I told my oldest (neurotypical) to breath thru the "butterflies". Deep breathes, sloww release, and a "i can do this" montra. It worked till he discovered yoga as a teen.

This sounds exactly like my 5 year old! He to gets extremely nervous/scared at certain cartoons etc when they hurt themselves! I’m not sure what to do about it either. Academically he is also ahead of his peers but not socially. Iv tried explaining to him that cartoons etc are not real they’re just pictures but he doesn’t seem to get it. Will be following to see if I can find some help and hope you can resolve it also.