kihira
1
Anxiety, in its many forms, is not simple. This verges on being an insult to the difficulties that many people have with anxiety in their lives.
AvPD vs. SA
- Thread starter vj288
- Start date
Anxiety, in its many forms, is not simple. This verges on being an insult to the difficulties that many people have with anxiety in their lives.
JamesSmith
Well-known member
Anxiety has been around for years. It has evolved actually, as have humans. Anxiety is when you have tense muscles and these tense muscles strangle your thoughts so you can't think properly. Some people like myself are always tense, which means I have an anxiety disorder. I don't believe there is much more to it and don't see why you claim it's so complicated. Tense muscles=anxiety....doesn't sound too complicated to me.
JamesSmith
Well-known member
I'm not saying you are crazy, I'm just disagreeing. You won't convince me that most of these disorders are not anxiety, because I believe they are anxiety.
coyote
Well-known member
JamesSmith
Well-known member
I've been automatically tense since I could remember. I am tense because it's habitual for me. It's not a choice, people with bad anxiety are just naturally tense. The only reason humans have anxiety is for survival instincts. Nowadays, anxiety is almost always a bad thing that makes people suffer. Some people are just born with an anxiety problem through genetics. Both of my parents have anxiety issues as well.
BlueDays
1
If it was just the "tense muscles", a muscle-relaxant medication would make it all go away.
It does not fix the whole problem, because it does not address what is going on in your mind.
JamesSmith
Well-known member
I've tried medication before. It didn't help much. You are right, medication is not a full cure.
coyote
Well-known member
right - so we get into a situation which we THINK is a matter of survival, i.e. something frightening - the fear produces anxiety - the anxiety/fear that we experience mentally and emotionally causes us to tense up physically
i don't think it's the other way around
DespairSoul
Well-known member
James u are saying that exist actually only one word for every mental illness?
I know a lot things is only bussines and how to make money here i agree with u. But that they make it specially disorders complicated only for making full theirs pockets?
I dont think so because look how much disases is by fyzic illnesses i know is diffrent door wich im now opening but for me is the same as u say ok we can die only on heart attack and if hurts u heart u definetly have only heart attack. Because doctors are saying that. They are many studies about mental illnesses and a lot of work on it.
GoBlue72
Well-known member
I think many of the points being made here have validity. James, your idea of anxiety being the main issue is reasonable IMO. When I talk to average people I know about my "issues", I usually call it just that: "anxiety". Also, the idea that the health providers want to make money is also correct. In my previous job as an intake clinician at the local County Community Mental Health Service, diagnoses were made for two main reasons: 1) to determine if people were eligible for services through the State and 2) to determine if Medicaid could be billed for their treatment, when they were eligible. I've always felt that the exact diagnosis was not always all important, as long as the person's symptoms were being addressed and they were receiving appropriate treatment.
I myself, recall only asking one time what my diagnosis was to my own psychiatrist. I always felt I was AVPD, but that was never diagnosed to my knowledge. So many of the disorders overlap, it's often difficult to tell. You probably know that many psychiatrists/therapists have favorite diagnoses to use, and also receive incentives to prescribe certain medications over others. Such is life...
I myself, recall only asking one time what my diagnosis was to my own psychiatrist. I always felt I was AVPD, but that was never diagnosed to my knowledge. So many of the disorders overlap, it's often difficult to tell. You probably know that many psychiatrists/therapists have favorite diagnoses to use, and also receive incentives to prescribe certain medications over others. Such is life...
JamesSmith
Well-known member
No that isn't what I'm saying. I'm not saying anxiety is the reason for every mental illness. People can be psychotic that don't have an anxiety disorder, they are just psychotic. I'm sure there are other mental illnesses that aren't anxiety. I was just talking about illnesses that are now called "avoidance-this" and "avoidance-that" or agoraphobia....those are all anxiety. I don't really care what they are called. I'm not saying that the definitions of these disorders aren't correct, i just think when they have all these definitions it makes people overwhelmed because all these people really need to know is that they have anxiety, and to work on overcoming that anxiety. It's hard enough to overcome anxiety, if it's even possible, and to have all these fancy terms thrown in your face with all these definitions can make things worse.
JamesSmith
Well-known member
I think you are misunderstanding what anxiety is. People who have an anxiety disorder are already tense to begin with. They are tense all of the time, even when they are alone in their house and perfectly safe. Before we go into an anxiety provoking situation, we are already tense, so that situation just adds on more tension. The only way to eliminate anxiety would be to train yourself to be relaxed as a habit all of the time. The answer to getting rid of this anxiety is not mentally talking to yourself when you are around people in an anxiety provoking situation, it would have to be done after practicing lying down doing muscle relaxation exercises again and again and again. If we can't make a habit of relaxation, we will always have anxiety and will always have problems being ourself and problems being comfortable.
