Another day, another article romanticising anxiety that we really don’t need

It’s 2017 and discussion about mental health is becoming more and more prominent in the media, but when has the correct information ever stopped the oblivious and ignorant?

The Thought Catalogue, perhaps known for their abundance of articles concerning relationships, has once more decided to delve into matters with a heavy hand – or at least one of their writers has. “This Is Why People With Anxiety Are The Best People To Fall In Love With” has got to be one of the most appalling, and frankly concerning, articles I have ever had the misfortune to read.

Before anything, it isn’t to say that people who have anxiety make particularly bad partners or good partners, but that the article makes light of the serious issues that many people face and romanticises it to a painful level. The writer almost undermines and belittles the problems that people with anxiety face, even if that wasn’t their intention.

So, why is it that people with anxiety are the best people to fall in love with, according to one oblivious writer? “When you love someone who has anxiety, you’re loving someone who is in tune with their every emotion. Someone who feels everything with their being and doesn’t apologise for it”. Lol what? I don’t know about you, but feeling uneasy, restless and panicked a lot of the time doesn’t quite match up to this. A person’s mental illness isn’t the remedy to a relationship and shouldn’t be portrayed as such.

“People with anxiety are sensitive and old souls. They have so much heart. And they are going to pour all of their energy into this relationship”. Why would only a person with anxiety do this and no one else? Perhaps it wasn’t the writer’s purpose but to completely romanticise anxiety almost cheapens the serious issues that many people face.

“They know that they have baggage. They know that they have issues and that their mental health can sometimes bring you and your relationship down but, they trust you won’t leave”. It’s frustrating that the article does have the foundations of some good points, but seems to spin them in a way that falsifies everything they’re attempting to say. Why portray anxiety as anything other than it is? It’s a prominent mental health problem, and shouldn’t be presented as a solution to a good relationship or the promise of one either.

“You are loving someone who will never take you for granted, because they know how rare it is to find love”. So, because a person has anxiety they won’t make mistakes? Because they have anxiety they’ll only be passive just in case they won’t find someone else? And why wouldn’t they? It seems a particularly sharp double-edged sword to suggest on the one hand that people with anxiety make good partners, but on the other imply that they find it difficult to find someone to have a relationship with.

Everyone experiences anxiety differently, and some people might even agree and relate to the points made in the original article. But just because they do, doesn’t mean it’s right either. Anxiety should be recognised as the serious issue it is, not demeaned and romanticised into something it isn’t.