While bored and rummaging through the blogosphere the other evening I came across this blog . The author talks about her own experiences with anxiety and the extra baggage that comes with being a woman with anxiety.
An excerpt from the post...
There are many things though I hear, even from other women, about anxiety in general. They are stereotypical and completely incorrect. In general, many of them are used as stereotypes against women as ways to dismiss them.
Just the thought made me mad.. not mad at the author but mad at society for finding ways to 'dismiss' real problems as just 'feminine issues', like PMS (which she talks about).
I'd actually suggest anyone who has anxiety or knows someone with severe anxiety read the blog and not just the one post (start from the beginning or some references may leave you clueless). It is a very keen look into the mind of someone who has an anxiety disorder and the fight they go through knowing what they feel is irrational but not being able to reconcile it with how they should feel.
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I get anxiety when I have to urinate in front of another man at the urinal. Inevitably there's one pervert that has to flash his dong around as he pisses. Usually its the guy that's hung like a steroid infested moose.
i get aniexty every time i wipe my ass with andrea dworkin's funeral picture.
wtf? Not cool. Or funny. Or witty.
"mad at society for finding ways to 'dismiss' real problems as just 'feminine issues', like PMS "
UGH. If a female is mad, she must be pmsing! I remember in my class the teacher mentioned Obama getting mad at the CEO's who got 18 billion in bonuses and a guy goes "was he on his period?" Way to be sexist, and not understand how pre menstrual symptoms work, all in one comment!
I get anxious eating in front of people I don't know well. I will avoid eating, even if it means being extremely hungry. I guess I'm fearful of getting things stuck in my teeth, or spilling stuff. I'm trying to get better about it.
Just so you all know, I'm pretty sure 'throbbing gristle' (hilarious!) was just banned over at shakesville. He must be making some sort of pathetic rounds. i'd suggest ignoring him.
Lately I'm amazed at how inept the trolls are at choosing usernames. I'm thinking if I were a troll I would go for a username that would be a good cover - like the username an actual reader of that blog would choose. Instead it's the pathetically-insecure-male names like "throbbing gristle" (i.e. I have a giant cock), or some really feminine name as a totally transparent cover. Maybe I'm just being unresonable, expecting trolls to be more creative than that. I always assumed they were lonely guys who had waaay too much free time on their hands.
Troll banned. Sigh.
In one of the my psychology classes we talked about how PMS may make an appearance as a "disorder" in the DSM-V and the sexist implications of it.
I would think anxiety is more common, in general among oppressed groups of people. It seems logical that if your group of people has been abused or exploited that you would be more likely to develop feelings of anxiety.
As someone suffering from PMS, I'd like to hear more about that discussion, if you don't mind?
As far as PMS (or PMDD) being classified as a mental disorder, here's what I read about it a few months ago. When the makers of Prozac (I don't remember which Pharma) were going to lose their patent on Prozac (making generic versions of it available), they went looking for a way to extend it. One way to extend a patent on a drug is to "identify" a "new" syndrome or disease that it treats. So they did a few clinical trials using Prozac to treat some of the mental symptoms of PMS (of which there are over 150, which can occur at anytime in your menstrual cycle), and successfully showed that women who experienced extreme frustration, stress, anger, etc at any time during the month experienced alleviated symptoms when on Prozac. They thus successfully extended their patent, and PMDD came into being.
As for arguments that PMS is related to patriarchal oppression, there are several parts to this one. First, in cultures where there's no concept like PMS, women don't report the symptoms that are commonly associated with it in any pattern connected to menstruation, and women attribute their anger, frustration, and stress to their life conditions (being overworked or abused...) rather than hormones. Second, in our culture it's considered unfeminine to express anger and frustration, but acceptable to blame it on hormones. Finally, women who are currently in or have historically been in abusive relationships are twice as likely to experience PMS, and report far more severe symptoms. So the claim is basically that PMS is one way a patriarchal culture invalidates what women say, and using medication to treat it (and depression disproportionately in women), rather than addressing the deeper issues in their lives, is taking the easy way out.
Thanks for sharing! I have battled anxiety all my life. It has real, material consequences for my life, and yet I battle with myself and with providers to avoid the stereotypes and the trivialization that goes along with being a woman with anxiety.
My mom who has anxiety disorder used to tell me that I acted a certain way because of my period. Urm...nope. Anyways, when she would tell me this, I wasnt even on my period so it didnt make sense.
I have an anxiety disorder, but its definitely not as bad as the bloggers. Good blog find! Also, avoid caffeine! I was having panic attacks from as little as one liptons caffeinated green tea bag and did not know where it was coming from, untill I read a blurb on an anxiety site that said to avoid it. This is kind of weird but has anyone with an anxiety disorder experienced during their adolescence, dilated eyes? I would be in class and get this incredible adrenaline rush and my friend jokingly accused me of taking drugs. She showed me my eyes in the girls bathroom mirror and they were huge. I even had teachers call my mom about me possibly having a drug problem.