Anxiety

[quisensoucie]

In pretty much every MN post, not matter in which forum, someone will declare social anxiety, work anxiety, health anxiety, etc. Indeed, today someone declared herself as Elton John phobic...
I wonder, and this is not being goady, do all have a DSM-V diagnosis, or is this self-diagnosing? Anxiety is normal in many of these situations (not the elton john, obviously), so is it that people don't understand some anxiety is normal so panic, then the situation becomes self-perpetuating...

I remember when I was younger thinking anxiety just meant you worried a lot and were of a nervous disposition. I'd been through some traumatic stuff and just thought these people needed to toughen up a bit and stop going on about it.
I was wrong. I ended up in hospital twice, absolutely convinced I was having a heart attack. I hadn't been doing anything stressful or been worrying at the time they struck. It was a stressful period of my life, but I definitely didn't think I had anxiety. But for over a year I was having trouble breathing and having chest and shoulder pains. I wouldn't accept that my brain could trick me so badly, into causing me physical pain. I had full heart scans, the lot. So my anxiety was diagnosed.
It's been a few years now and it's mostly in check. But I now know that it can strike at any time and it's actually helped me to understand the process that the body goes through when you're in an anxious state. I think once you've suffered it, then you are prone to it forever and you need to consciously manage your mental state. I think it's more common than you think. I don't know if everyone who says they've had/got anxiety has been diagnosed, but there is definitely a big difference between being a worrier and having anxiety.

I think the difference is you’ve met a certain threshold, whereas a lot of people will say they have anxiety when what they mean is your garden variety worry. It’s muddling up what can be a very severe MH issue with navigating the normal vicissitudes of everyday life.

Also, I would argue the pandemic has not only changed views on anxiety but also probably led to an increase in people developing it. People worrying about a new deadly illness is I would say a pretty normal response, but those worries for some transformed into anxiety. I worked with someone who developed a form of agoraphobia and had to have intensive therapy to treat it.

Wow your comment is really helpful to me.
I have panic disorder too (diagnosed) and I've only ever had them when I'm relaxed. When I've been all snuggled, watching a movie or whatever. Not even worrying about anything. Next thing I can't get a decent breath and I'm clutching my chest and having random stabbing pains all over. It's actually more terrifying because you don't know why it's happening. And think it must be a heart attack, because I'm not even stressed.
I've never really talked about it with other sufferers. Only other people with anxiety and they've not really understood what I've meant by these attacks just striking at random. Everyone always asks "What were you doing/worrying about at the time?" And they sort of don't believe me when I say "Nothing, I was just watching the telly!"
I've always sort of put it down to stress chemicals being heightened in my body at times and they don't strike until I'm relaxed. That seems a bit simplistic though.
Anyway, thank you for sharing! It's good to know that I'm not the only one.

Yes, actual OCD is rough. People think it means wanting all your pens lined up or having a spotless house or whatever, but it’s more like having to wash your hands over and over because you think something terrible will happen to someone you love if you don’t. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy and I have huge respect for people who overcome or manage to live with OCD.

I do wonder about the feedback loop of MH awareness and diagnosis - on the one hand it is great stigmas are being broken down, but on the other it probably means more people self-diagnose and medicalise an issue that doesn’t need medical intervention.

I think toxic positivity has a part to play as well - there has been a shift recently towards not embracing the full spectrum of human emotions and squashing down sad/bad stuff, which is surely a ticket to developing issues further down the line when it becomes clear life very much isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

As someone who is diagnosed and medicated, it really fucks me off when people say oh I've got anxiety when they just mean butterflies in their tummy before an interview or something.

Rather than pacing around barely able to catch your breath with agonising stomach pains and cold fear paralysing your insides.

It's really really shit to have anxiety and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I say I have periods (as in months / weeks at a time) of anxiety. It is self-diagnosed as I don't intend to get medication, which I see as the only point of diagnosis.

I do have diagnosed depression, which I had for at least 25 years before diagnosis. It was no less real when it was self-diagnosed.

Out of interest, did you have a reason for obtaining the diagnosis of depression?

Self-diagnosis doesn’t mean a condition isn’t real. But anxiety is frequently misunderstood, so it’s likely some of the people who self-diagnose with anxiety mean something more like worry. Also, self-diagnosis may lead someone to not consider other possibilities - a (good) medical professional should do this.

I wanted to try medication for depression, so got the diagnosis.

I don’t think I officially have a “diagnosed anxiety disorder” (I have my medical record via NHS app and I can’t see anything there except periodic “anxiety states”) - but I’ve been prescribed SSRIs for anxiety for over 20 years. I suspect that not all GPs were using formal diagnostic tools for anxiety back then. I’m happy to self diagnose in the circumstances, given that the debilitating anxiety has returned every time I’ve tried to come off the meds since.

Just offering this as additional context, in case you think everyone that suffers from anxiety disorders must have a formal diagnosis.

But do you not see the irony? You are giving credit to random people's opinion on the internet that they believe other people have incorrectly self diagnosed themselves with anxiety. Psychiatrists and psychologists diagnose anxiety - after many years of study and training.