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5 Common Misconceptions About Anxiety Disorders

The Stigma Surrounding GAD

By Ellis RichardsonPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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1. If a situation makes you anxious… AVOID IT.

Terrible words of advice in anyones book.

Although the initial relief of avoiding a situation is somewhat addictive, because the anxiety will subside. This will be harmful in the longterm. Every time that a situation is avoided it then becomes a much larger "hurdle" for the next time, also meaning that the anxiety will be greater next time.

In addition, the avoidance becomes easier each time that we do it, until eventually tasks that seemed easy/simple become harder.

2. An anxiety diagnosis is the same as nerves.

Anxiety, such as what we experience before an exam or interview, is defined as RATIONAL uncertainty surrounding an outcome.

Whereas an anxiety diagnosis is an excessive, IRRATIONAL, and uncontrollable feeling, often resulting in multiple worries at once.

The biggest difference between the two is that the extreme anxiety experienced with a GAD diagnosis will have a drastic impact on a person's life.

It is incredibly frustrating and somewhat insulting when people substitute anxious terminology for more minor concerns. For example, when someone says they are having a panic attack but they just have butterflies in their stomach, or nerves are described to be anxiety, this belittles a severe mental illness, and results in genuine anxiety/panic attacks not being taken seriously.

3. “Just get over it.”

This is possibly the most irritating thing to be said to someone with anxiety. Followed closely by “calm down.” Don’t you think that I would if I could!?

Anxiety is not an emotion, it is not even a trait. It is just something that happens to some people, and feels completely uncontrollable…

Anxiety is initiated in the brain and involves areas such as the amygdala and the hippocampus which form and store memories of times when anxiety arises. Because of this, expecting the brain the suddenly get over a mental illness such as anxiety, is like expecting a kidney to "get over" kidney disease.

Along the same lines, it wouldn’t make sense to tell someone to get over a broken bone so why is a mental "break" any different? People generally don’t take mental illnesses as seriously as physical illnesses because a mental illness cannot be SEEN.

4. The side effects of anxiety are only experienced mentally.

Obviously anxiety will manifest differently for different people, but for most, it comes with physical as well as mental symptoms.

For example, I personally have a severe vomit phobia and panic attacks, as well as a tendency to self diagnose. Because of this, I constantly scan myself and how I am feeling, checking for a stomach ache or nausea. This causes me to enter a vicious cycle that ultimately ends in a panic attack.

5. Nothing other people say will help anxiety to go away.

Although "calm down" is probably one of the worst things someone can say, there are many things that can be said/done that will help people who suffer with anxiety.

One of the simplest is to familiarise yourself with the illness, especially if there is someone close to you that suffers from it. This helps as anxiety is a lonely state of mind and in the middle of a panic attack it feels as though you are the only person who will ever understand. So to tell someone that you know what they are feeling, and that they aren’t the only one, is more helpful than it seems.

A great little trick that I have learnt over the years is the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 game. In which you list 5 things that you can see, 4 you can hear, 3 you can smell, 2 you can feel and 1 that you can taste. It is excellent if you can encourage someone experiencing anxiety to play this game as it works to ground them in the moment as opposed to "what ifs" and worrying about the future.

Finally, a small but mighty phrase. "IT WILL END." It often feels, in the midst of a panic attack, that this feeling will last forever and there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. So whether you mean that this particular panic attack will end or that the GAD will eventually come to an end, it is a great relief to hear.

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