JamesSmith
Well-known member
It's possible you have a more mild case of anxiety. It's also a possibility that you've learned to think that you are relaxed when you are relaxed-tense. A person who has anxiety's most common mistake is when they are tense but yet they feel normal when they are tense. I call it being relaxed-tense. I have that problem, maybe you do maybe you don't? I don't know, I'd have to meet you in person probably to know if you are tense all of the time. I didn't even understand I was tense all of the time until I read about it. It wasn't until I was 22 or so that I finally figured out what I was doing wrong all of the time.
I guess what confuses me is that this says avoidants are more socially anxious but you say you think you have AvPD but not SA. And if you feel nothing at all, no anxiety or fear, when you meet people...what makes you leave their presence and hide? Or do you feel fear that they will reject you or something bad will happen but you don't experience anxiety in your body?
Sorry for sounding dumb XD I'm just really curious about it. I think might have AvPD but I'm not sure yet.
Vj, don't be silly! No need to apologize.
I am no psychologist either and it's great that we can have conversations like this to analyze and figure things out for ourselves. Even if we're way off in our conclusions, it's a fun little puzzle to think through.I feel like I'm the opposite in how I experience anxiety, so it's interesting to see that everyone can experience disorders differently. I have anxiety. I get very uncomfortable and shut down because of it. I don't talk or have anxious thoughts. I don't think at all! Instead, I get shaky and my heart beats fast. I have this instinct to run away from the situation.
I think that's why positive thinking doesn't really help me because I don't have anxious thoughts in the first place--just the physical symptoms.
DespairSoul
Well-known member
:
: James now i understand what u was meaning. I was thiking just u mean we have just only ANXIETY and that by others names of mental ilnesses psychiatrist try make moneyOk u ment Agoraphobia and AvPD... i dont know i think they exist both, but who knows maybe u are right. But i see some people are just scared only of performing(SA) and some are just shy and blushing..some have OCD obsses with things and AvPD can also overlap to OCD,panic disorder, they just can after some time overlaping in others. U can start with little avoiding and later u avoid extremly....thats can be mean u have AvPD because u worry about any little thing, thats mean in your words i may have severe anxiety but they called AvPD.
Last edited:
^ So it sounds like your self-esteem gets damaged when you do something you perceive to be less than perfect in front of others. It doesn't really matter what they think of you, and most of the time they won't even indicate what they think of you. So you're projecting your own thoughts of worthlessness onto them. When you avoid them, there is no one to project negative thoughts onto.
And this is more of an avoidant thing than an SA thing because you do not experience the physical symptoms of anxiety, like a rapid heart beat, sweating, mind blanks, etc.
And this is more of an avoidant thing than an SA thing because you do not experience the physical symptoms of anxiety, like a rapid heart beat, sweating, mind blanks, etc.
awkwardamanda
Well-known member
@JamesSmith: In case philly2bits didn't make it clear enough, I'll say it again. SA is an Anxiety Disorder. AvPD is a Personality Disorder. It's actually classed as an "anxious personality disorder." So while it is anxiety-related, it is not, in itself, merely anxiety. Anxiety comes in a variety of forms. It doesn't show itself the same way for everyone. Studying the similarities and differences between different types of anxiety and giving them labels probably helps psychologists and psychiatrists figure out how to deal with people with specific symtoms. It's unlikely they'll just treat someone who gets random panic attacks the exact same way they would treat somebody with OCD. And don't just assume that everyone with anxiety is born with it. That's a load of crap. You can be genetically predisposed to developing anxiety, sure. But I wouldn't believe for a minute that circumstance doesn't play a role. No way is someone who's been bullied, abused and rejected their whole life going to have the same chance at developing psychological problems as someone who has had everything go right for them in life. Just because it happens to be a certain way for you doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else.
@vj288: You sound a lot like me. I think it's more likely I've got AvPD than SA for those same reasons. A lot of social situations make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I don't get a lot of the physical symptoms. Sometimes I do, but it's mild, and only in certain situations. Mostly I just avoid things because I expect them to cause me discomfort, not so much anxiety. And on top of that, I don't wish to be social. I have difficultly forming close relationships, and generally I don't really want to. It would take a rare sort of person for me to open up.
@vj288: You sound a lot like me. I think it's more likely I've got AvPD than SA for those same reasons. A lot of social situations make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I don't get a lot of the physical symptoms. Sometimes I do, but it's mild, and only in certain situations. Mostly I just avoid things because I expect them to cause me discomfort, not so much anxiety. And on top of that, I don't wish to be social. I have difficultly forming close relationships, and generally I don't really want to. It would take a rare sort of person for me to open up.