Man records his panic attack to raise mental health awareness

WATCH: Casey Throwaway records a part of his panic attack.

Casey Throwaway has anxiety.

It’s a real mental illness with a name that is used to describe a wide range of human emotions, but anxiety can be crippling to those who suffer persistent and severe symptoms.

The 27-year-old recorded himself at the tail end of a panic attack, which can manifest itself in physical reactions such as trembling and heart palpitations.

As tears stream down his face, he says to the camera, “I just wanted to make this video to show that it’s real.”

He admits his own attitude towards his anxiety disorder contributed to the stigma surrounding mental illness.

“I’ve always been the type of person who just says, ‘You gotta man up. You gotta force your way through it.’ But that’d be like telling a blind person to see,” he said in the video.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I've always been the type of person who just says, 'You gotta man up. You gotta force your way through it.' But that'd be like telling a blind person to see," he said in the video.

Throwaway said in the emotional video he stopped taking his medication although he knew he shouldn’t, and found out the hard way that sheer willpower was not enough to overcome the symptoms of his disorder.

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According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses. One in four adults experience an anxiety disorder sometime in their life.

There are various types of anxiety disorders which manifest themselves in different ways, but the suffering caused by the illness can be challenging to empathize with because the symptoms may be invisible.

In the video, Throwaway said he felt like his brain was on fire and that he was experiencing extreme emotions.

Since uploading the video two weeks ago, Throwaway has received praise for his courage in sharing footage of him at one of his lowest points.

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He has initiated a Kickstarter campaign to help fund his goal of creating a YouTube channel dedicated to being a resource for those with mental illness and to help break the stigma.

He has raised nearly double the amount of his original goal of $500.

“I posted the video in hopes of connecting with people who suffer with the stigmas of mental illness,” he wrote on his Kickstarter page. “This is something that I will pour my heart and soul into…I will dedicate myself to this.”