How to confront my emotionally abusive Dad?

Hey, I'm new to the forums...and I hope this isn't all covered in some FAQ somewhere I should have read, but... I've recently been diagnosed with Depression and GAD. I've had it for about 6 years now, and I've known that something was wrong for about 3 or 4 years. However, my father has a history of being emotionally abusive (textbook case) and he yells at me a lot over small issues. These 'arguments' are anxiety triggers, I'm always worrying what he might get mad at me over next, and altering behavior to please him more often than I don't. He also has a tendency to brush off my health problems as 'excuses' or not important. I want to formally confront him about the fact that I have GAD, since he still doesn't seem to have 'gotten it', but I'm worried that he'll just brush me off like he has in the past and make the same kind of condescending remarks. It's gotten to the point where I am having anxiety attacks over whether or not he'll even listen to what I'm saying, and I don't know where else to look for help.

What do I do?

I don't know how old you are, if you are adult my advice would be to get away find your own place to live.
Its hard to make someone listen if they won't, as he has not take on board your problems so far I doubt confronting him will help.
As you have been diagnosed by a health care professional the only way to get through to him maybe is to ask your doctor to talk to him and explain GAD, he might listen to professional. Its worth a try?

I'm in the same boat. It is best to try to limit contact with him if he's continuing to be emotionally abusive. My dad's the same way, and I found it best tell him as little as possible. Have you been officially diagnosed? That might help if you had a letter from your doctor or something like that, or as the previous poster said, have your doctor talk to him. That might make him realize. Some people just don't have a clue about anxiety and think it's all bs. I tried to tell my dad and it seems it just made things worse. I've accepted the fact that he will not change and it seems to help. I found a support group that has helped a lot on meetup.com. Good luck

"He who feels it knows it more" -Bob Marley

My dad is this way as well. I don't think he means to be, I just think he has no concept of mental-emotional disorders. "In his day" people who had obsessions/compusions or panic attacks were seen as simply overreacting or going crazy & needing to be "snapped out of it" (if only it were that easy). When I have a panic attack my father threatens to call the police (and has TWICE) which only makes it 10xs worse. My parents do not seem to understand that mental illness is just that, an illness & not some choice to overreact. You wouldn't tell someone with diabetes, cancer, or palsy to snap out of it or get a handle on things. My mother equated people being ocd, bipolar, etc to being immature today... that was frustrating. She also said that my OCD & SAD are causing my reproductive issues (who knew they could displace organs?)... ??? She is a very religious woman, & while I have spiritual beliefs, they differ greatly from her's, esp in the simplicity of some issues. She thinks I should solely focus on quoting scripture to "get better" . I feel like I have to learn to resist my own "demons" more or less.