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.

Agree with what Mousehole said.

Have known anxiety/panic attacks to manifest very differently in the same person at different times: sometimes as classic panic attacks/struggling to breathe/passing out, sometimes more like manic behaviour, with the person acting confused and hyper/speaking very fast etc. Under the latter type can well imagine they might be able to post.

Have also known doctors very reluctant to put an actual diagnosis on paper, especially for a young person, even when person in question is very obviously unable to cope and a suicide risk.

I have it and spend my life hiding it, no one knows except my gp.

People don't understand anxiety sometimes. Close friends told me they were surprised and couldn't believe I have OCD and anxiety which fuel each other. Just because they haven't seen me having an attack.

They use 'a little' too

I am really disappointed to have seen the good old "health anxiety hypochondria" thing on here. I have a diagnosis of severe health anxiety. It was diagnosed be a psychiatrist and I am currently under the community mental health team due to it. It's not a made up condition. It's not being a "hypochondriac" in the way people use the term in day to day life. It's a recognised and debilitating anxiety condition, and it's made my life an absolute misery. Sorry - I know that was a bit off the debate, but I'm utterly fed up with the way that it can be viewed.

I had a friend at Uni - his brother killed himself and he then had some usual for him -episodes, I suppose they might have been panic attacks, he might have had an anxiety disorder.....what I do know is that he wasn't well and he needed support for at least 2 years...he didn't need to be questioned about whether he had a proper diagnosis, those who loved and cared for him knew he wasn't himself.

I totally agree. School counsellor and all the young people have self diagnosed themselves with a mental health disorder

Apanicaday hypochondriasis or hypochondriacal disorder was the 'proper' name for it until recently. The DSM5 has now split it into 2 different disorders, Somatic Symptom Disorder and Illness Anxiety Disorder.

Do you refer them to CAMHS, Girlonatrain?

I agree - a lot of people diagnose themselves with anxiety meaning "I get a bit nervous sometimes"

I've been diagnosed and lived with an anxiety disorder for 30 years, and it's had an impact on my life.

I don't agree it's the same as depression though - I genuinely do think you can self-diagnose that. Everyone knows the difference between depression (which I also have) and being a bit sad, surely?

Batteries I don't think there is anything wrong with saying I have confidence in my teams ethics and abilities, I work with them every day. Of course we aren't perfect and may get things wrong but we all work safely. And we aren't just a team of CBT therapists either.

I hope your comments don't put anyone off seeking help for anxiety through the NHS if they aren't in a position to go private.

Agree that anxiety and depression are on a continuum and the degree of effect can be wildly different, as can the length of time/ frequency that people are affected. Yet depression/ anxiety is the catch-all description for the whole thing.

I think it is good that more and more people can admit to their feelings of anxiety or depression, but I think it is also really important that people remember that although depression/ anxiety is 'common' now, as in the 1 in 4 statisitc, the vast majority will expereince it more as a one-off event in their lives, rather then an all pervasive and serious mental health condition that can be lifelong and debilitating.

We mustn't trivialise the severely affected just because the same word covers the whole spectrum of severities. I fear that making it common and normal will stop people realise=ing how serious mental health conditions can be, because of the potential for the "oh, well we all have that don't we attitude" which is what the Op is getting at I think.

Equally people can have persistent low level anxiety which may not be frequently debilitating and causing crises, but that can be problematic on a daily basis even if in many small ways.

I think it's the negative connotations associated with the term "hypochondria" that I object to (I was initially told that I had hypochondriosis by the psychiatrist) - but what people mean when they say you are a hypochondriac doesn't tend to be anything close to what the disorder actually is. I get very over-defensive about it though - because it really has ruined many many months of my life - and I don't think people always view it as a "proper" condition - more as an attention seeking thing.

Not all as they wouldn't take our referrals seriously as I would say 8/10 are "social anxiety" - and there is an 8 month wait ATM.

We support them in house with our counsellors and there is normally an underlying issue, low self esteem or something going on at home.

Some of them don't know how to deal with feeling anxious and we give them coping strategies.

I wonder if there's an element of people trying to be taken seriously.
A bit like calling work to say you can't come in, you have flu, instead of saying you have a cold.

Something I've noticed a lot in the last few years is how very dismissive people tend to be of illness (or Neuro disabilities). It's assumed, even with a diagnosis, that people are being over dramatic or trying to excuse crapness, so what hope have those got without a diagnosis? Better say it's xyz so people take it seriously.

Dd has some sort of anxiety disorder, undiagnosed because CAMHS wouldn't accept the referral because she's neither self harming nor trying to kill herself, so it's seen as mild and manageable. She has regular panic attacks in school and at home, it affects how efficiently she can learn, affects her sleep, it has physical manifestations which lead to pain and more panic attacks, but if you met her you'd think she was fine, and one of the number of people claiming anxiety when she hasn't at all.
She had a couple of sessions with the school nurse who was nice but not very helpful, and was completely overwhelmed with the number of referrals she was getting.
More children are suffering from MH problems, that's well known. Coupled with more school pressure from early ages and cuts to CAMHS which means only the most severe can be seen and helped, I think it's more than possible that there are more genuine cases amongst school children.
At that age though, mood and anxiety appears to be contagious. It must be very difficult to identify and help the genuinely ill children from the ones who probably feel they need some help but aren't quite in the same state as some of their peers.

