a judgement call on the part of the crew. Floridly psychotic person on the plane, no way. And I say that as a person who works daily with psychotic people.

Panic attack lady may be different. As a person who is afraid to fly and flies medicated, I've noticed in me and by the comments here that pushback can be the worst time for some people. Teaching the crew how to deal with panic attacks and talking to the person to see if they know how they experience a panic attack could guide the crew into making a decision and maybe avoiding having to return to the gate in the case of anxiety. At least some of the time. Ideally, the FAs would have a drawer full of Klonopin, but that ain't gonna happen.

And yes, if people know that they get anxious when they fly, or might, they do have some responsibility in making sure they do what they can to avoid having the aircraft have to return to the gate.