Anxiety is the new hysteria

[Bluehatter]

Discuss.

Any thoughts of your own on the matter OP?

Oh yes, many!

Do you mean it’s what doctors diagnose women with, instead of listening to them?

If so, yes. I know of at least one woman who died of ‘anxiety’.

What a strange way to start a conversation!

Can you share your opinion? Is there a reason why this is on your mind?

You go first...

Bravo, you hit the nail on the head.

No.

You first. Maybe start with a potted history of the various gendered meanings of hysteria, including Charcot, Freud, WWI shell shock treatments, and maybe mass hysteria?

This is like one of those awful emails I get from some people at work with a task in the subject and nothing in the body of the email 😂

"Discuss"

That's hardly a great start to a thread 🧵

Great start of a post.

Iyky

You're welcome

@SeatedattheVirginals I'm on about good old fashioned female hysteria specifically.

your post sounds like it was written by my sixth form general studies teacher.

I think it’s worth discussing. It’s a disgrace.

If we can get past snarky comments about the OP.

OP, you're going to have to be a little more of a participant if you want a fruitful conversation.

However, from your very brief and vague posts, I'm guessing that you feel as though anxiety is over-diagnosed because it's easier than pursuing other causes for a persons difficulties?

I think there is merit to that argument. I also think that some people self-diagnose anxiety during bouts of what would previously be called low mood or stress or nerves about a situation.

I wonder whether doctors feel obliged to give the person a 'diagnosis' because the patient can't or won't grasp that fluctuating confidence and self-belief is perfectly natural and in many ways healthy.

Again, I'm only thinking this about some people. Those who would rather not deal with a tricky situation and dodge responsibility because of their anxiety. There are many who are real sufferers of anxiety and respond well to support (therapy, meds, etc).

I recognise that anxiety is a real condition that can be debilitating.

I hated those. So annoying.

I think there’s merit to that argument, but we also have a situation where GPs are prescribing anxiety medication instead of HRT, and the woman I know of died of a second heart attack, because her GP had dismissed the chest pains caused by her first one as ‘anxiety’. She died in front of her children, days away from the private cardiology appointment she’d made because she was desperate to be listened to.

Aww, the "discuss" reminds me of the olden days on here when people who started threads as if they were heading an Oxford debate well and truly got their arses handed to them.

However, "anxiety" has become a cover-all for many many things, none of which would be clinically diagnosed anxiety.

The people who do this are, imo, no better than scammers who lie about having a serious physical illness in order to obtain something they would not otherwise get. Whether that be money, extra time in exams, adjustments at work, or just sympathy.

It also is very harmful to people with real, diagnosed issues as others are less likely to be sympathetic to them.

I was highly anxious for decades. It came from my upbringing. I had a lot of people in my inner circle who were very damaging for me. My anxiety was in fact important emotions telling me what I should do but my conditioning and my confidence did not allow me to make necessary changes. I think recovery from anxiety is actually extremely effortful and really involves healing from pretty deep stuff that lots of us have but that we can’t often cannot confront because it can potentially upend significant relationships. I think hysteria is exactly the same as anxiety.

Anxiety can be caused by a physical illness such as a thyroid disorder.

If anyone is suffering from new debilitating anxiety please consider getting checked.

I'm on about good old fashioned female hysteria specifically.

this sounds sexist are you a man
What even is female hysteria

‘Hysteria’ used to be described as a female-only condition, caused by the presence of the womb, which was thought to be wandering around causing mayhem. Hence the word ‘hysterectomy’.

Functional neurological disorder is the new hysteria

You're really unaware this was a thing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria