The National Institute of Mental Health offers a wide variety of sources and ideas regarding the topic of anxiety. Often times I find that when confronted with my own anxiety disorder I feel shame and embarrassment because I feel as though something is wrong with me. The National Institue of Mental Health tries to break this stigma and inform people that anxiety is a normal part of life. However, people with a disorder have a heightened reaction to anxiety. "Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary fear or worry." It is bigger than being nervous for a test or another temporary moment of fear regarding a situation.
When you have an anxiety disorder this feeling of fear and panic doesn't just go away, it stays and be completely debilitating interfering in day to day activities.
With anxiety, there are a number of different diagnoses that you can have. One of them being a generalized anxiety disorder, another one is a panic disorder, or you can have a phobia related disorder. "Researchers are finding that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the risk of developing an anxiety disorder." Therapy and medications have been found to treat some if not all of these types of mental health disorders.
The problem I am having with society currently is the inability for the stigma to be broken and a better understanding of the general public on mental health. Many times the behaviors of others greatly impact and have direct roles in how others feel and respond to the environment around them.
When someone tells you to relax, sometimes its just not that easy. When you have an anxiety disorder it is chemically impossible for you to possess the ability to tell yourself to relax and to properly do it. "Just calm down," "Chill out," "Relax" are often trigger words, words that can send someone already panicking into an even deeper frenzy.
I've started to become angry when people do not think of how their words affect others. Saying certain triggers are just as awful as saying mean comments toward someone. Think before you speak. Think back to the beginning of your childhood when you were taught if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all. This applies here. Do not say certain words to people. You do not know everything happening in there life and do not know if something you say might set someone off.
