@miljah. You're going on the attack because somebody disagrees with you that anxiety isn't a new thing and that using phrases like 'lack of gumption' is an acceptable way to speak about people who haven't had permission from a mental health professional to use the word Anxiety. As if it's easy for somebody to admit how they feel and get past people - like you - who want to gatekeep and decide who is or isn't anxious. It's not a fucking obstacle course where only the winners get permission to say they have anxiety.
The sarcasm you use in response to my pointing out that genuinely anxious children and young men were essentially murdered by the State during WWI and humiliated publicly is a great technique to use to cut off, dismiss and mock/humiliate an anxious person. Well done for knowing how to bully vulnerable people. Pity that a) You're utterly wrong and b) It's a frankly dickish move.
It is your fault that vulnerable, anxious children get treated badly. It's the fault of everybody who thinks a harsh response will get them to pull themselves together. Many won't be awaiting diagnosis because of gatekeeping - if they can even get the words out to tell somebody how they feel, they're dismissed and left to suffer (I deliberately use the word 'suffer') alone.
It is possible to acknowledge that somebody has genuine anxiety and help them learn techniques to recognise and manage their symptoms more often without saying it isn't really anything. Sometimes knowing 'OK, I'm anxious, yes my heart is racing, I need to sit down and practice gently breathing out and the feeling will reduce' is enough to get somebody able to function better. But sometimes it isn't. There can be other influences contributing towards the feelings - sensitivity to light, to noise, to large numbers of people, to feeling trapped.
The key to learning to manage with the symptoms of anxiety is awareness and asking for help - in your example of a young adult phoning her Mum and asking what to do, that's far better than spending all night terrified that something is wrong.
At the point of anxiety it's often too late to tell them to sort it out themselves and they shouldn't have gone into Halls if they can't deal with it - they might not be able to get the words out to anybody else, they could be scared of being laughed at, of being told they're stupid and weird. A calm 'It could be somebody burning toast. Can you hear anybody in the kitchen? No? Is there a security guard downstairs? Could you go down and ask them? No? OK, I can call them and ask and I'll call you straight back....I've spoken to security and they said everything is OK, they're down there all night - they've said you can go down and speak to them if you're worried about something and they'll check, but there are fire alarms on all floors. Alright? Good night then, love you'. Calling is taking action to deal with the fear. Going into Halls when anxious, rather than staying at home, is taking action to feel the fear and still do it. Why on earth would you use an example of somebody learning how to live away from home and cope with something new and potentially scary as evidence that they had no business trying it whilst simultaneously saying they should do it?
In my last job, because so many had paralysing or fight/flight responses to exam conditions, what we did was start small. They had multiple practice exams, starting in familiar surroundings of the classroom, but with exam desks lined up in the same way they would be in the exam hall. Some were anxious at things being different - 'yes, it is, we're doing this so you aren't suddenly put in the position of doing this for the first time on the morning of your final exam'. As they did that and got used to it, we moved them up to the hall and dealt with the ones who still reacted strongly - by the end of the year, because we'd dealt with some of things that contributed to anxiety; the different seating, the different location, the different sounds/temperature/environment, being unable to move around, having to put their hand up and ask for something from strangers (external invigilators were brought in for PPEs throughout the last two years), despite having a number of particularly anxious students, every single one was able to complete their exams and achieve their best results.
Survival of the Fittest is a shitty way to deal with people. There isn't an epidemic of overmedicalisation hiding 'wimps'. There is, however, more people acknowledging and recognising anxiety and it is moving from something to be ashamed of, hidden and ignored to something that is treated with more sensitivity and techniques for helping with the symptoms are now openly discussed.
I far prefer a society where 'Everybody feels like that, don't be so silly/grow up/you don't have a diagnosis so shut up and get on with it' is being replaced by 'Yes, it's horrible and overwhelming when it happens. You'd be surprised how many people feel that. What some find helpful is to.....as soon as they feel it start' or 'We know, so what we are doing is this....'.
Resilience is the buzz word. But it is something that needs to be learned by many - you can't just tell people to do it, if it doesn't come naturally, it needs to be learned - and being sympathetic is going to help them to learn it where dismissing them doesn't.