Mental or Psychological

[kareem]

Dears,

I want to know if General/Social Anxiety/Phobias are Mental issues or purely Psychlogical.

Few years back, one of the Doctors I saw expalined that the cause of it is low serotonin in the brain (No reason as to why it is low). However, I thought this is the cause of depression, but any way I would like to know your opinion on this to shed more light on it.

And if it is catagorised as mental, does this mean we are are somehow crazy?

Doesnt this prevent people from taking about it freely out of fear of stigmatised or harrased over this?

Appreciate your feedback......

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Kareem,

There is no real link to low serotonin in anxiety or depression as far as I have read. Even with depression, they based it on the fact that people who are depressed have been observed to have low levels but they don't know whether the depression causes that.

Its classed as a mental health disorder. Its not a serious psychological disorder which requires permanent management. Basically, we operate on a spectrum and unfortunately we have skewed away from the normal parameters that we would operate within. Thats all it is. Its learnt behaviour, just like any other form of learning but we have learnt to be unhealthy. This is why these disorders are completely curable, its just finding out way back and keeping ourselves there.

Yeah, it is an area that suffers from stigma. It can be seen as a weakness or failing. Some people may feel uncomfortable with the issue. A lot of this is born out of ignorance because when you go through it, your opinions soon change.

Think of mental health stigma as something similiar to the stigma you may face in the UK over religion. You said you were Palestinian so I'm assuming you are Muslim (my apologies if you are on of the other religions). Some people in the UK think of extremists when they think of Islam. Thats ignorance born out of a lack of education. You may face stigma in the UK due to that (I hope you don't) from people who think this way. However, many people are also non judgemental and will treat you as an equal and others are educated in the facts about modern religion (and know the media like to scaremonger) so know there is nothing to be concerned about and also treat you as an equal.

Thats probably a more extreme example (and I know there is the idiot factor in cases of those who commit those offences and bullying) as mental health stigma isn't as 'in your face' as that but its to demonstrate how ignorance tends to be the reason why stigma exists. Have you ever heard the phrase "people are afraid of what they don't understand?".

Since 1 in 4 in the UK will experience mental health issues at some point in their lifetime, things will change purely on that basis as more people start to search out places like this and learn about what they are going through.

Don't let it put you off talking about it. No one is going to judge you on here Kareem.

[kareem]

Hello Terry (MyNameIsTerry),

Thank you very much for your kind words and support.
Also for the explanation which I appreciate.

Yes, you are right, I am Muslim and when I lived in the UK I never had any sort of problems. In fact had many friends English, Malaysian and chinese students.

But after graduation I couldnt get a job because the interviews I had were all against me as I was very nervous sweating, blushing etc, during interviews.

I have been living and working abroad since 1995 and visited the UK last year and had a good time with the family.

Thank you again

[MyNameIsTerry]

I'm really pleased you had a good time in the UK, Kareem. Personally, I like how multiculture we have become and its another reason why I like NMP because anxiety disorders have no borders and its good to see how different people cope in all sorts of situations.

Job interviews are not easy and many people struggle until they develop more confidence in their abilities but its even harder when anxiety is involved.

I seem to recall you are an IT professional, is that correct? If so, then I hope prospective employers will see you for your skills too because many IT professionals don't have a customer facing role with their internal customers anyway. I've worked with many and there were plenty who didn't have the required skills for that anyway and they didn't have an anxiety disorder causing them to struggle at interviews. I guess if you are working on helpdesks, maybe desktop support or would be working in project teams then they may see more of a requirement for it.