“14 Things Only Girls with Anxiety Understand” or “18 things to know when dating a girl with anxiety” are the articles that appear on the Cosmo Snapchat and rotate through Facebook. These articles are intended to provide an understanding of anxiety, but sometimes come off as offensive or ignorant to individuals who have a severe anxiety disorder.
Articles like the ones on Cosmopolitan and Buzzfeed look at superficial reasons for having anxiety. Through researching these articles, some common phrases used are “always” and “never.” Phrases like these do not take into account the individuality aspect of many symptoms of anxiety.
According to Psychiatry.org, 7 percent of U.S. adults have Social Anxiety Disorder, which is what articles commonly try to relate too. These popular articles do not take into account the different levels of anxiety sufferers face. There are easily identifiable life stressors that can produce anxiety like symptoms; some common stressors could include feeling anxiety over dating or over a hard exam. With an anxiety disorder, individuals often cannot pinpoint the cause of the stress and as a result, it can be extremely difficult to get through any small daily responsibilities.
Another difference between anxiety and an anxiety disorder is the physical intensity and impairments the anxiety can cause for the body. When an individual is reacting to a life stressor like an exam, the stress will likely occur right before the exam. For a person with anxiety disorder, the anxiety may onset weeks before the exam. The onset of the anxiety may affect the person to the point of missing daily activities. The individual may not take the tests, go to work, or leave bed for an extended amount of time.
Articles typically minimize these significant differences. “Anxious people usually get anxious about their own anxiety (which is quite crazy),” stated Buzzfeed in the article titled “17 Things You Have to Understand About People Living With Anxiety.” Words like “crazy” can affect an individual with anxiety in ways that will worsen their ability to daily function. Several points above the statement referencing crazy, the same article acknowledges that individuals with anxiety are more critical about themselves. Inaccurate articles like this one demonstrate that Buzzfeed does not understand the true scope of what it means to have anxiety.
Another issue with these popular articles is their targeting of females having anxiety. Mental illnesses like anxiety are a universal issue affecting all races, genders, and age. According to the Mental Health Foundation, one in eight men are faced with anxiety. One of the articles on Cosmopolitan is titled “18 things to know when dating a girl with anxiety disorder”, but what about the men that face anxiety and are left out of the conversation?
Buzzfeed and Cosmopolitan articles are fun sources that allows people to relate and pass the time. They can allow people to feel like they are not alone, which is what most want to feel. Sometimes in trying to keep a topic light, we brush over the importance of the issues. With mental illness, society needs to not only address the topic, but also evaluate the populations at risk and make sure everyone who is affected is included.
Anxiety is a word used on a daily basis, from talking about tests to phobias, but that does not mean everyone has an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders can be debilitating and really affect how an individual functions mentally and physically. Anxiety disorders are not something people can get over after weeks or even months. It is important to address the differences so people with anxiety feel they are accepted and truly understood.
As a society we need to not only look at how to help girlfriends and boyfriends that face anxiety disorders but also friends and family. Anxiety is one of the leading forms of mental illness because it can come in so many different forms, from appearing as an extreme phobia to a more generalized disorder. Sufferers are not broken, but they are struggling more than the average person when faced with a common stressor. Society must change anxiety from an everyday word to a word with real meaning and understanding.
