[CosmicRose]

I get upset whenever I see people refer to their anxiety as a "Mental Illness", while I understand that there are varying degrees of anxiety, and degrees on how much it affects someones life and turns into a "disorder" but that does not mean it is classified as a Mental Illness.
If everyone experiences anxiety, anxiety is a natural emotion that the body experiences in response to stressors. These stressors also vary, and depending on the coping mechanisms each person has, or different fears each person has, anxiety is very different depending on each person. For example if someone is terrified of snakes, and you make them stick their hand in a box filled with snakes - he freaks out, trembles in fear, has all the symptoms related to anxiety, because his fears are being realized and confronted. That does not mean that man has a mental illness, it means his fears are being met face to face. It is a natural body response to fear.
No one would say that man afraid of snakes, has a mental illness because of his acute reaction to stress or anxiety with snakes.

Fears are different for everyone.
One person has anxiety about a box of snakes, one person has anxiety about performance at work or being embarrassed in front of colleagues.
It depends on how well a person manages their anxiety, and how this anxiety affects their daily life. But anxiety isn't a mental illness. Mental illness to me means something more like psychosis, hallucinating, or losing touch with reality or something along those lines.
Saying anxiety is a mental illness is using the term mental illness too liberally.
Anxiety turns into a disorder by professionals when a person has no learned coping skills to deal with their fears, if they are forced to confront their fears every day.
You wouldn't expect someone terrified of snakes to become a snake charmer. Well, if someone has performance anxiety at work, unlucky for them, you need to work to live, it just so happens their fears are something society expects from them every day. They get labeled by the pharmaceutical companies who want to make money by drugging them up as having an anxiety disorder, and they go through life thinking they have a mental illness.
It comes down to fears. It comes down to how well you manage being confronted by your individual fears. This doesn't equal mental illness to me.
Just because I have issues with anxiety, I do not label myself as being mentally sick.
Please tell me your thoughts on this. Do you think anxiety should be classified as a mental illness if one does not know how to manage their anxiety or their responses to their fears?

[ChangingMyMind]

I never thought of it that way but I agree. I have been diagnosed with GAD and have been put on medicine for it in the past but I agree I never learned coping skills so I don't know how to deal with the anxiety.

Do you feel the same way about depression?

[AncientMelody]

Stress is not a mentally illness, but there has been plenty of evidence showing that chronic stress can be a significant risk factor towards developing a mental illness.

The SYMPTOM of anxiety alone is not a mental illness. It is actually a very important survival technique. It serves a very important purpose to help someone respond to danger. Nor do I even think irrational fears are neccessarily mental illness. I've long been a worrier or as having an anxious personality, but I wouldn't say I was mentally ill.....I think it's all in terms of degree. Last year when I was waking up from a dead sleep in the middle of panic attacks, when my legs would freeze with FEAR trying to get ready for work, when I would feel the urge to laugh and punch a wall at the same time due to the physical "high" from the adrenaline surges of anxiety.......yeah I would say I felt mentally ill.

No pharmaceutical company had to tell me that this was not normal or healthy.

In addition, people talk about being "labeled" but for most of the psychological disorders (but not all) one of the diagnostic criteria must be that it causes the individual

"clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning"

So if one has some trouble with coping techniques for their anxiety, but they function well in all of their daily activities and don't feel particularly bothered by the anxiety as may be the case for you, then no, mentally ill doesn't really qualify.

It's actually a very interesting topic, the ideas of wellness versus illness, in both the psychological and physical realm. Someone can have a particular diagnosis but not neccessarily be "unwell" There is such a spectrum I think. I still HAVE the diagnosis of GAD per se....I'm seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication for it. But I would not longer say I feel "Mentally ill"

Certainly an interesting topic.

[QuagmireTrekker]

I don't agree that anxiety is an mental illness, either. But I hate the too anxious feeling, which makes me perform inadequately, lose appetite, not sleep well, insomnia, irritable. I think feeling too anxious is indeed a distress, but should not be viewed as a mental illness, but as a reflection of the high impact level that event causing anxiety brings and thus the urgency of dealing with that event. Adequate anxiety can goad one progress toward her/his goal, but over anxiety would lead to the adverse effect. I think the human mood is the response to one's surrounding events and it sounds absurd to me that some medicine is devised to remove or change one's negative moods because in that way one doesn't really need to solve the problems which trouble them nor needing certain enjoyable things to feel happy but just take some medicine which can remove their anxiety or make them feel happy.

