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.

Started by someone who has diagnosed anxiety, belittling other people with the same exact condition

Why are you making this statement? It is completely wrong and totally unfair.
It is the opposite of what the op is saying.

She is fed up with people claiming to have anxiety when they are a bit worried or a bit flaky or a bit trying to justify their crappy behaviour.

Do you think its acceptable when people say 'Oh don't mind me I am a bit OCD' or 'you know me , I am a bit schizoid'?

Are you ok with that?

I suspect not.
So why is anxiety so minimised and belittled?

Does no one actually read OPs before posting?

Hypochondria is health anxiety. People use the term incorrectly. Anxiety is a dual purpose term. It describes the state of being anxious, to whatever degree. It is also used as a shorthand for an anxiety disorder. Before I had PTSD, I used to experience severe anxiety. I never went to the doctor about it, because I considered it a trait I suppose. I know that it was pretty severe, because I have been treated for a condition for which anxiety was a symptom, and I recognise it.

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.

I can and have done often.

I have health anxiety, OCD and have been told I have GAD. I still take a propranolol most days for general anxiety but at the moment it is very low level and doesn't stop me doing anything.

My husband's anxiety is extremely severe , related to his other MH illness and he sometimes has to take PRN to go to the shops.

There are so many levels though and lots of people suffer from periods of prolonged anxiety. So many of them do not go to their GP, so if someone says they suffer with anxiety I tend to take it at face value and assume they mean they have a long term issue with anxiety. Not that they are just anxious over certain situations which is just human.

I haven't seen these threads where people are misusing the word anxiety though. Obviously they clearly exist but thankfully I haven't come across any myself. It pisses me off enough when people say they are a 'little OCD'.

Well mine is officially diagnosed.

Am I still allowed to reference it on threads when relevant or do I have to show the paperwork first?

Do you think its acceptable when people say 'Oh don't mind me I am a bit OCD' or 'you know me , I am a bit schizoid'?

No I don't for one. But I don't think the metaphorical eye rolling towards people who have stated they had anxiety is always justified.
I had a neighbour who told me she had severe anxiety, you'd never think it until you seen how she needed a team of family just to take her to the local corner shop and back every other day. I just thought we're meant to take what posters say at face value (under bridge dwellers aside).

I had health anxiety. It is so much worse than hypocondria.

It isn't worse, because it's the same thing! I have health anxiety myself btw. Severe in the past, manageable now after NHS CBT.

People have negative associations with the word hypochondriac because people use the word wrongly.

They really aren't, mrsdv. They are objecting to the snide idea of 'armchair diagnosis', and the idea of effectively policing who is and isn't allowed to use the term. You have no idea what private struggles people have, for every attention-seeking prima Donna on breakfast TV there are 100s of others who you'd never know had anxiety unless they very bravely tell someone. One of the best-presented and outwardly most confident women I know suffers severe anxiety, you'd never know it even if you got to know her relatively well. Who is the op to sit in judgement on somebody and decide their anxiety isn't 'proper'?!!!

Am I being obtuse? Maybe. But I think people say "I have anxiety" not when they are talking about a one off situation, but when they know that they feel anxious with an usual frequency and/or at situations which would not "normally" induce anxiety, and/or the symptoms they experience are beyond the norm. That is what I assume when I read that. I don't think people use other in the same way as "a bit OCD". I have heard people say (a lot recently) "I have anxiety about these exams". I think that's OK too. It's specifying the root of anxiety.

I don't agree op. I think if people say they have anxiety they probably have anxiety. It's very common. So many people at my work (including me) are on citalopram they should put it in the water fountain.

It pisses me off enough when people say they are a 'little OCD'.

It is possible to be a bit OCD though! Of course, it depends on how it is said....

FFS, it really isn't possible to be a little bit OCD.

You either have the disorder or you don't. You may have it mildly or severely but you can't be a little bit obsessive compulsive disorder.

Fuck off. When people say they're a little OCD they usually refer to being clean and tidy

Ocd is extremely disabling and feeds into anxiety. If anyone says they're a little OCD they can fuck right off

I have diagnosed (by a psychologist and a psychiatrist) social anxiety disorder. It is well managed and treated and I think even at its height you would hardly have known unless I'd told you. Probably just thought I was a bit awkward.

