No need to apologize - society as a whole does not know very much about mental disorders. Let me explain to you:
There is something called the DSM IV-TR (the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, published the the American Psychological Association (APA)) which all psychologists use to diagnose their patients. According to this manual, in order to have Social Phobia (also called Social Anxiety Disorder), you must meet all of these conditions, and you can't just just kind of meet them; these "symptoms" must be there, all the time, for an extended period of time:
A. A marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar
people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms)
that will be humiliating or embarrassing. Note: In children, there must be evidence of the capacity for age-appropriate
social relationships with familiar people and the anxiety must occur in peer settings, not just interactions with adults.
B. Exposure to the feared social situation almost invariably provokes anxiety, which may take the form of a situationally bound
or situationally predisposed Panic Attack. Note: In children, the anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or
shrinking from social situations with unfamiliar people.
C. The person recognizes that the fear is excessive or unreasonable. Note: In children, this feature may be absent.
D. The feared social or performance situations are avoided or else are endured with intense anxiety or distress.
E. The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared social or performance situation(s) interferes significantly with the
person’s normal routine, occupational (academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is marked distress
about having the phobia.
F. In individuals under age 18 years, the duration is at least 6 months.
G. The fear or avoidance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or
a general medical condition and is not better accounted fro by another mental disorder (e.g., Panic Disorder With or
Without Agoraphobia, Separation Anxiety, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a Pervasisive Developmental Disorder, or Schizoid
Personality Disorder).
H. If a general medical condition or another mental disorder is present, the fear in Criterion A is unrelated to it, e.g., the fear is
not of Stuttering, trembling in Parkinson’s Disease, or exhibiting abnormal eating behavior in Anorexia Nervosa
As for Anorexia, it is almost always comorbid (meaning it occurs with) something called Body Dismorphic Disorder, which is when a person looks in the mirror and sees a completely distorted version of their self from what everyone else sees. They may weigh only 90 lbs, but to them it looks like they are obese.
Here is the diagnostic criteria for Anorexia:
* Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and
height, for example, weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85%
of that expected or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth,
leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected.
* Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.
* Disturbance in the way one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence
of body weight or shape on self evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current
low body weight.
* In postmenarcheal females, amenorrhea, i.e., the absence of at least 3 consecutive
menstrual cycles. A woman having periods only while on hormone medication
If you do not meet all of these criterion, you do not have Anorexia. Instead, you have something which we called EDNoS, which stands for Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Lots of people have this - it is not uncommon.
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So, as you see, there are definite definitions of all these disorders, and I don't want to be rude, but it almost seems to be that the name of this thread should be changed to "What are your quarks?", because that would be much more fitting. I'm not suggesting we do that in any way, and obviously there are definitely some people with real disorders here, I just ask that everyone be aware that this is a real, serious things that we are talking about, and we shouldn't just look a disorder up online and decide that we have it because it sounds cool. Instead, we should go to a doctor and let them decide, because they will actually be able to help us. I imagine it is kind of irritating for people who actually have these disorders to see so many completely average, healthy people saying that they have an illness they do not actually have. There are people out there who fight every day with mental illness, because it is so hindering to their lives that it has completely taken over in their daily routine. Some would give anything not to have the disorder they have. We're all a lot better off than we think we are, really.
