Elizabeth Olsen Had Panic Attacks Daily For Six Months

in a new interview with DiversityElizabeth has revealed her past struggles with panic attacks. And it sounds pretty serious.

When she was 21, Elizabeth said she had several panic attacks every day for six months, until that point “I didn’t understand what anxiety or panic attacks were.”

Elizabeth said she lived in New York City and experienced panic attacks “every hour, every hour.”

“I lived on 13th Street between 6th and 7th,” she said. “I was crossing 14th to 6th, and I realized I couldn’t cross the street. I was leaning against the wall, and I thought I was going to collapse at any moment.”

“When I went from cold to heat, from heat to cold, from full to hungry, from hungry to full, my whole body thought, ‘Oh, something’s wrong!’ And I’ve just started spiraling. It was so weird.”

Elizabeth said her otolaryngologist may have had vertigo, but her continued panic attacks brought about a period she described as “an interesting six months.”

Eventually Elizabeth was referred to another doctor her friend had met to treat her panic attacks. And she learned a few “brain games” to help her cope when seizures come.

“I started naming everything I saw to get rid of the thoughts swirling in my head as I walked down the street,” she said. “It was a helpful tool, but it just became a habit that got me out of it.”

Elizabeth says she doesn’t want to use drugs to treat panic attacks, but “I had them in case I felt like I was in an emergency, and just having them in my bag made me feel good.”

She also expressed surprise that she had a panic attack because she wasn’t an ‘anxious kid’. But anyone can have a panic attack, and that’s okay! Getting the support they need to deal with them is also important, and Elizabeth certainly seems to have done so.