Yahoo Movies Elizabeth Olsen Recalls Getting Panic Attacks Every Hour at Age 21: 'I Thought I Was Going to Drop Dead'
Rich Fury/Getty Elizabeth Olsen
Anxiety and panic attacks were never an issue for Elizabeth Olsen until she hit her 20s.
In a new interview with Variety, the WandaVision star, 33, opened up about her mental health struggles, which she only experienced when she was living in New York at age 21. The actress explains that prior to turning 21, she didn't even understand what anxiety or a panic attack was.
"I remember I would get [panic attacks] on the hour every hour," Olsen recalled to the outlet. "I used to live on 13th Street between 6th and 7th. I was crossing 6th Avenue at 14th Street, and I realized 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," she continued. "A ENT doctor said that it could be vertigo-related because it was all about truly spinning. So it was an interesting six months."
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The Marvel star said it wasn't until she turned to a friend and medical expert that she was able to find ways to cope with her anxiety and the constant "spinning" feeling.
"I had a friend who was seeing a neuropsychiatrist — or psychologist, I don't know if they medicated — because she had panic attacks before me. And learned a lot of brain games," Olsen explained. "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."
"That was a helpful tool. But it just became a practice that got me out of it," she added. "I didn't want to be on medication, but I had medication in case I felt like I was having an emergency and just having that in my bag felt good. It's very weird because I was not an anxious child. I was very loud and confident."
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Olsen previously discussed her mental health issues and how she rediscovered a love of exercise after struggling with panic attacks.
"I love training even when I'm not working on the Marvel movies. I grew up doing ballet and playing pretty competitive volleyball. In college, fitness is suddenly not part of your curriculum, so I stopped doing anything," she told the New York Times before noting the beginning of her panic attacks.
The actress said she getting through them included "taking the attention off yourself" and working out.
"It was then that I found yoga to be really helpful and when fitness became a big part of my life again," Olsen said. "I found that after a hard workout, I could sit by myself."
