maybe the word mentally ill is being used too much nowadays. If that were the case, I would have been mentally ill for 41 years, which really isn't accurate. But I have suffered, on and off, with anxiety, not PTSD, for many years. Over the years I've also learned a great deal about how to cope with life's struggles,. MINIME, I don't think you're necessarily mentally ill, but then again , there's really nothing "wrong" with having anxiety or mental health problem. It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of a person that you are.