[ilyasviel]

I can relate a lot. I am too have a family history of anxiety.
my father's side of the family tend to have some mental health issue.

Well I don't know about if flashing/flickering/strobe lighting can cause panic attacks.
But I know anxiety can be quite confusing specially if you have GAD a lot of stuffs may trigger your panic attack or have you been diagnosed with social phobia like me. You may not know it but by the looks of it you may have social phobia which triggered your anxiety attacks. We both have a hard time talking to other people. I for one doesn't like talking too much. Well about watching movies at home and still having panic attacks I can't think much about anything that might trigger it perhaps you were tired or have you been sleeping right? I for myself experience panic attacks at home when I'm tired or when I have insufficient sleep or stuffs runnning in my head that causes me too think too much and stress. But its too early to assure anything. Just tell your GP about your experience the only certain is you are still having panic attacks.