OUT OF AUSTRALIA
Anxiety: Is It Real?
I can understand getting anxious about attempting something out of your comfort zone. I used to be anxious about flying without my children. My anxiety was caused by the thought of crashing. But how can you say you suffer from anxiety all of the time? It just seems to be the catchphrase of the moment. Two decades ago, the popular diagnoses were OCD, bipolar disorder and ADHD.
Those terms became unfashionable and Asperger’s and autism and “on the spectrum” took over. Everyone knew someone “on the spectrum”. It seemed to be the PC description.
They’ve been replaced by depression and anxiety. Everyone I know has one or the other including several of my children. Why am I the only one who doesn’t suffer from any of these mental illnesses? All I have is dissociative disorder possibly from childhood trauma.
This is not what I wanted to write about. I wanted to tell you about two children both aged 5 and a half, one born in June and one in July.
The June baby started year 1 two weeks ago. She went to preschool at the same school last year. The principal says she’s suffering from massive anxiety and needs to see a psychologist. She won’t go out and play in the playground because she wants to play in the same playground as she did last year. She lives in a stable home with loving parents. If she’s seeing a psychologist at 5 years of age, is there any hope for her future? And when did 5-year-olds start suffering from anxiety?
The other child one month younger started pre-school this year. He’s been to daycare since he was 5 months old so he’s used to not being with his mother every day. The mum works in a high-profile position so can’t simply stay home from work. The child has climbed the fence every day and run away. He’s eventually caught — I’m not sure by whom — and his mother is notified. She’s at her wits’ end knowing what to do with him so he’s been referred for an assessment to label him with some mental illness.
I’m betting he’s diagnosed with anxiety. How can 5 year olds “suffer” from anxiety? I’m sure I didn’t even know what anxiety was when I was 5 years old.
I was never anxious about taking an exam at school, but I was slightly worried when the results were published in the newspaper. My father expected me to be a straight-A student and even though I came close, it was never good enough for him. I did win three scholarships to go to University which seemed to placate him a little.
And sorry, Medium writers, please don’t keep going on and on about your anxiety. It doesn’t make me anxious but it it does make me a little angry. As my sister who is suffering from three separate types of cancer says, “Build a bridge and get over it.”
In the last 12 years, I’ve not heard one word of “Poor me. Why me?” which I think she’d be entitled to. She never expects any sympathy unlike these “anxious” writers who like to big-note themselves about their anxiety.
I’m probably going to lose friends by being anti-anxiety, but really every man and their dog now “suffers” from anxiety. Yes, even dogs are being diagnosed with anxiety. How worried do you have to be to be told you are suffering from anxiety and why does it have to affect every second story you write?
