'Arrow's Stephen Amell Shares Story About Having Panic Attack in a Public Place

Arrow star Stephen Amell recently took to social media to inform his fans that he recently had a [...]

Arrow star Stephen Amell recently took to social media to inform his fans that he recently had a panic attack, a first for the actor who said he has never suffered from social anxiety until then.

Amell told the story, revealing that he enjoys certain high-stakes situations, but ever since the birth of his daughter he's found himself averse to heights.

Check out Amell's story below, as told on his Facebook page:

A little background, over the past few years, since I've become a parent really, I've become risk averse in really particular ways. Ninja Warrior? No problem. Professional wrestling? Can't wait for my next match. But for some reason heights have started to destroy me because when I'm up really high I start asking myself a simple question: What the fuck am I doing up here?!

This morning I got left behind on a ropes / zip line course in the middle of the forest on a small island in French Polynesia 45 feet off the ground and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My fingers went numb, but also started to shake. My knees began wobbling but I was having trouble feeling my toes. And I went from mild sweating to full hot yoga sweat at a faster acceleration rate than the new Tesla. But I also had to keep going. I had to shimmy my safety clip along, detach and reattach the main clip and fasten the third clip... but not before walking across a full on Temple of Doom style ropes section with one broken rope just dangling there. I swear to God this is true.

So I made it across the next two zip lines, back towards the start of the course and then got off even though it was the halfway point. All I wanted was water and oxygen. Not in that order... but a funny thing happened: Arrow is incredibly popular here and there were 40-50 school age kids waiting with their parents to take photos.

I don't understand the depths of social anxiety because it's never something that I've dealt with before today... but I'm pretty sure that if you search my name on Instagram over the next few days you'll see me with a backwards cap on, standing with excited teenagers looking like I'm desperately trying to avoid sobbing. So ya... it's a real thing.

I'm going to try and be more responsible, or, at the very least, try to learn from what I already know: My daughter made me allergic to heights. More importantly, I'd like to take the opportunity over the next few months to learn more about social anxiety. How it affects different people and how they attempt to deal with it. If you'd like to share your story with me, either in this forum or in person sometime in the future, I'd really appreciate hearing it. I'm the interim, I'll try to be more empathetic and educated.

It's good to see Amell recognizing the situations that can set off his social anxiety. These situations are very harmful to a person's help and unless one takes the steps to understand what causes them, it could be damaging.

Amell is the anchor of The CW's DC Comics-based universe, but more importantly than that he is a father and a husband. We're glad he's recognizing what triggers his attacks and taking steps to understand the issue, hopefully protecting himself from similar situations in the future.

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