Why Is Anxiety Mental Health? - Mental Health Message Board

LoveAllAlways · 11-04-2003, 04:48 PM

First of all, anxiety and panic disorder is the most misunderstood disease. I want to know why it is listed under "mental health" istead of nervous disorders. This is why doctors and shrinks tend to think "its all in our head". That anxiety must be some type of mental or psychological issue which needs to be resolved. To me this is an incompetent judgement. Doctors don't realize what anxiety and panic disorder really is. They give out prescriptions for expensive placebo pills such as buspar and then tell you to go see a shrink. I want to know why this is?

Karla · 11-04-2003, 05:55 PM

Personally I don't care who treats anxiety as long as someone does. Weather my gp helps me or I go to a mental health dr doesn't matter to me either way. I want medicine to make it stop and that is what I get. To me I can't think of a much better win/win situation.

HoosierBj · 11-04-2003, 05:56 PM

In the medical/insurance world "Mental/Nervous" disorders are pretty much the same category.

Since anxiety disorders are caused by a combination of genetic, psychological & physiological reasons,
And
Panic disorders are anxiety that is focused on specific external objects or situations that come to represent the underlying anxiety.....

then it does stand to reason that anxiety & panic disorders would be a Mental Health issue. And as mentioned above, Mental Disorders and Nervous Disorders are pretty interchangeable. Like Bipolar Disorder and Manic-Depression are.

Is this what you were getting at?

LJ74 · 11-04-2003, 06:04 PM

It also runs in familys. 9 out of 10 times, "SOMEONE" in your family has anxiety, or panic disorder. That's another reason they say it's mental. Genetic. Mental just means having to do with the BRAIN. Doesn't mean your are "MENTAL"

katie_in_az · 11-04-2003, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveAllAlways

First of all, anxiety and panic disorder is the most misunderstood disease. I want to know why it is listed under "mental health" istead of nervous disorders. This is why doctors and shrinks tend to think "its all in our head". That anxiety must be some type of mental or psychological issue which needs to be resolved. To me this is an incompetent judgement. Doctors don't realize what anxiety and panic disorder really is. They give out prescriptions for expensive placebo pills such as buspar and then tell you to go see a shrink. I want to know why this is?

LoveAllAlways
I was very caught up by your post. I liked your headline, “First of all, anxiety and panic disorder is the most misunderstood disease. I want to know why it is listed under "mental health" instead of nervous disorders”. Wow. That is great. But what led you to say this? It sounds like you have good reason for saying it, but I was so sorry you did not explain more about why you think this. Please explain a little bit more.
I do think that anxiety and panic have both a physical and a cognitive component. That is, I think there are physical symptoms. These are real. And I think there are unhealthy thought patterns that do not help the physical symptoms. They may even contribute to the physical symptoms and can be overwhelming. These are what meds, even Buspar, are developed to treat. If they do not work as prescribed then your individual feedback in detail is important. So again it would be great if you explained more.
The other point of view is that many of those who dislike medical meds look to alternative remedies. Google “alternative medicine” to get great resources, So, in this view, panic and anxiety may be exacerbated by nerves being stripped raw of nutrients, for instance. Nerves are stripped raw by stress and/or too much white sugar, white flour. And in turn, stripped raw nerves will tend to contribute to negative and even catastrophic thinking.
Anyway, my bottom line is if I am anxious and or panicky, I be sure to take enough B vitamins and C’s. I just buy standard supermarket brands and read up on dosages. As neither B’s nor C’s are EVER toxic, feel free to experiment for dosage and effectiveness. I also try to calm myself with various tried and true methods of relaxation. I do not think they have a Skills for Relaxation forum on healthboards.com, but these kinds of skills are an important component of treating anxiety and panic, as much a feeding the body and nerves with good nutrients.
A nice warm/hot bubble bath with Epson salts really helps anxiety and panic.
Playing very restful music, reading uplifting thoughts; also help. Nothing is a cure, but working on the restful stuff, not on feeding the problem always helps.