Writing a Character with Panic Attacks

So one of my characters occsionally has panic attacks. They're nearly always triggered by situations that affect his hemophobia (which originated from a gruesome scene he observed when he was a young child) I've been doing some research about the topic, but still have some questions

• Is it usual for one who is sometimes prone to panic attacks to have anxiety outside of particular situations that could trigger them? Or can someone be completely fine outside of it?
• Are people affected by hemophobia usually able to tolerate small amouts of blood? Such as seeing a cracked lip or a small cut would leave them with little discomfort, but a sudden bloody nose or such could cause a more violent reaction.

Any advice would be appreciated :)

Here are some pages to help!

What is the context of the gruesome scene?

^^But would it be plausible for a person who can have severe panic attacks when encountering gruesome injuries be only relatively uncomfortable when get a minor injury like a papercut or such. Thanks for the links by the way

edited 12th Jul '13 5:49:12 PM by TheMuse

^^And the gruesome scene was when he was a young child (7 or 8) and was fooling around and walking around his village and managed to see a farmer slaughtering a goat (or any other livestock it doesn't matter) and it bleeding profusely. This was his first non-abstract exposure to death and the first time he saw anything die. It affected him greatly.

For the record, I'm not a psychologist, so I could be completely wrong about this.

Because of how specific the situation was (it was not a person and he [I'm presuming] didn't know the animal well), he would probably be able to tolerate small amounts of blood, but something like a bloody nose or even a rare steak would be enough to trigger him. Also, it is not unheard of for someone to worry so hard about having a panic attack that they actually have a panic attack. It would probably crop up whenever there is a very good chance of someone accidentally getting hurt, i.e. worrying about playing soccer because someone might get nailed in the face.

Yeah, it would be more context driven, right? Like biting the inside of his mouth by accident might not be too bad, but if it happened while he was anxious or running from the enemy might set him off.

All I can say is Show, Don't Tell. Show that your character is having a panic attack, by writing something like "[X] could feel their throat tighten up, their breathing becoming more rapid and shallow. Their vision blurred, tears forming in their eyes. They clung onto something, trying, and failing, to remain calm".

If your character says that they are having a panic attack, but shows no signs, no one will believe it.

Unless that's how they panic. I knew a dude who did exactly that. "Guys. I'm having a panic attack." in a completely calm and mellow matter. You could only tell he was cause his hands were shaking slightly. People are weird, yo.

This. I'm exactly like this.

It depends on what kind of character you're going. Show Don't Tell is nice, but it's also cool if you get it over with and focus on the plot unfolding.

edited 18th Jul '13 4:38:31 AM by IanWilliam

Well his panic attacks would only be a few instances and wouldn't take up so much time. One purpose rhey serve is to show a contrast to his usually calm and cheery demeanor.