I have gad, my mum says I was born "highly strung", a fussy baby who wouldn't sleep through the night til I was 2, always an over anxious child but I internalised it all. I think it was the stress of exams as a teenager that really triggered things to start spiralling with me. I held it together on the outside til then, but after a family bereavement, toxic relationship and not getting the grades I needed at A level for the uni I wanted, I fell apart and had what was then called by my Dr a nervous breakdown. I had gad, panic attacks and depression diagnosed, I'd never even heard of anxiety as a medical condition til then. When I had my first panic attack I hadn't heard of those either and genuinely thought I was having a heart attack, I begged my parents to call an ambulance!
That was nearly 20 years ago, and with an ssri and counselling I managed to gradually get a lot better, I had a big relapse at one point about 10 years ago, the gad I'd been keeping under control spiralled again, and back came the panic attacks and depression. That was when I was referred for cbt which I found very helpful, it was a bit of an epiphany for me to really look deeper at what was at the root of everything going on in my mind, and at how my brain actually works, it really helped me accept myself and be kinder to myself. I still have a diagnosis of gad, I still take the ssri every day, but my anxiety is manageable these days, sometimes it spirals, sometimes I have really good periods with me feeling "in charge" of it, and I feel grateful for that, I've seen how devastating anxiety can be. For example a family friend is in and out of a psychiatric unit because of severe gad which she's suffered with all her life. She's in her 70's now, she is on incredibly strong medication that sedates her, and after trying to commit suicide her husband and children reluctantly agreed to some controversial treatments, it's been a horrific few years for them and it's now like she's living out her elderly years sedated and not really there, but at least she is actually here is what her family say, having nearly lost her.
So it does grate on me when I hear "having anxiety" used a lot by people who don't actually have a clinical diagnosis. It's definitely used a lot in conversation these days to describe what are often normal levels of stress and emotions in life. Then again, unless someone actually tells you they don't have a diagnosis, how do we know they don't have something like gad? There's a huge spectrum with anxiety like with many conditions, ranging from normal human fight or flight feelings of anxiety, to having consistently raised levels, that can then become problem levels of anxiety, to more and more extreme and devastating anxiety at the other end of the spectrum. We're all different, one person with anxiety is completely separate to the next in their experiences and severity.
I think anxiety has always been a problem, from so called "hysterical" women in Victorian times (what did they refer to the men as?!), to women having "problems with nerves" in my Grandparents day, I'm sure it was often what we now call anxiety disorders and depression now. I can't comment on conditions like bipolar or bpd because I don't feel I have enough knowledge on them, and my personal experience has been with anxiety and depression.
We have a lot more knowledge, education and awareness these days, which can only be a good thing. I honestly don't see how someone could get a medical diagnosis for gad or other anxiety disorders and not really have them, it's a thorough process. Those who self diagnose I do question, I also question for instance why a lady I know constantly posts on FB about anxiety, with pouty night out selfies about being an anxiety warrior, anxiety memes, or a list of how people with anxiety feel on a daily basis. She will post about FB making her anxiety worse and needing to take a break, goodbye for now FB - then a week later she announces her return, its a regular thing. Her posts are always followed by lots of sympathetic comments. She posted an apology for sometimes appearing distracted during a conversation or for sometimes being a crap friend, it's her anxiety. She is the least distracted during a conversation type of person you could imagine, she's the loudest, most opinionated person during a conversation I know. Her posts are often saying sod off anxiety because today she feels blessed to have her beautiful kids and to have lost a few pounds, cue loads of emojis and comments from people saying we love you hun, always here for you hun, looking amaze as always hun. I actually wonder if she's addicted to the likes and comments from people, she only does this on Facebook and doesn't talk about anxiety irl. Anyway, I feel like commenting you have no idea, I think of people I know who can't even have children because of their anxiety disorder, who can't even get ready for a night out let alone actually leave the house to go and then post selfies all night. The other day I realised if I don't like her posts I can just unfollow her, so I did. I think yes there are some people who use anxiety like a kind of badge to gain attention, sympathy, and to try and excuse their bad behaviour towards others. Then the part of my brain that worries about being unfair or unkind to others tells me maybe it's just that this person is an extrovert with anxiety and I'm an introvert with anxiety?! I just don't tend to tell people I don't know well, but we're all different.
Yes I do think modern life and social media culture have made more people have more anxiety and contribute to more anxiety disorders being diagnosed nowadays. I have no idea how to handle all the social media pressures and expectations out there when my children are old enough to start using them.