Anxiety disorders are very common. In a survey covering Great Britain, 1 in 6 adults had experienced some form of ‘neurotic health problem’ in the previous week (1). The most common neurotic disorders were anxiety and depressive disorders. More than 1 in 10 people are likely to have a ‘disabling anxiety disorder’ at some stage in their life (2). An estimated 13% of the adult population will develop a specific form of anxiety known as a phobia at some point in their life (3). Large scale studies have suggested that around 2.5% of people are likely to experience OCD at some point in their life (4 & 5).

combined with the fact that many mentally ill people mainly or solely socialise on forums or similar, it really shouldn't shock you that everyone and their mother on here has anxiety

There are loads of us on this thread alone. It's very very very common. It can feel very isolating and unique, but many people have it.

MNHQ that's fine re deleted posts referencing the earlier one, but can there then please be a different deletion message than 'message deleted here's a link to our talk guidelines' - reading back through the thread without context, it makes it sound as if it was my message that broke talk guidelines, which it clearly didn't.

Anyway my post said in essence that it's quite a dangerous game policing the self-descriptions of others. Anxiety is a very, very common mental health issue and just because somebody's condition doesn't meet your narrow criteria of a 'real' diagnosis does not mean that it is not very real for the person concerned. I'm not diagnosed with anything and would not seek to be, but all the same my anxiety in particular areas rules my life for considerable periods of time. It is not a competition and you certainly don't get to set the rules for who can and can't say they have anxiety.

YABU

I totally agree, I have had anxiety and generally overcome quite a lot through counselling for many years, but in the past now.
My ds2 has anxiety and the panic attacks were scary for him, he has been admitted to hospital several times as an emergency before he/ Doctors had diagnosed him.
He finds it hard to hold down a job and will probably not reach his potential.

I see people who clearly don't live with anxiety doing a faux fanning of their face stating they were having a panic attack. Maybe something had surprised them or even shocked.
They look like such twats and it angers me when I know what a panic attack feels like.
My poor ds and hc professionals have suspected heart problems, he even saw a heart consultant specialist.

user98765432101 I've often wondered how people are able to post when they are having a panic attack I know I wouldn't be able to.

This however I totally agree with. I've only had 4 panic attacks. In each one I've not even been able to string two words together as I struggled to breath so much, never mind logging on and typing a post. People do need more education on the difference between and amxiety attack and a panic attack.

When I've had anxiety attacks I'm in a terrible state, unable to think clearly or communicate properly - when it's really bad I can't understand what other people are saying. The few panic attacks I've had, OTOH, have happened when I've been trying to get on with my life (and suppressing feelings) and have involved physical symptoms but emotional detachment. So I'd be able to post here, for example, despite the tightness and burning in my chest/throat, raised heart rate etc.

I understand where OP is coming from but as others have said mental health stuff is on a continuum. I think this needs to be taken into account all round - even people who are both diagnosed with the same thing can have quite different difficulties, and of different severity.

Personally, I find my frustration at the situation is to do with people who can actually say they have mental health issues and have that taken into account. Obviously it's more frustrating when they seem like they might be exaggerating, but even when you know someone is genuinely ill, they might be supported and have allowances made in a way that can be quite triggering for those of us who have experienced mental health issues without much understanding from others. This is especially the case when their lives seem remarkably untouched by their problems (eg they have a career, partner, children), yet one's own life is devastated by mental illness. It's frustrating and easy to feel like their problems can't be that severe, but I suppose we never know what's really going on and it would just be good if there was more understanding all round.

a lot of you seem to be missing the point I was making entirely.

Obviously if you DO actually have some form of anxiety disorder, it doesn't apply to you

It does however apply to the people using a genuinely debilitating mental health issue to excuse their behaviour when they DONT have it because its the excuse du jour for getting sympathy.

Anxiety isn't a handy-dandy 'get out of jail free' card for being ridiculous.

I don't quite understand why that's so hard to comprehend.

Everyone on MN misses the point of the OP and will dismantle it and rip it apart until there is nothing left.

Everyone on MN misses the point of the OP and will dismantle it and rip it apart until there is nothing left.

I know, its like Chinese whispers, one person extrapolates something completely untrue from the OP and everyone else runs with it.

It does however apply to the people using a genuinely debilitating mental health issue to excuse their behaviour when they DONT have it because its the excuse du jour for getting sympathy.

But how can you - from your armchair - decide they don't have it? Lots of people have it. Lots of people have it without meds or a diagnosis. That's been the gist of the thread, I think.