As someone with an anxiety disorder that's been to lots of group therapy sessions with others with similar issues and listened to them described how they feel, I don't think many of them would say this gif accurately portrays the feeling. I definitely wouldn't.

I've never heard anyone in counciling describe it as running away from something inevitable or trying not to fall down a hole or any similar metaphors. To me those feel like other people trying to imagine what anxiety feels like. Family and friends who've tried to help me often try to equate it this way.

A more accurate description for me would be a sense of something sneaking up on you. If you ignore it it gets closer, if you pay too much attention it gets closer. It's a constant battle to stay calm, but it's more like trying to hold something back than trying to run away from it. It doesn't feel like scrambling to get away, it feels like tiptoeing around...trying to avoid setting it off.

There's always a difference between speaking to random people who claim to have anxiety and being at a meeting with people who have actually been diagnosed with it. I honestly sometimes suspect people claim to have it because they think it's sexy and interesting to have mental health problems. Of course I'm sure it's different for different people, but for me, this kind of thing (as in the gif) just doesn't seem accurate. I don't think it helps people to understand the illness in any meaningful or helpful way. I honestly think it's actually kinda harmful, because it leads people to think "Oh, an anxiety disorder, I know what that's like"...and then they are shocked and disbelieving when people with anxiety disorders don't act like Heath Ledger's Joker.