You're just anxious, you dont 'have anxiety' stop it.

[GreenyEye]

Anxiety is a diagnosable medical condition.

Being anxious is normal, everyone gets anxious/worried.

Anxiety is when it takes over your life and affects your ability to function day to day, when it becomes abnormal.

AIBU to tell people to stop saying you 'have anxiety' unless you have actually seen a Dr or someone professionally qualified to diagnose it.

You're making it much harder for those of us with medically recognised Anxiety Disorder to be taken seriously.

Was the word 'meltdown' used more generally before it was appropriated by the Austism related definition? Is there another technical term for it or is it just meltdown?

Agree with squeezyketchupbottle and lazylinguist

Anxiety does seem to be a modern epidemic I blame neo-capitalism. We live a life very different to the one our brains and bodies were designed for and that creates a lot of problems.

Also, except in certain cases when it's linked to another health condition (an endocrinal disorder say or maybe menopause), I'd call anxiety a psychological condition rather than a medical one. Meaning it's aetiology tends to be experiential rather than biological.

Jiggles 101 I'm not sure it's easy to separate it like that.

I've experienced trauma, that would be generally recognised as such as I was sexually abused, that caused anxiety (and depression and a whole host of other problems), but I also have an extensive family history of anxiety and I now have added hormonal influence which has made it worse.

Self-diagnosing 'anxiety' is a way out of having to cope. What happened to big-girl pants? Does anyone cope with anything these days?

Self-diagnosing 'anxiety' is a way out of having to cope.

I disagree. People using anxiety as an opt out need to have it diagnosed for sick notes etc. If you self diagnose it doesn't mean you don't have to cope, just that you've realised there is a problem. Knowing that can pave the way to finding a solution.

AIBU to tell people to stop saying you 'have anxiety' unless you have actually seen a Dr or someone professionally qualified to diagnose it.

So what happens if you see a professional because your anxiety is making you suicidal and he refuses to diagnose you because he thinks you look too well groomed? Happened to my dd: one of the clearest signs of her entering a downward spiral is that she cannot leave the house without spending hours on her makeup. The NHS is snowed under and sometimes doctors make the wrong decision. It didn't suddenly magically make her less suicidal. Fortunately, we did manage to get hold of a GP who at least agreed to keep prescribing her medication.

Again, her physical condition was also misdiagnosed for years. Being told that there was no possible condition that might cause it didn't magically take the pain away or enable her to walk.

What you seem to be saying, OP, is that she had some kind of duty to pretend that she wasn't suicidal or that she was able to walk, because she hadn't been able to get hold of a doctor who could make the correct diagnosis.

And no, having other people say they have pain (when maybe it isn't so bad as hers) or say they have anxiety (when maybe they are not as anxious as her) doesn't harm her. What does harm her- and has harmed her, both physically and mentally since she was a small child- is having her condition policed: being told she must not speak of herself as ill or disabled. That is actually why she tried to kill herself repeatedly as a teen: fear that no one would give her the accommodation she needs to function because they have decided she isn't the right kind of disabled.

YABU
It is not a competition. I have been diagnosed with all levels of anxiety and depression at different stages of my life.
I have also experienced it many other times but haven’t visited a health professional for various reasons.
I don’t care if someone says they have anxiety and they haven’t actually been diagnosed.
At least people are more aware

Self-diagnosing 'anxiety' is a way out of having to cope. What happened to big-girl pants? Does anyone cope with anything these days?

My grandfather coped with severe anxiety/depression: in his memoirs he admits that he coped by having his wife carry him during his dark periods. The big-girl pants of the early 1900s.

After my gran died, my Mum coped with her very similar MH issues by using me as her standby therapist and MH support. I was 8 years old. I filled that role until I was well into my 20s. It was very hard work.

My own daughter has inherited the same issues. She copes by going to her doctor and getting medication, by having had several years of therapy- and by having me as her therapist. But at least this time, I am not alone: there are others there helping with the burden.

And the fact that dd, unlike my mother, my grandfather and (I believe) my uncle, is able to talk openly about her condition and even joke about it makes it so much easier, so much less frightening for the person who has to be there for support. My mother was unable to do that so she often took refuge in anger. To her, admitting to a doctor that she wasn't coping was shameful. Coping on her own wasn't possible. Relying on her small child to be able to cope was inevitable.

As for myself, the question was taken out of my hands: my GP noticed at my first check-up that my blood pressure was ludicrously high and put me on medication that has the added advantage of keeping the anxiety at manageable levels. So I didn't have to be shamed by telling, and I think I can honestly say nobody has had to carry me.

My younger brother didn't see a doctor. His wife and children just had to cope with his attacks of panic and anger. He had a stroke just after his 50th birthday. They are having to cope.

You are being ridiculous. You do not know how other people are feeling, and how mu h effort goes inti masking the symptoms just to get through the day