To those who think anxiety isn't real...
After a year and a half of hospitalizations, misdiagnoses, countless medication changes, and many unanswered questions, I was fortunate enough to get an evaluation appointment with one of the best mental health specialists in the country. My parents and I drove 6 hours south to meet this doctor to hear his opinions on my diagnosis and future treatment. The evaluation process took more than 5 hours. At the end of the day, the doctor said, “There is no need for her to be on antipsychotic medication because she actually has a severe anxiety disorder.” My parents were so happy to hear this prognosis, and everything the doctor explained about the onset, symptoms, and reactions I had to medications made sense. At the time, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that I had an anxiety disorder because I didn’t understand how the severity of what I was going through was a term I heard people say every day. Many times people use the word anxiety when they are describing feeling stressed