This is amazingly insightful and really humanizes the issue. I like how it breaks everything down to more of a science, not a bunch of assumptions like “women and hormones” or “it might be because of their past relationships.”
There are way too many of those articles online alongside and less informative ones like this one.
I think #6 stands true for all mental illness or disorders, those afflicted understand how strange their triggers are and how they might stress out their loved ones.
It would be wonderful if a lot more online posts about things like anxiety discussed aspects that the person with anxiety is aware of but also knows that they cannot always control.
It’s also great that the post discussed the physical aspects of anxiety. So many arguments against mental illness usually portray that the problem is all in the person’s head, yet doesn’t acknowledge that our brains are extremely powerful and can (and do!) control so many parts of our body, including symptoms brought on by something that occurs in our minds.
Just because it happens in their heads doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful enough to cause bodily harm.
Let’s look at what these 7 things are next…
Anxiety can be thought of as being a mental thing, and though it may appear that way, it comes to a point where it starts affecting physically.
Anxiety is physical. Your chest tightens, your head feels cloudy and you are acutely aware of the effort behind every breath. When you feel as though you have a small child made of frenetic negative energy trying to beat her way out of your body, it becomes impossible to ignore.
Once it reaches the point where it starts affecting physically, it becomes very difficult to function.
And it’s all-consuming. One of the reasons that anxiety is so frustrating is because the physical discomfort makes it impossible to think about anything else.
It feels as if there is no escape because it starts to overwhelm you, it is felt from head to tow.
You feel anxiety in your hands, your chest, your head, your eyes and your stomach, out to the very tips of your fingers and toes. It’s there and it wants to get the hell out of your body.
One of the hardest things about it is that for the most part only ways to treat it are known and it is difficult to find a cure for it. It becomes something that can last for years.
It can be treated, but not “cured.” Even with years of therapy, like any chronic condition, anxiety disorders require management. Treatment is more about giving people with anxiety the tools to help themselves than making the anxiety go away forever.
One of the most offending words you can call a person going through this.
We’re not “crazy.” Ban the word crazy from your vocabulary ASAP. It’s attached to a long history of being used to invalidate women’s thoughts and needs. Plus, everyone has their sh*t.
It becomes a challenge to cope with a woman going through their ever-changing mood swings. Sometimes it’s best to remove oneself from this situation until it passes.
We know our triggers are irrational. Yes, we’re intellectually aware that we probably won’t die alone in an apartment full of cats, and we probably are not dry drowning at this very moment. Yet that awareness doesn’t change the fact that there are things outside of our control which make it nearly impossible not to have an emotional (and physical) reaction.
This is the part where one must be more compassionate and understanding.
But we need your support — and your patience. Thanks for being there. It means more than you know.
What do you think? Do you agree with some? All?
source | photo credit: Son of Groucho
