Shane1987 said:
Hi everyone. I know there are a lot of posts about anxiet WITH medication. I have had anxiety in the past but DO NOT AND HAVE NOT taken medication. Is this likely to affect my medical when trying to get in? I know others have got in even after medication but I want to hear from those who stated they’ve had anxiety in the past but did not take medication. Thank you.
If you’re not on medication for it, it’s not that severe, meaning so far you’ve been able to manage it on your own. You’ve never had a formal diagnosis right? There are many, many proven, self-help coping mechanisms for anxiety out there (breathing techniques, regular exercise, meditating, CBT, etc etc.) I’m assuming you’ve already found a mechanism that works for you, hence, no meds. If it’s a non-issue, then it’s a non-issue—it doesn’t affect your day-to-day life, most of us have suffered from anxiety during at least one point in our lives.
I don’t know what weight will, or will not, get placed on the CAF’s decision to enroll you if you state you’ve suffered from anxiety, either now or in the past, with or without meds. I personally know people who have gotten in who’ve struggled with some degree of mental health issue, meds or not and I know people who haven’t. There’s a ton that goes into the successful enrolment of an individual and the overall assessment of their medical beyond just a single issue. You want someone to tell you definitively whether disclosing it or not will, or won’t, affect your chances. Well,
no one here can tell you that. It’s up to you to decide when you go in whether or not to be as transparent as you ethically feel you should be and see how it all plays out.
I’d suffered from anxiety before I enrolled during various stages. I’d never needed any meds for it. I disclosed this fact during my medical. I wasn’t ashamed, or felt any reason to hide it. I got in. And you know what? I’ll tell you (and others here will too), military life comes with very unique (and the chance of many other very unique) stressors, which can rarely be attributed to most other careers. I encountered a set of circumstances that threw my anxiety into severe hyper-drive. I ended up on meds for a while. They worked, I’m glad, but I never, ever thought I’d need them. I saw the signs that my anxiety was getting worse, and I tried to stave off the effects, but it got to the point where I couldn’t manage it anymore and had to seek help.
Now—everyone comes with their own level of resilience, either naturally or learned. Personality, environment et. al all play a factor into how we handle things. What affects one person will not affect another in the same manner, nor to the same degree. So, sincerely ask yourself whether you think this is a job for you. I’m in no way saying you shouldn’t go for it. However, what I DO want you to do is read and research and reflect honestly on whether you feel the military could exacerbate an existing issue, even if you feel it hasn’t bothered you in quite some time. Because I assure you, there’s a lot of stress-inducing circumstances you may find yourself in even if you never get deployed or are involved in combat. (Those situations are a category all of their own.)
