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Does having anxiety mean your crazy/mental?

306 Answers
Last Updated: 04/11/2022 at 9:00am
1 Tip to Feel Better
United States
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Jennifer Fritz, LMSW, PhD

Clinical Social Work/Therapist

Day to day life can be stressful and overwhelming and my strength is assisting my clients in a supportive, empowering and practical manner.

Top Rated Answers
Brittany96
February 1st, 2017 2:06am
It does NOT mean you're "crazy." Unfortunately mental problems are incredibly stigmatized and often get labels and hurtful insults; psycho, crazy, nutcase, etc. Anxiety is a completely normal emotion. Almost everyone experiences it, especially in situations such as public speaking or watching a scary movie. It may be a mental illness if your anxiety is becoming uncontrollable, making you unable to function, or if you're experiencing anxiety for long periods of time. But even if you have a mental illness, it doesn't mean you're "crazy." Some people might call you "crazy" for struggling with a mental problem, but that's because they don't understand what it is like to deal with these things every day. Insanity is typically associated with someone who has lost all touch with reality, such as individuals who are experiencing psychosis. Anxiety doesn't involve any of that.
Doc559
March 25th, 2015 4:57pm
No. Anxiety is a normal emotion and part of the protective mechanism we have. When anxiety becomes overwhelming to the extent that you feel overly anxious, that is, "frozen in your activities or thoughts," and you are limited in what you can do, then you will want to seek help to limit your anxiety back to the protective level which would be considered normal.
Anonymous
October 1st, 2016 12:42am
Absolutely not! Anxiety is simply a biological reaction to stress or troubling thoughts; anxiety becomes problematic when it stops us from doing the things that we want to do. Having some anxiety is natural; often, talking to one of 7 Cups' Active Listeners can help put your anxiety into perspective and reduce it.
OceanCalm16
July 21st, 2015 3:46pm
That's an excellent question and one I find that I ask myself often. I definitely understand where the question is coming from. Anxiety can make you feel crazy, out of control and disoriented. But no, it does not mean you are crazy. And that can be hard to remember. Crazy and mental are terms that are forced upon people with real and debilitating conditions because people don't understand that anxiety is a medical condition. Having a mental illness does not make you crazy. It makes you different from the norm and it means you have to work harder than other people to achieve normal, everyday things sometimes. Remember that you are not alone and that your illness is legitimate.
AnnieWizz
May 29th, 2015 12:09pm
Having anxiety in my opinion means you are normal - we all have anxiety from time to time to various levels and degrees. It is how we handle this stress that is most important. Don't really like to use the term crazy or mental, it is subjective and puts a label on the person rather than the feeling or emotion.
Anonymous
January 6th, 2018 2:14pm
No of course not, a lot of people struggle with anxiety daily. It can come from things such as school, work, home, but in no way does it make a person crazy.
Tigerio
April 1st, 2018 6:06am
No! Having anxiety dose not mean you are crazy/mental! Having anxiety just means you are scared. It is basically like being scared of the dark..
Pumpkin74
April 1st, 2018 4:39pm
While you may sometimes feel disconnected, having anxiety does NOT make you crazy/mental! Your body is going through fight or flight and actually, it is working! The difficulty with anxiety is our fight or flight response is triggered without danger. Though you may feel alone and distressed about these events, many experience these reactions and there is a lot you can do to get through things!
aListeningEarReady2Hear
April 5th, 2018 2:00am
No, I have the same battle of anxiety and I don't feel crazy or mental....maybe mental...but mental is not crazy. Mental illness is treatable. A person battling anxiety just needs help.... Nothing crazy with feeling anxiety.
Iminthecosmos
April 5th, 2018 2:04am
Of course not, people who have anxiety aren't crazy, a lot of the time they just overthink things or just worry a lot.
WestVirginia
April 6th, 2018 6:01pm
Not at all. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues, and many many people struggle with it. It comes in a ton of forms from social anxiety to panic attacks and each kind has different techniques and skills you can learn to help manage it.
Anonymous
April 8th, 2018 6:36pm
No, having anxiety does not mean that you are a crazy or mental. Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their life, but it becomes a problem when the anxiousness doesn't seem to go away and it interferes with your daily life. Having a mental illness does not mean you are "crazy" but you should certainly seek support and help from someone you trust.
Helpinggrape
April 8th, 2018 8:56pm
No, having anxiety does not make you crazy, over 40 million adults in the USA alone suffer from it and that's just one country. Image the stats for the entire world, the main this is accepting that have it and dealing with it through self care, medication, therapy etc. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about having anxiety, you can deal with this
