To think "I have anxiety" is becoming the new 'go to' armchair diagnosis?

[ClothEaredBint]

I'm saying this as someone who actually has an Anxiety Disorder, diagnosed, medicated, lived with it for 20 years and which has a serious impact on my ability to function day to day..

I seem to be spotting it being thrown out like a disclaimer for peoples neurotic behaviour on here just lately, and its really actually starting to get on my fucking nerves.

Yes, you might be anxious, it does NOT mean you HAVE Anxiety.

Anxiety is a recognised mental health disorder that seriously affects peoples ability to function, it filters into every aspect of their lives.

Claiming you 'have anxiety' when something is worrying you is as offensive to those of us who actually DO have it as saying 'a little bit OCD' when you like something done a specific way, or 'a little bit depressed' when you're a bit sad about something.

Stop it.

You're minimising a very real and very upsetting disorder that people actually suffer with.

Sorry about that rant. Never really got it out before.

Fuck off. When people say they're a little OCD they usually refer to being clean and tidy
Charming! That is why I said it depends on how it is said. I do have anxiety and ocd - but it's not severe ocd which is why I think it can be used that way too.

OP isn't saying you HAVE to have a diagnosis to have anxiety.
What they are saying is that it's frustrating when people throw it around like it's just another way of explaining perfectly reasonable anxious feelings. It's no different to being down in the dumps for a week and having depression. They are not the same thing.

As another poster said it's things like:
'AIBU on something that clearly is unreasonable. Then mention anxiety as if it excuses any of the unreasonableness in the post'.

And I equally get frustrated with how willingly people diagnose personality disorders on MN. It's not possible to just not click with your MIL and they're a pain, they MUST BE a narc.

So people are saying they anxiety about a situation that makes them anxious? .
I'm clearly not recognising what the OP is referring to. It's not people saying they have anxiety when talking about an abnormal response to something?

YABU. It's ironic you are upset about people "wrongly" describing themselves as anxious when you refer to "neurotic behaviour" on mumsnet. Like anxiety, neurosis is also a bona fide mental illness. So pot kettle black.

YABU. It's ironic you are upset about people "wrongly" describing themselves as anxious when you refer to "neurotic behaviour" on mumsnet. Like anxiety, neurosis is also a bona fide mental illness. So pot kettle black.

Anxiety top trumps anyone?

I'm not convinced the OP wasn't partly generated by a response I posted to a question yesterday. I was talking about anxiety and panic attacks. There was a whole heap of stuff I didn't mention because it wasn't relevant, the diagnosis, the medication, the ASD, the situations in which I get anxious, the things I can't Do, the intrusive thoughts etc. I just said I had anxiety and mentioned a typical panic attack scenario for me.

TheFallenMadonna
People mean there is a difference between feeling anxious and suffering from anxiety.

Having had both, I can say I feel anxious about a situation but would no longer say I suffer from anxiety.

All the OP wants is for people not to sling 'I have anxiety/I suffer from anxiety' as some kind of get out for actions / to explain perfectly normal anxious feelings.

And I'm not sure they do much. Is all I'm saying.

huffletuff that sounds like torture.

thefallen
I think it happens because it's convenient.
Just like there's more narcisists in people's family on MN.

Do I think people genuinely feel anxious? Yes. Do I think that everyone who claims anxiety understands the difference? No.

saltandvinegarcrisps1 neurosis is also a bona fide mental illness

Yes, I know. If you want my 'full credentials' I have.
Anxiety
Autism
Generalised Neurosis Disorder (officially neurotic, yay)
Obsessive Personality Disorder
Clincal Stress.
PTSD

I feel people trivialising what I and countless others have to live with every day upsetting.

You don't have to agree with me, its my opinion and I'm entitled to it.

I think describing your own experience using a word in common usage is not trivialising. Truly.

OP. Can you not see you are trivializing neurosis in the same way you are complaining people are trivializing anxiety by referring to people's neuroses on mumsnet in the same way people arecomplaining about having anxiety on mumsnet ?
The fallen - OP is using word in common usage (neurotic) to describe experience in the same way people use "anxiety " to describe their's. I empathise with anyone with any ill health but it does strike me OP' s original post echoes sentiment of the same type of intolerance.

I think sometimes even the professionals miss things. I had trouble with my eldest for years and they were pretty certain it was a parenting issue. I didn't recognise it as an anxiety disorder myself - I thought it was a developmental issue so I sent them down that track.

It took 7 years to get a diagnosis for a very common condition to get diagnosed. I had several attempts at getting referred rebuffed - even when she stopped eating and lost a lot of weight.

If you yourself have an anxiety disorder, you should be able to recognise it in others. I know it's hard to do so on a discussion board but when people add that they add anxiety to their post, I do believe them because of lot of anxious behaviour manifests itself in poor behaviour (esp in young people) and anger. I know it did in my DD

I disagree. I had an extreme anxiety disorder for 10 years. Through lots of self help and CBT methods I've mostly recovered. But there are different levels of anxiety just as there are depression. I'm still very capable of having worry bouts and becoming anxious, albeit in the realm of what is considered the norm. People who feel anxious but don't suffer a disorder still struggle.

I guess everyone is different and no one knows what's going on in someone's head. It's all relative.
I was diagnosed with anxiety about two years ago and, although I am a lot better now, I struggle to differentiate between normal anxiety and the illness anxiety.
What I mean is there are so many different levels to it. I've been anxious enough to cancel a night out with friends and have been hospitalised from a panic attack. Just because someone doesn't have anxiety to an extreme doesn't mean they don't suffer with anxiety that they manage to manage on an everyday basis.

Funnyonion said it much better than me!

I have learnt that it can ebb and low depending on personal stressors, too.