#and near the end of e4 she did the 'i'm fine' thing to the other interns and oooh i know that feeling it hurts so much

[hylianengineer]

Dana is a really interesting character because she shows one very realistic version of what it's like to live with severe anxiety - a version that I have NEVER seen in a story before.

You can't tell by looking at her that she has an abnormal degree of anxiety. She'll tell you, but it's still hard to conceptualize, because she acts so confident. But I've had people say that about me - that I seem chill. And on the inside, I am nervous like 75% of the time. You get good at hiding it, but that doesn't mean it goes away.

We see her so freaked out in episode 4 that she's taking as-needed anxiety meds for it - and lemme tell you, if her 'it's bad enough to need more meds' point is anything like mine, that implies she might have been bordering on too anxious to function, which is a really high bar for those of us with chronic disordered anxiety. Mine tends to be along the lines of 'prolonged inability to breathe and/or move.' But you wouldn't think it was that bad, watching that scene, because she is a master of functioning through it. Just like me.