Generalized Anxiety: A Dissent

I've got an axe to grind

This article is to explain “how I think about” anxiety. I’m a dual-board certified child and adult psychiatrist. I also used to teach neuroanatomy lab! I suspect generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is not a “valid diagnosis.” This is not to say people don’t experience anxiety. An argument:

Neurologists have an ax to grind about the term  "dizzy."  Dizzy can mean more than one thing.

Altered sense of balance and place, possibly described as lightheaded, feeling faint, or as if head is spinning.

When some people say dizzy, what they mean as they feel lightheaded:

Feeling dizzy or about to pass out.

About to pass out can mean syncope:

Fainting, or a sudden temporary loss of consciousness.

But when other people use the word dizzy, they are sometimes referring to vertigo:

A sudden internal or external spinning sensation, often triggered by moving your head too quickly.

This experience is usually with positional changes in one’s head because one’s inner ear is sending signals to the brain. The…