"Panic!" A Documentary Treatment

The documentary I'm making, Panic!, is about disorders that cause panic, fear, and even fainting that are passed genetically, and trying to bring awareness that these are actual conditions that have to be taken seriously. 

The beginning of the documentary starts off with interviews of people who do not experience genetic Panic disorders, asking them three questions: what is panic, how often, if ever, do you experience true panic, and what do you think it would feel like to experience panic very often or all the time. The people all had very different responses that gave very interesting viewpoints on how little people know, or how much people know, about the situation of panic disorders.

I interviewed my friend Lindsey Meyers for this video, because she experiences a disorder where every time she sees or thinks avidly about blood, she faints, and after she faints she feels panicky and fears fainting again. She inherited this from her mother, who experiences the same thing as she does. I forget the scientific name of it, but it is a real disorder that people do not take seriously. In the interview, Lindsey talks about how people laugh sometimes when she faints in public instead of giving her the help she needs and taking it seriously. 

I also had Lindsey ask me the same questions that I asked her in her interview, so I guess I kind of interviewed myself for this because I have inherited Panic Disorder from my mom, which means I get panic attacks for genetic reasons rather than situational reasons. Situations definitely can bring them up, but they are not necessarily the cause of it. Sometimes, for me at least, I get panic attacks because I'm scared of having a panic attack. It always starts off with a feeling in your stomach that is similar to when you really have to pee, so you don't know what's the difference until you pee. It's strange, I know, but that's how it is. If this feeling isn't caused by the need to pee, then I get scared even more panicky because I don't want to have a panic attack. Everything feels surreal. Everything feels fake. You become scared beyond all belief. And the worst part about all this? 

It happens two to three times a month. 

For the people I interviewed, they said they experienced panic about twice a year. Think of the difference between people who experience these disorders and people who don't, then question whether this is real or made up. There are still plenty of people who think this is just made by the person. Why on Earth would I bring this upon myself? I wish I could live a normal life.

The goal of this documentary is for me to bring awareness that Panic disorders are real problems for people who experience them, and not made up.