That doesn't mean it's not real. It has had a huge impact on my life and made me very unhappy. But I'm not really bothered by other people saying they have it when they've not been diagnosed. I just ignore them.

Why on earth was my post deleted?
It wasn't a personal attack.
It wasn't disablist (if it was, it wouldn't have been deleted that quickly)
Ridiculous.

I have read and undertood your post OP. But your patronising attitude gets me. Agree with Ginger

No idea why that was removed MrsDV??! I don't remember anything in it that broke guidelines. Obtuse is hardly a PA. Now mine makes no sense...

Zoe she is talking about people without anxiety. Its not difficult to understand unless people are deliberately missing the point of the OP.
It is commonly understood that to say 'I am a bit OCD' when you don't have OCD is not acceptable.
Why is it ok for people to fuck about with Anxiety? Its not about having a diagnosis or medication. It is about being honest.

I do hope this post isn't so upsetting it will need to be deleted.

I think it's not that I disagree with the OP. More that I don't accept her premise. That was what I was trying to say in my post. I don't think people say they have anxiety when they don't experience anxiety, albeit not as part of a diagnosed disorder.

That would be unusual though wouldn't it?
People say they are a 'bit' OCD, ASD, ADHD, bi-polar, Dyslexic etc fairly often on MN and elsewhere.
I don't see why anxiety would be different.

FWIW no one knows I had extreme anxiety for years unless I told them.
A lot of people with AD are very good at hiding it. The fear of losing control can be part of the disorder.

I had GAD. Was referred for CBT and had to wait 18 months
A year or so later I was diagnosed with ante natal depression and PTSD and had 6 months of counselling
I don't consider that I have the GAD now, I don't have panic attacks any more and I'm off all meds other than a low dose of citalopram which I'll probably be on for life

I do get that. As I have said. I think it's different to eg OCD because that is a MH disorder that has been misunderstood and used to describe something else. The word anxiety describes something that everybody feels. Anxiety is pretty much universal. It is a *symptom" of some disorders, when it is experienced with more severity/more frequently/in response to unusual triggers. Before the PTSD, I would have described myself as anxious. I didn't really know about it as a medical thing, so no, I wouldn't have said I "have anxiety". Afterwards though, I recognised it, because I was given the language to describe it I suppose.

I think what people are saying is that they recognise that they experience more anxiety than they observe in others to the same situations. If I am proved wrong in that interpretation, then I would probably feel differently!

Why is this a competition? People are suffering and struggling, in varying degrees but you really shouldn't make assumptions about how tough things are for people. A little bit tough is still tough to that person. It doesn't take away from your legitimacy to sympathy. Each and every case is individual.

It's not the same as saying "I'm a little bit OCD" everyone can and will feel anxiety at some point in their life. Describing a one off feeling of anxiousness as anxiety is perfectly acceptable because anxiousness is anxiety. The word "anxiety" doesn't mean disorder.

Health anxiety is the same thing as hypochondria. Being a hypochondriac doesn't mean you think you're always getting a cold. It means that you are terrified of every feeling, twinge, pain, rise or fall in temperature, emotion, sound, smell in case it means you are fainting, having a stroke, a heart attack, a brain tumour, another type of catastrophic illness. It's misunderstood completely.

I can't leave my house because of it. Most days I'm scared to stand up from my bed in case I collapse or faint. I spend every second of every day pulse checking, having panic attacks, agitated, googling symptoms, trying to breathe, checking for lumps and rashes etc and believe me it is no fun.

Had CBT, was laughable. It didn't do a thing. Not on medication because I'm too scared of side effects. Can't see a Dr because part of it for me is a very severe phobia of anything medical. I'm absolutely terrified of hospitals. I can't watch TV any more in case someone feels ill or a hospital comes on. I'm now avoiding most social media for the same reasons. My husband can't even ask if I'm OK because my brain says that for him to be asking that must mean I don't look OK so what's wrong with me? cue panic

At the point where I'd quite like to fall asleep and not wake up. The GP said quote jovially that at least my extreme fear of death and hospitals means I'm not a suicide risk