Clarifying Common Misconceptions About Treating Anxiety in Women

Anxiety in women is often misunderstood—even in psychiatric clinical settings.

Ahead of the 2025 Psych Congress NP Institute, Psych Congress Network connected with Moushumi Mukerji, MSN, PMHNP-BC, CNM, to discuss some of the key clinical takeaways from her session “Women’s Mental Health: Exploring Anxiety Throughout the Life Span,” presented alongside patient advocate Vanessa Joy Walker, CPC, MPH Candidate, Psych Congress Steering Committee consultant.

In part 2 of this powerful dialogue, Moushumi challenges conventional definitions, encouraging providers to look beyond DSM-5 criteria to identify nervous system dysregulation and overlooked comorbidities like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Vanessa offers a compelling personal lens on the stigma, misattributions, and missed opportunities that shape women’s care.

Together, they call for a more nuanced, inclusive approach to diagnosing and treating anxiety in women.

Missed Part 1 of this interview? Find it here: Adopting a Life-Stage Lens for Anxiety Treatment in Women

For more insights direct from the session rooms, visit our Psych Congress NP Institute newsroom.

Editors' note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

Psych Congress Network: From a clinician perspective, what are some of the common misconceptions about anxiety in women that you would like to address for our audience? 

Moushumi Mukerji, MSN, PMHNP-BC, CNM: In my own practice, I am attempting to reframe the concept of anxiety for other psychiatric NPs in order to make it more applicable to real-life psychiatric practice. When our women patients come to us reporting that they feel “anxious,” what they often are actually attempting to describe are various forms of nervous system dysregulation.

The definition of anxiety as outlined in the DSM-5 captures one common experience—mainly sympathetic activation--whereas other nervous system phenomena are often described colloquially by our patients as anxiety. These reports of “anxiety” are often hiding symptoms of PTSD and OCD.

PCN: Vanessa, in your own experience as a mental health patient, have you encountered these misconceptions? How did they affect your journey with accessing care for the anxiety you’ve experienced?

Vanessa Joy Walker, CPC, MPH Candidate: I've encountered numerous misconceptions about anxiety in women that significantly impacted my journey and access to care. Perhaps the most damaging was the perception that anxiety is somehow shameful or indicates weakness.

If you didn't already know, I'm PROUD to say that I have major depressive disorder—proud because there is NOTHING to be ashamed about. I'm awesome and I have a few mental health conditions—I'm also a cancer survivor, a leader, a consultant, a wife, a dog mom, and so much more! I am more than my diagnosis.

For years, though, I spent time apologizing for my illness and minimizing my worth because I felt like a burden and an inconvenience. The perception that anxiety and depression are character flaws rather than legitimate health conditions created barriers to seeking appropriate care when I needed it most.

Another persistent misconception is that anxiety in women is "just stress" or hormones acting up. After my cancer diagnoses and experiencing early onset menopause, healthcare providers often dismissed my anxiety as a "normal response" instead of recognizing it as a condition that needed specific intervention. This minimization created barriers to receiving comprehensive mental health support.

The intersection of multiple conditions created additional challenges. When expressing anxiety symptoms, they were frequently attributed to "cancer fears" or "hormonal fluctuations" rather than assessed as potentially independent mental health concerns. This siloing of symptoms delayed appropriate treatment and created unnecessary suffering.

Through my advocacy work with organizations like DBSA and as a Core Leader of Women's Health Advocates, I've witnessed these same misconceptions replicated across countless women's experiences. Women are often seen as less credible reporters of their own symptoms, particularly when it comes to mental health. This leads many to delay seeking help because they've internalized these misconceptions, believing they should be able to "handle" their anxiety without support.

As I often say in my speaking engagements, I know from experience that the journey after crisis can be more complex than the journey through crisis! And a significant part of that complexity comes from navigating these misconceptions.

Moushumi Mukerji MSN, PMHNP-BC, CNM, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner in private practice with Hope Therapy and Psychiatry Center and Alma. She is also a certified nurse-midwife with 21 years of experience in midwifery, women’s health, and maternity care nursing in various settings around the country. In her clinical practice, she provides medication management, psychotherapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. She specializes in perinatal and women's mental health. Moushumi is a graduate of Yale University and The University of California San Francisco Schools of Nursing. She is a volunteer faculty member of the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing as an Associate Clinical Professor. In her free time, she enjoys travel, gardening, and meditating.

Bringing together lived experience as a two-time cancer survivor and over 15 years of health care expertise, Vanessa Joy Walker, CDC, MPH candidate, transforms how organizations approach patient care and engagement. As a sought-after healthcare consultant, survivorship expert, skilled keynote speaker, and moderator, she partners with leading healthcare organizations in many sectors to create and promote patient-centric strategies. Through her work with Psych Congress, where she serves on the Steering Committee, and as Policy and Advisor for the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Vanessa brings authenticity and insight to conversations about mental health, survivorship, and healthcare innovation.