I was having a debate with someone online just now and they were saying that Anxiety Disorder isn't real, they said "You have anxiety just because mommy yelled at you when you were younger?" They were obviously being rude and very much downplaying my abusive childhood that they know nothing about, but still their stance on anxiety was that it is made up and only weak people experience anxiety. This wasn't so much a "debate" as it was an argument. They then compared their past to mine and said they experienced abuse too but never had anxiety issues from it. I'm just kind of blown away by this person's views on the whole subject. Part of me wonders if they're right on some level - while anxiety is debilitating - is it really just our inability to "toughen up" and move on like other people? Is it really just "in our head" and we are too "weak" to be stronger and quell the anxiety once and for all? I'm really angry at this person and I would like to hear other people's opinions on this please. Anxiety and my abusive past has played a huge part in my life and has held me back from lots of things - and to just hear this person talk so flippantly about it is strange.