World Mental Health Day 2018: anxiety disorder sufferer launches podcast to find cure
In his podcast Talking Mental, Hong Kong-raised New Zealander Aaron Stadlin-Robbie asks professionals for advice on how to manage his anxiety attacks
Aaron Stadlin-Robbie was walking through the streets of Hong Kong with his family when it happened.
He felt a pressure in his chest so intense he thought he was dying of a heart attack, and a sense of fear so real that the now 31-year-old describes it as “the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me”.
This was the first time Stadlin-Robbie experienced a panic attack. It came “out of the blue”, he says, and although the sensation and the terror faded after about 10 minutes, it was not long before it returned.
The second time, he went to a friend’s house and together they tried to calm him down. He knew something must be wrong with him. But unlike the physical injuries he was used to from playing rugby, he had no idea what had caused it – he did not consider his life to be particularly stressful – let alone how to stop it.
That first panic attack was six years ago. Today Stadlin-Robbie – a friendly, outgoing New Zealander who grew up in Hong Kong and trained as a TV and radio host – is able to talk about them with composure, having accepted that anxiety, of which panic attacks are a symptom, are a permanent part of his life.
At least for now.
