My Anxiety, Part III: Everyone Has an Opinion

So of course when people find out I have anxiety, they like to give me their opinion of how they think I should cope with it. Though some are from people also suffering who like to share their techniques, most are from people who really have no concept of what having a mental health disorder is like, or they understand it psychologically, but have never actually dealt with it themselves.

I usually don’t mind talking things through with others who also have severe anxiety — it’s almost like some sort of therapy where you get to vent your frustrations and be truthful without judgement. That said, there are some who are so insistent that their ways are the only techniques that will work. I have noticed that this is usually part of their mental health issues: they just cannot seem to comprehend that the same practices might not work for others. Some get really pushy about this, but it isn’t as common as the attitude from those who have no personal experience with severe anxiety.

I have had so many people tell me ways to cope with my mental struggles, from changing the way I look at the world to changing my diet to just dealing with it and moving on. None of these are helpful and just tap into my rage, raising my frustration with society and its lack of understanding when it comes to mental health disorders. The Anxiety that plagues me is not from external stresses; it is only made worse by those factors. It will always exist because I cannot remove it, and the only techniques I’ve found to control it are to…