Tag Archives: anxiety

Panic Attacks, Explained In Cartoon Form

Jessica WakemanDecember 20, 2011 //
Explaining Depression
What does it really feel like to suffer from depression? Read More »
Celeb Mental Cases
These celebs have talked about their mental issues. 8 Photos »
Celebs On Depression
Celebs open up about coping with depression. 10 Photos »

Here at The Frisky’s offices, one of the most hotly anticipated books of 2011 is Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom, by the comedienne and all-around-awesome-lady Sara Benincasa. I love this girl for her balls-out honesty regarding her mental health struggles with agoraphobia and anxiety. Agorafabulous! is based on Sara’s one-woman show of the same name, which recounts how vicious panic attacks created a fear of the outside world, to the point where she refused to leave her college dorm room. In this cartoon, Sara explains all about anxiety attacks, the “flight or fight” response, and why you shouldn’t shop at Whole Foods. As someone who has suffered from panic attacks from age 15 onwards, I could have used an explanation like this back when I was hyperventilating and didn’t know what the eff was going on!  

Abortion Not Linked To Mental Disorders, Study Says

Stefanie BlejecDecember 9, 2011 //
Dear Wendy
This woman's boyfriend was absent when she had an abortion. Read More »
Abortion Lies
abortion photo
CPCs scolded for misleading women about abortion. Read More »
WTF Abortion Billboard
abortion billboard
Crazy guy shamed ex with a billboard because she had an abortion. Read More »
abortion photo

Having an abortion does not increase a woman’s chance of developing mental health problems, a British health agency has found. The U.K.’s National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health compared a number of studies conducted worldwide in the past 20 years and found that in cases of unwanted pregnancy, women who chose abortion were no more likely to develop disorders like depression and anxiety than those who gave birth. Research does point to an increase in mental disorders in women with unwanted pregnancies in general, with approximately one in three women with unwanted pregnancies diagnosed with such disorders. These statistics did not rise, however, in the cases in which women underwent abortion. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: Overcoming My Eating Disorder

Skylar GreyOctober 17, 2011 //
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
One woman's experience battling this disorder. Read More »
Kate "Thinspiration"
kate middleton photo
Kate Middleton is "thinspiration" on pro-anorexia web sites. Read More »
Barbie Vs. Reality
kate halchishick photo
Katie Halchishick depicts Barbie vs. reality in O Magazine. Read More »
Comfortable Curvy
She likes her bigger body better. Read More »
bulimia photo

Writing about eating disorders feels like an exercise in vulnerability, not because I am ashamed to share my story, but due to the extremely emotional nature of the topic for countless women. In an era of Kate Moss, skinny jeans, and “she’s too skinny!” tabloid fodder, eating disorders run rampant like a cultural epidemic, continuing to fester alongside a never-ending preoccupation with body image. Although the majority of the media narrows the scope of the issue to models and celebrities, eating disorders are actually most prevalent amongst us everyday girls. Simultaneously, the reality of EDs extends beyond the teenage anecdotes of starving ourselves to be popular; these serious diseases have lifetime physical and psychological ramifications and are far more multifarious than extreme dieting. Weight is a sensitive subject to say the least, one I am going to handle diplomatically. The objective of sharing my story is not to be controversial, blame Hollywood, or spark debate on how to confront eating disorders, but to reflect on the complexities of a ghost that has haunted me and so many others for over a decade.

Keep reading »

Girl Talk: Hello, Anxiety

Jessica WakemanApril 11, 2011 //

The past four months of my life were really, really s**tty and hard. I got dumped suddenly by someone with whom I was in love. I moved out of the apartment we shared together and back in with my parents for three months. The Frisky was sold to new owners and we’ve all had to adjust to that (with a smaller staff) while working from home since we don’t, as of yet, have a new office space. All of that happened within a few weeks of each other. Can you say stress? My coping mechanisms were crying jags and burying myself in my bedsheets with “Keeping Up In The Kardashians” on Netflix Instant.
Keep reading »

How To Handle Awkward Moments Without A Panic Attack

Jessica WakemanMarch 30, 2011 //

Karma’s a bitch, dude. This morning, I was frolicking through Starbucks, smiling to myself about how awesome my life has gotten. On Friday, I’m moving out of my parents’ house and into my own apartment. Today I woke up next to my new Gentleman Caller the night after we decided to date each other exclusively. The sun is shining. The birds were trilling. Tra la la la la la la!

