Anxiety is the new hysteria

To the person who said that (paraphrasing) the only way to deal with anxiety is to do the scary thing

What if you do the scary thing and although you don't wind up dead you do wind up seriously injured? Should you go and do it again?

Asking for myself.

Not sure I'd survive those injuries again.

There is a serious discussion to be had here, as @LunaNorth and others say, but the title and silly OP probably make it unlikely to occur on this thread.

Maybe try again with a better thought out opening post, OP?

But it’s had dozens if not hundreds of different social meanings. The ancient Greeks thought it involved a wandering womb, Augustine that it was a matter of demonic possession and ‘sin’, Charcot viewed it as neurological, Freud thought that it stemmed from sexual repression or childhood abuse, and WWI saw a revived interest in ‘male hysteria’ (what we would now call PSTD). It’s been gone from the diagnostic manuals since the late 20thc.

There is no ‘good, old fashioned female hysteria’, any more than there’s ’good, old-fashioned demonic possession’ just a series of histories of long-discredited gendered misdiagnoses.

This subject is very close to my heart having a male family member who suffered terribly from anxiety. However, the original post is so peculiarly worded and confrontational I don't really feel I can contribute.

I was just reading a post on here about someone with a rash and Op included a sentence like "I have pretty bad health anxiety to this is sending me into a spin"

Almost every health-related post I read on here in recent months has a similar line. Why does everyone have health anxiety suddenly? Is it an effect of covid? Is it trendy? Have people lost all coping mechanisms? Some of the posts are downright hysterical, never mind what they are like in real life. Women convincing themselves they have cancer every other day and needing betablockers to calm themselves down. Sobbing in front of children and planning their funerals. Absurd

I understand and agree that women are treated differently, and often more poorly by health care professionals. Obviously, not everything is hysteria (and doctors shouldn't be throwing that diagnosis around willy nilly)....but sometimes it is.

I've noticed a change from 'I am anxious ' to 'I have anxiety '

I'm not convinced this is a helpful development as it encourages helplessness - 'I can't do it, it's my anxiety'

As my psychologist colleague loves to point out the only way ultimately to deal with anxiety is to do the scary thing and realise you didn't die.

I think when a woman is diagnosed with anxiety they are screwed if they develop any physical illness because everything is put down to the anxiety. And it is generally women who are diagnosed with anxiety in the first place as a catch-all condition.
Men go to the doctors and are called brave, women go to the doctors and are labelled anxious.

You're really unaware this was a thing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria

Functional neurological disorder is the new hysteria

‘Hysteria’ used to be described as a female-only condition, caused by the presence of the womb, which was thought to be wandering around causing mayhem. Hence the word ‘hysterectomy’.

I'm on about good old fashioned female hysteria specifically.

this sounds sexist are you a man
What even is female hysteria

Anxiety can be caused by a physical illness such as a thyroid disorder.

If anyone is suffering from new debilitating anxiety please consider getting checked.

I was highly anxious for decades. It came from my upbringing. I had a lot of people in my inner circle who were very damaging for me. My anxiety was in fact important emotions telling me what I should do but my conditioning and my confidence did not allow me to make necessary changes. I think recovery from anxiety is actually extremely effortful and really involves healing from pretty deep stuff that lots of us have but that we can’t often cannot confront because it can potentially upend significant relationships. I think hysteria is exactly the same as anxiety.

Aww, the "discuss" reminds me of the olden days on here when people who started threads as if they were heading an Oxford debate well and truly got their arses handed to them.

However, "anxiety" has become a cover-all for many many things, none of which would be clinically diagnosed anxiety.

The people who do this are, imo, no better than scammers who lie about having a serious physical illness in order to obtain something they would not otherwise get. Whether that be money, extra time in exams, adjustments at work, or just sympathy.

It also is very harmful to people with real, diagnosed issues as others are less likely to be sympathetic to them.

I think there’s merit to that argument, but we also have a situation where GPs are prescribing anxiety medication instead of HRT, and the woman I know of died of a second heart attack, because her GP had dismissed the chest pains caused by her first one as ‘anxiety’. She died in front of her children, days away from the private cardiology appointment she’d made because she was desperate to be listened to.

I hated those. So annoying.

OP, you're going to have to be a little more of a participant if you want a fruitful conversation.

However, from your very brief and vague posts, I'm guessing that you feel as though anxiety is over-diagnosed because it's easier than pursuing other causes for a persons difficulties?

I think there is merit to that argument. I also think that some people self-diagnose anxiety during bouts of what would previously be called low mood or stress or nerves about a situation.

I wonder whether doctors feel obliged to give the person a 'diagnosis' because the patient can't or won't grasp that fluctuating confidence and self-belief is perfectly natural and in many ways healthy.

Again, I'm only thinking this about some people. Those who would rather not deal with a tricky situation and dodge responsibility because of their anxiety. There are many who are real sufferers of anxiety and respond well to support (therapy, meds, etc).

I recognise that anxiety is a real condition that can be debilitating.

If we can get past snarky comments about the OP.

I think it’s worth discussing. It’s a disgrace.

your post sounds like it was written by my sixth form general studies teacher.

Iyky

Great start of a post.

This is like one of those awful emails I get from some people at work with a task in the subject and nothing in the body of the email 😂

"Discuss"

That's hardly a great start to a thread 🧵

You first. Maybe start with a potted history of the various gendered meanings of hysteria, including Charcot, Freud, WWI shell shock treatments, and maybe mass hysteria?