Anxiety

I heard Anxiety was actually a disease! I know it sounds stupid, but I thought it was just worrying about a situation and then the physical effects of, you know, worrying so much. I knew Depression was a disease, but Anxiety? I am intrigued now, tell me, tell me everything you know!

Khatiz.

[tschock]

The way it has been explained to me, is that it is a physical reaction to a mental state.
The more you worry and think about things, the worse it becomes.
It takes many years for the symptoms to show...you don't just worry about something today and start showing symptoms tomorrow...unless it's short term anxiety brought on by recent loss or whatever. There are different types of anxiety. "Normal", which is caused by the death of a loved one, a break up, etc.
Then there is the long term ( clinical ) which most of us on here suffer from.
Apparently it can stem back to how you were raised. If your mom suffered from anxiety, then you have a better chance than most of suffering from it too.
The clinical type is usually brought on by years of worry...due to not knowing how to deal with certain situations.
Most of us " think " ourselves into these states. ( So they claim )
They say that we tend to think too many negative thoughts...Example:

Tina sees her friend Jenny give her a " funny" look.
"Normal" Tina would think " Oh, she has something in her eye. (or) I wonder what's wrong with Jenny."
Anxiety laden Tina would think " What's wrong? What did I do? Did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

Jim has a headache with pain behind his eye.
"Normal " Jim thinks: " I might have a sinus infection, I'll take an aspirin and    see the doctor if it doesn't get better in a few days."
Anxiety Jim thinks: " What's wrong with me? Am I having a stroke? Is it a hemorrhage? I think I'm going to die."

In this way, we make things worse for ourselves...and so, this is how it was explained to me.
I guess it depends on how you look at it, and who you talk to. Half of the psychiatrists out there say that alcoholism is a disease, and the other half say that it's just an addiction...and addictions are said to be either a disease or a compulsion...brought on by other conditions such as being a workaholic...due to your need to impress someone...like your mother...who told you repeatedly throughout your childhood that you wouldn't amount to anything. lol
It's a vicious circle...I doubt we will ever TRULY know whether it's a disease or not. lol