The Worst Kind Of Anxiety

Written by Andi Bazaar, Co-wrote by José Schenkkan Joseph | Oct 21, 2022

"the reason why labels can be harmful is that we all have stereotypes of what each mental illness looks like and whenever we hear someone has a type of mental health issue, we project what they should feel like rather than keeping an open mind since everyone is different!"

The reason why labels can be harmful is that we all have stereotypes of what each mental illness looks like and whenever we hear someone has a type of mental health issue, we project what they should feel like rather than keeping an open mind since everyone is different.

• It can be helpful to think of our anxiety or depression as an external parasite that feeds on those thoughts or emotions. We are not our illness. Those changes in mood, loss of memory or productivity aren’t permanent. It doesn’t mean the real us is gone. It is important to remember that!
• It can take a while to actively unlearn a behaviour, I have seen people who will say that mental illness is valid but only accept it in others. When it comes to their loved ones or themselves, they have a hard time unlearning the stigmatizing behaviours!

One of the most common questions is around how common mental illness is now, especially by those who criticize it.

• how is it possible that there is such an increase?
• is it because of awareness or is it actually increasing?

Well it is a little bit of both, let’s see why.

First of all, it is important to remember that not so long ago we hid family members who suffered from mental health issues from society from fear of being judged. Statistics were not accurate at all also categories of mental illness were so few as opposed to now.

Usually, mental illness was reserved for those whose condition was so bad that they were locked up in long term asylums. The second half of the 20th century is when more and more diagnoses and treatments started to happen.

Also, there were many people who went undiagnosed or who didn’t think that what they were going through was mental health related. We all know parents who drink too much, smoke too much, lash out, are emotionally unavailable, etc.

These are usually signs of someone trying to cope on their own or self-medicate rather than going through treatment either because of the stigma or because they don’t think they need it. However things have changed now, happiness is something we seek.

Let’s make one thing clear, every single on this planet will go through at least mental health struggle in their life. It is just unavoidable because of some bad things that happen in life. It is important to recognize it and get help when it happens.

There is also the factor of our environment, wages are stagnating. The housing market is unattainable for most Millennials and Gen Z, society is so fast paced that it is hard to cope with that stress. News are constantly around us, it is hard to escape from social media.

There are so many factors that lead to mental health issues that exist in our societies and that older generations never had to face, all these environmental factors are not things we can control for the most part.

It is important to realize the existence of these issues and to encourage those who go through multiple stressors or who are struggling to get treatment, at one point or another we would all need it and there is absolutely no shame in that.

Let’s talk about mental health labels (BDP, Major Depressive Disorder, OCD), they have become mainstream and used very (too) often. However, these labels also come with some dark sides that we perhaps don’t talk about too often, so let’s try to have that conversation.

It is important to remember that unlike physical illnesses, psych ones are quite arbitrary. We can't find OCD or depression the same way we can a bacteria or injury, terefore those categories are quite arbitrary. Experts choose what fits and what doesn't in each category.

This is very visible for those who work in the field of mental health, our guidelines and diagnostic criteria changes every few years, mainly guided by a diagnostic book called the DSM. What this means is that a label 5 years ago may not be relevant today and vice versa.

There are some good sides to these labels, it helps validate the suffering of individuals and bring legitimacy to the process. There is already way too much stigma attached to mental illness and some people may even doubt its existence, it can be a relief to know what we have.

It helps people make sense of what they are experiencing, we generally know what depression or anxiety mean. When we mention it to people, they have some idea of what it may look like. It also helps people find a community of individuals that may have gone through something similar.

However, it is a double edge sword. Many of these labels stick to the person for a very long time which means it can be used to stigmatize them, for example people may refer to someone as the anxious or depressed person even when they have fully recovered.

We don't do that with physical illnesses, no one refers to me as Bronchitis Omar even though I had quite a few in my life but if I tell someone I have a lot of anxiety — it is something that would follow me for longer than the anxiety remains, it is important to be careful.

Especially because in many of our native countries, confidentiality is not something that we are strong at. Medical files can leak or doctors/therapists may share it without our consent to family members, these labels can also be used to dismiss people and dehumanize them.

If someone with anxiety goes to their doctor, they may dismiss them simply because it is their anxiety flaring up rather than make sure it is something that they could be experiencing. As you can see, there are quite a few bad sides to these labels. How can we navigate that?

First of all, be open with your mental health workers and doctors. Tell them that they can give you a diagnosis but not put it in your file, it is important to keep that line of communication open and make sure that they know what you consent to and not consent to.

If you don’t like labels at all, you can tell your therapist or doctor you are not interested in knowing exactly what it is but just want help in fixing it.

You are in charge of your recovery and it is important to be hands-on in order to make sure you get the best out of it.

If you live in a country that stigmatizes mental health too much, ask not to have a file open about your mental health that other healthcare providers can see, that way it is something that remains perfectly confidential. I hope that this helps make some sense of these labels.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO:

• Dr Oliver Schofield, MD (Consulting)
• Dr Seth Gryffen, MD (Consulting)
• José Schenkkan (Co-wrote)
• Clayton Euridicé Schofield (Editor/Journalist)
• Henrie Louis Friedrich (Analyst)
• Timothée Freimann schofield (Photographed)
• Shot at GQ’s Studios by José and Benjamin Schenkkan Joseph
• In appearance “Hugo-licharre Freimann”