Research: Panic Attacks in Animation

Content warning: the media below includes themes of mental illness, panic attacks and self harm.

My film features a panic attack experienced by the protagonist Sunny. They are overwhelmed by being misgendered at home and school and their difficulty with their school work. In my animatic I have depicted the animatic with an experimental animation style, using messy lines and odd shapes to represent the loss of control and normality in that state. I've had a look at how panic attacks have been represented in other animated media to get some ideas about how to best represent it in my film. 

Cindy J. Aaronson, What causes panic attacks, and how can you prevent them?, 2020

The video above uses inverted colours to visualise the feelings of confusion or unreality during the moment of a panic attack.

illymation, Panic Attacks, 2019

This video uses swirling colours to represent the confusion and cyclical thoughts during a panic attack. 

Karla Monterrosa, 18 years old and I think I'm having a heart attack, 2018

This video uses a flashing array of objects, shapes and colours to represent the racing thoughts of a panic attack. 

All of these animated videos use the medium of animation to represent feelings that are difficult to otherwise represent visually. The each use different techniques to capture the feelings of confusion and uncertainty that accompany anxiety and panic attacks, such as inverted colours, swirling colours and shifting shapes. 
In my own work, I am experimenting with how I can represent these feelings in my character to represent what they are feeling.