Gukkiee
April 8th, 2018 9:28pm
Absolutely not. Anxiety is an emotion people feel quite often, though it is classified as a mental disorder it doesn't mean that you're crazy. Everyone experiences anxiety, though some experience it kore often! It's okay to have anxiety, it doesn't make you any less of a person.
Ghostplants
January 19th, 2018 7:08am
Not at all! Many people experience anxiety and can sympathize. Don't let others make you feel bad for having anxiety!
Ruth1984
April 11th, 2018 7:11pm
No, I don't think so. It just means you are more sensitive towards certain situations than other people. It can become a problem when you cannot control your reaction to certain situations, but that is solvable.
HouseOfGold21
January 18th, 2018 5:54pm
You'd be surprised how many people have anxiety. Some people can manage it more than others. Nobody is crazy or mental because of this.
KimtheNaturalist
January 18th, 2018 5:02pm
Absolutely NOT. Anxiety is the defense mechanism that occurs when the body has been under too much stress.
Anonymous
April 18th, 2018 9:46pm
Having anxiety is like having a fear or doubt about your future, where your thoughts would introduce bad experiences that could happen before, during or after an event... it could be 'crazy ' or then again you could treat it as a logical fault finding excersize of how you can overcome the obstacles that anxiety presents to you
positiveForever73
April 26th, 2018 7:03am
Not at all. Everyone goes through having anxiety at some point in their life. This is completely a normal feeling. You can deal with it.
wishfulRose80
April 25th, 2018 11:08pm
Not at all. We are all human. We find something new to be anxious/worried about. It's not always about the situation itself. It's about how you handle it.
Anonymous
April 25th, 2018 1:30pm
Having anxiety certainly does not mean that you're crazy! It simply means that your mind loves to think about things that will likely not happen, and jump to conclusions.
riv3rrr
April 25th, 2018 1:16pm
No, it definitely doesn't. Everyone experiences anxiety as a general survival instinct. Your brain may simply be a little bit more sensitive to going into "survial mode".
Anonymous
April 11th, 2022 9:00am
People feel anxious during stressful situations. It is completely normal. If your anxiety is excessive and interfering with your daily functioning, then you should probably consult a professional like therapist or psychiatrist. If you are diagnosed with anxiety disorder by the professional, that simply means that you have a mental health issue which can be treated. Crazy, mental, schizo etc are some derogatory terms we use to describe people who we think might be overreacting to a situation even though they may not be suffering from any mental health issues. What else can I say other than that it's unfortunate. Mental health issue is just like any other physical illness. If you think you have a problem, then you just consult a doctor and get treated.
kindsoul129
April 25th, 2018 1:03am
Actually having anxiety means you are human! Everyone is programmed to experience anxiety in situations where we might be in danger - when anxiety does its job it can actually help us survive. However, if you experience extreme anxiety chances are this mechanism has gone a bit awry. It has, somewhere along the line, associated the situation you're anxious about with a threat to your survival. You may be thinking your life has never been in danger in that way but this is where it gets more complex - this system also responds to perceived threats. That means sometimes it is activated when we imagine the worst case scenario... when we get carried away with "what ifs"! The great news is that just as we learnt this association we can un-learn it though examining the events which caused the wires to get crossed or by gradually confronting our fears and seeing there is no danger. So, no - you aren't crazy or mental - in fact your body is doing its job a little too well!
RealLifeTruth
April 19th, 2018 4:56pm
Of course not! Having anxiety often means that you're more inclined to be nervous than people without it, but it definitely doesn't mean that you're crazy or mental. It's a mental health disorder that can be treated ( not always cured, but controlled at least). But to answer the question simply, no it doesn't mean that. I hope this helped
BritishSteven
April 12th, 2018 3:36pm
No, having anxiety basically means that you have a hard time controlling your worries, I wouldn't use the terms crazy or mental to describe anyone who has any mental health issue.
Mars91
April 12th, 2018 10:35pm
Not at all, everyone has different reactions to stress, anxiety does not mean you are crazy, i feel like it shows you understand there could be parts that go wrong.
Inesa707
April 13th, 2018 10:03am
No it does not mean that! It just means you get nervous in certain situations. Everyone has anxiety its just different levels. You might be okay with dogs while someone else is terrified. but you are certainly not Crazy or mental.
Glissygirlxox
March 29th, 2018 10:35am
Having anxiety does not mean you’re crazy/mental. Anxiety is a part of human life. All humans experience anxiety at some stage, and at some level. Some are more likely to develop anxiety disorders more than others, however, anxiety is never anyone's fault and never anyone's choice.