[AncientMelody]

To me, my medication doesn't remove all unhappy or unpleasant thoughts or feelings. If I have a bad day at work, I still come home feeling stressed. It just helps me feel more balanced, better able to focus on my goals and what I need to do to reach them rather than spinning my wheels in a pit of despair. I feel it helped stabilize me enough to effectively motivate myself into getting out of the bad job situation and successfully navigate the job hunt. Helped me keep on an even keel with my kids too so they didn't have to suffer from ME being overwhelmed.

I have heard some people say that they feel zombie like on meds and I can see how that's not an ideal way of living for sure. It's interesting how different it is for everyone.

The same can be said for depression, manic episodes, etc. Many mental issues are catalyzed by large amounts of stress and are experienced by most everyone. It becomes disordered ( or a disorder) when it disrupts life. I'm not a fan of labeling or a an advocate for the promulgation of anxiety as pathology. However, to deny that the cold sweats, sleepless nights, paralyzing fear, heart palpitations, paranoia, gastrointestinal issues, spontaneous aches and pains and more that plague ppl diagnosed with GAD does not collectively suggest an illness isn't something I can do. I think it is a unique type of mental illness in that it is more a result of mistakes in parenting, emotional neglect and things of that nature than the result of a brain malfunction alone like BPD, Schizophrenia etc. GAD is being overdiagnosed and this likely benefits the pharmaceutical companies but that does not negate the fact that it is a real disorder and that many people truly suffer very serious challenges in life on account of having it. I think it is a very real mental illness catalyzed by early life trauma that alters the brain and is aided by the stresses of every day life. I mean, "normal" ppl do things consistent with bipolar disorder all the time but we acknowledge that bipolar disorder is a real illness. I think the understanding of anxiety disorder as a real mental illness is being hampered by the oversimplification of it and by the fact that people who truly have GAD are not likely to do things that evidence their diagnoses. In contrast, we all know of at least one one person with bipolar disorder and we know what the challenges of that disorder look like. People with GAD work to make sure that they are never a case in point. GAD does not have a celebrity face or hallmark symptoms that are discernible upon coming on contact with persons suffering from it because it is an anxiety disorder but one where the storm rages inside not outside for all to see.

[Ozisl]

And coughing is not a cold. Drinking alcohol is not alcoholism.

Most anxiety diagnoses are clearly called "disorders" instead of "disease" specifically because of this. For some people, anxiety can be very really disabling, and can be treated by medication and cognitive therapy.

One of the tenants of most groups I've been in is to not judge anyone's suffering as less or different than yourself.

[Disorder7]

Originally Posted by Ozisl

And coughing is not a cold. Drinking alcohol is not alcoholism.

Most anxiety diagnoses are clearly called "disorders" instead of "disease" specifically because of this. For some people, anxiety can be very really disabling, and can be treated by medication and cognitive therapy.

One of the tenants of most groups I've been in is to not judge anyone's suffering as less or different than yourself.

Thank you Ozisl.

I'm less than thrilled when someone suggests my anxiety, which has caused me to try to jump out of moving cars and created a fear of taking showers, is simply because I don't know how to handle daily stress.

If only it was so easy....

[tweak800]

Originally Posted by Disorder7

Thank you Ozisl.

I'm less than thrilled when someone suggests my anxiety, which has caused me to try to jump out of moving cars and created a fear of taking showers, is simply because I don't know how to handle daily stress.

If only it was so easy....

I agree . you can look at it however you like. Bottom line is, mental illness or not, mentally you are not right at the time. In a world of labels I call what I have episodes and not panic attacks. My episodes last days at a time. I have to say I would call it a mental illness because it sure isn't a mental wellness.

[katelyn1019]

I strongly disagree. I believe the whole "stress is a natural problem" but I also believe that anxiety is a mental illness. I think that if your anxiety is so crippling that it interferes heavily with your daily life (as such mine) then it is, in fact, a mental illness. You are mentally ill.

[katelyn1019]

Originally Posted by Disorder7

Thank you Ozisl.

I'm less than thrilled when someone suggests my anxiety, which has caused me to try to jump out of moving cars and created a fear of taking showers, is simply because I don't know how to handle daily stress.

If only it was so easy....

100% agree