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Just anxiety, just depression...

Alien0n3arth

This post is going to be short probably. It intrigues me and I don't understand,  why it's often written in articles in the Internet, "is it autism or just anxiety?" Or "Autism or just trauma?" Etc. Does it imply, that Autism is a serious condition while anxiety or ptsd are just minor inconvenience? In fact the amount of struggling does not depend only on specific diagnosis,  but rather the severity of symptoms. Is this "just" added because the other conditions are curable? - only if the professionals know how to care it. How many people get diagnosed with depression and anxiety for decades, although these conditions should be cured within a year or two?

I joined once a forum for people with ptsd, as I also experienced terrible abuse (No details here) and honestly the severity of some symptoms described there was shocking for me. 

So I'm wondering if it means, that tge other conditions are not being treated seriously or what else would be the reason for saying "just depression " etc. 

Or maybe I'm too obsessive to overthink just one word in a sentence. Anyone has opinion or clue about it?

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    Thank you for the explanation. I saw these sentences in the middle of an article, where there was a comparison between autism and other conditions- similar symptoms,  different reason. 

    I don't think in this case there should be separating them into more and less serious conditions. 

  • The word ‘just’, in this case, is an adverb which in your examples means ‘only’, ’simply’ or ‘merely’.

    It’s not possible to comprehend the intent of the writer from the title alone. The main clause is about autism, so that seems to be what the writer is focusing on. It would depend on the context of the whole article, so you would infer the meaning from that, rather than (just) the title.

    If the focus of the article was about autism, it mightn’t necessarily be undermining those with depression or anxiety, but on the other hand, the author might be dismissive of anxiety/depression or ignorant about their seriousness.

     

  • in reply to RachelO

    It's a very interesting article, thank you for sharing!

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing

    I think Stuart and CW are right about the use of the word "just", it can be used both ways, but overall I think you have to take in the whole context of what you're reading. Having suffered from serious depression a couple of time theres no "just" about it, its serious and debilitating no matter who you are.

    I wonder if the "just" is being used to divide people into thinking that thier lucky they don't have autism because all autistics are depressed, or that if they had autism then they'd have something to be depressed about? It sounds very judgemental, we all know there are people worse off than ourselves, depressed people struggle to see this, its part of the illness, but to use any comparissons are unhelpful to everybody, demeaning and belittling. There should be no heirarchy of suffering.

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing

    I had a psychiatrist tell me: it's just depression,  you just need to go out more, see new people,  make friends. And one pill pre day.

    I felt absolutely misunderstood and my problems belittled. It sounded to me like "nothing serious" - just depression. 

  • I don't think it means one is worse than the other-just that it doesn't originate from autism.  It seems that there are sub groups of autism that do not experience much anxiety, there is a diagram to explain some research.

    www.brainfacts.org/.../new-autism-subtypes-identified-based-on-genes-individual-traits-111125

  • I think you are right, the language used is suggesting that one condition is worse than another. I don't think they actually are, as you said struggling with things like depression can be debilitating for anyone. I think it's click-bait headlines, designed to draw people in that maybe have one of the other conditions (like depression or anxiety) and want to know if they have the 'worse' one (autism). They shouldn't use the word 'just', as it's belittling (anyone with serious depression/anxiety and are NT I'm sure would say), but the authors want to sound a little scandalous so it draws people in more.  Sensationalising is common in news and the wider internet now.

    Good and thoughtful observation.

  • in reply to Stuart333

    Thank you for your explanation, yes looks like i misinterpreted. 

  • I think you are misinterpreting their use of the word 'just'. They don't mean it is less, they mean 'only'. Is it only anxiety, etc.

    Remember no one can see how you feel or think, or know what has happened, they only see the outside and your behaviour.

    Other conditions can look the same. Of course you can have multiple conditions, which makes treatment and progress harder. But if you have only one thing, it makes it easier.

    The challenge with ASD I think, is it changes the way you perceive and interact with the world in various ways, which adds another level.