We are wondering if anxiety is a disorder or a disease. It may be thought that it does not matter if we are facing a mental illness or an emotional disorder, since what is truly important is finding an adequate treatment and learning to manage it.
The truth is that it is important to resolve this question, because the success of the treatment will depend on your answer, as well as your participation in the recovery. Given the lack of consensus, the decision of whether anxiety is a disorder or a disease will depend on you.
Difference between Disorder and Disease
In general terms and without going into definitions or scientific debates, the disease refers to a process in which health is lost, to an organic problem, which usually has a defined cause and a possible treatment. For its part, a disorder refers to a problem of adaptation to life without biological cause.
From this point of view, we see a little better at what point, for example, anxiety and depression separately. While depression has an organic origin, no matter how much it is motivated by some psychological cause, anxiety seems to be purely an emotional problem or disorder.
However, the fact that anxiety has an emotional origin does not prevent the consequences of its symptoms from leading to a disease. Therefore, the consideration of anxiety as a disorder or as a disease will depend a lot on how you take your anxiety problem yourself.
Consider anxiety as a disorder
We can affirm that it is better to consider anxiety as a disorder and not as a disease, since in this way you will be able to take an active part in the treatment. And it is a disease beyond the control of the patient, who must leave recovery in the hands of the medical team. While if it is an emotional disorder, the affected person will be able to get involved to the maximum.
Without prejudice to the medical treatments that are considered most appropriate, considering anxiety as a disorder implies that you recognize your share of responsibility both in the origin and in the healing process. We are not talking about guilt, but about more possibilities to manage that anxiety.
With the help of a psychologist, knowing that you are not sick, but that it is an alteration, a disorder, an error in the way you relate to life, will help you feel surer of yourself, more confident in yourself. That you will be able to overcome the anxiety problem and be more animated as you check how you learn to control anxiety.