And then I ran into the woman whose ex-boyfriend cheated on her with me two years ago. A woman who didn’t respond to my multiple apologetic emails because, let’s be honest, she probably hates my putrid guts. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: I Have A Fear Of Flying

Jessica WakemanApril 27, 2010 //
fear of flying photo

A few weeks from today, while you suckers are surreptitiously reading The Frisky on your office computers, I’ll be lying in the sun at a hotel in Los Angeles. There’s a pool on the roof and cabanas and waiters who’ll serve you cocktails poolside. I don’t intend to get up from my beached whale position all week — except, you know, to have sex with my boyfriend whenever I damn feel like it. It’s going to be heaven.

But there’s one little detail — two details, really — that throw a wrench in the whole vacation: I have to fly there and I have to fly back. And being trapped inside an airplane for six hours twice in one week fills me with such a crippling fear that I’m tempted to call the whole thing off. Keep reading »

Girl Talk: I’m On Anti-Depressants

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 22, 2010 //

I was standing in front of a table lamp display in Crate & Barrel when I decided maybe I needed to be on psychiatric medicine. I had been alternating between staring at the display and wandering around the store helplessly for the last two and a half hours and was no closer to making a decision on what table lamp I was going to buy than I had been when I walked in. My heart was beating fast, my mind was racing, and I simply could not concentrate on making what should have been a very simple decision. I was thisclose to a full-blown panic attack. Instead, I walked out of the store, went home empty-handed, and told my therapist that Tuesday that I needed a referral for a psychiatrist. I seriously could not take this s**t anymore. Keep reading »

People Are Talking About Amanda Seyfried’s Pill-Popping

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 18, 2010 //

In the new issue of Esquire, Amanda Seyfried not only gabs about her new “spinach and seed”-eating diet, she also scandalously pops pills in front of the interviewer! A birth control pill and the anti-anxiety med Lexapro, that is. Here’s how it’s described in the story:

The anxiety rises in her as she speaks, and she cracks open her purse, shakes a Lexapro into her hand. She halves it, then pops a birth-control pill from its foil pack and swallows both. “Yeah, yeah, I’m anxious,” she says. “And yes, I use birth control.”

Keep reading »

10 Things You Can Do Instead Of Worrying About Aging

Annika HarrisNovember 23, 2009 //

A recent study in the U.K. has shown that women constantly — on average, 252 times a week — worry about their appearance and aging. One hundred women, ages 35 to 69, were asked to carry a clicker over a seven-day period. Each time they had a negative thought or felt anxiety about their appearance they pressed the clicker. The women worried about their appearance, on average, 36 times a day. One participant, an actress who had a facelift 10 years ago, clicked 1,400 times during the week. She admitted that she clicked less when she had on a full face of makeup.

The study’s designers, fitness instructor Irene Estry and psychologist Emma Kenny, intended to determine whether our looks-obsessed culture creates ageism and pressure to remain youthful. It’s rather clear already that our society puts this pressure on women, especially. If we assume that each woman worried about her appearance for one minute each time, that’s four minutes wasted every week. Let’s spend this time doing something more productive than obsessing about our looks! Read our suggestions for how to spend these four extra minutes after the jump. [Impact Lab] Keep reading »

Are You Afraid Of Weird Stuff?

Susannah BreslinSeptember 2, 2009 //

Some people are afraid of “normal” stuff: dying, war, rejection. Some people are afraid of “weirder” things: dust, meteors, sushi. Whether your fear is odd or not, it may have a weird name. Mamapedia rounds up “25 Fears You Never Knew Existed,” and some of the names for phobias are as weird as the fears they describe. Take, for example, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. It means you’re afraid of … long words. Peladophobia is the opposite of this — a fear of bald dudes. If you’re an arachibutyrophobiac, you’re afraid of peanut butter (which is understandable if you’re allergic). And phobophobes? They’re afraid of phobias. What strange things give you anxiety attacks? Tell us in the comments! [Mamapedia] Keep reading »

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