hot, hot to cold, full to hungry, hungry to full — any kind of shift in my body, my whole body thought, 'Uh oh, something's wrong!'

'And I just started spiraling. It was so weird. A ENT doctor said that it could be vertigo related because it was all about truly spinning. So it was an interesting six months.'

The WandaVision star revealed she was put in touch with a professional who taught her some 'brain games' to help her focus.

She added:’ And learned a lot of brain games. It actually was very similar to an acting exercise that we did at Atlantic, which is called repetition, where you just are constantly making observations about the person in front of you and you're just trying to connect.

'When I would walk down the street, I would just start naming everything I saw out loud to get myself out of the spiraling thoughts in my brain.'