I understand that there are a lot of issues in film and television nowadays. There is a lack of representation in a lot of areas, and in future articles I would like to talk about those. But for this article, something that I really wanted to focus on was an issue that is very personal to me, which is why I thought it would be appropriate to be the first issue I talk about when talking about representation in film and TV.

It's the representation of anxiety in film and TV. I understand also that other mental illnesses are related heavily to some of the issues with anxiety in the media, I just didn't want to focus on those because they're not something I feel like I can personally talk about, though I'm sure people with other mental illnesses can relate to what I'm saying about anxiety in the media.

I started thinking about talking about this while watching MTV's Teen Wolf. It's a surprise that a show about teenage werewolves would be my inspiration for this article, but let me explain. In the third season, there's a moment where one of the main characters, Stiles(Dylan O'Brien), has a panic attack.

Though most people have had a panic attack at some point in their lives(and Stiles' panic attack was definitley triggered by something), the visual representation of the panic attack was very accurate. As a film buff myself, I greatly appreciate the technqiues used to help show what a person having a panic attack experiences.

To a lot of people this might feel like a throwaway moment, just something to intensify the situation. But to me it meant a lot more. Not only did it justify that having panic attacks is okay, but it also helped to show people who don't experience severe panic attacks a little bit of what those of us who do experience it go through.

I find one of the most difficult things about explaining my anxiety to someone is trying to get them to understand how I feel, but when TV and film try to show that(espically in popular shows on channels like MTV), it can help give people a little bit of insight and appreciation for how strong people have to be to get through panic attacks.

However, it didn't really strike me how important anxiety representation was until I was watching the show last night. In a moment in season four, Stiles, once again, casually mentions how he has social anxiety so he doesn't want to go up to be with the party. With Stiles's sarcastic nature this could just be considered a throwaway line, but Dylan O'Brien's delivery made it feel much more than that. It felt geniune.

This is someone who experiences heavy social anxiety, espically in an environment like a high school party. But the fact that they didn't linger on this, but rather just let it be something that existed as a part of the character, felt really important to me. They didn't overreact or focus solely on this mental illness the character had, it was just a part of who he was.

And on a show about teenage werewolves, they can't focus too much on mental illness. Regardless, hearing such a "throwaway" line, made me personally feel closer to this character and think, "Hey, if this character who has social anxiety and panic attacks can have a group of friends and help defeat supernatural creatures, maybe I can make it through this week."

Some people question why it would matter to see someone in a movie or TV show that has a problem you have. To some people, it doesn't matter. But to me, at least, and I know to a lot of other people, it's a form of acceptance. To see a quality you have--espically one that's "negative" such as mental illness--be purposefully put into a character is a way of the writer saying, "Hey, you exist, and you matter." And also, to see characters experience things that you go through, and still survive, makes you feel more confident, like hey, maybe I can survive this too.

So if somebody asks me why it's a big deal that there are slowly more and more characters in TV and film with mental illness, this would be my answer.