Why do you think so many people have anxiety these days?

[TitaniasAss]

Or do you think it's just become more recognised? When I was young I remember my mum describing a neighbour as 'living on her nerves' which I think probably meant that this woman suffered from anxiety.

I don't suffer myself, I do get anxious about the things most people get anxious about eg driving test, exams etc but I don't think that's unusual. I work in a secondary school and we have so many children with SEMH and anxiety issues that it makes me worry for their future.

I used to work in a primary setting a few years ago and I can remember an 8 year old telling me that they were having a panic attack because of their anxiety. It was awful to me that a child that young even knew what a panic attack was.

I absolutely do believe that, for teens, social media plays a huge part. Why so many adults?

Lockdown, social media, global political and environmental shitshows. Sure there were things to stress about when I grew up in the 80s/90s but this century (arguably since 9/11) it feels palpably scarier whether that's the reality or the perception due to increased/over-awareness due to the internet. There's a trend too no doubt, but that doesn't mean there aren't legitimate reasons for people to feel anxious. They're more connected globally and less connected IRL communities. Johan Hari's book Lost Connections is an interesting read. He says something about the root cause of our 21st Century sickness that's stayed with me: “We are the first humans to dismantle our tribe. Lost. Alone on a savannah we do not understand, puzzled by our sadness.”

In part because what were once regarded as normal human emotions which are part of the ups and down of life have now been medicalised.

The last few years have been pretty stressful overall and day to day life in the UK is more difficult and less pleasant than it used to be. I think that engenders a certain background level of anxiety that's higher than previously. In particular, we all experienced a degree of long term social isolation during covid, and that is a known trigger for anxiety symptoms. Remember how weird it felt being out and about during that time? Those feelings are anxiety related.

So with the baseline being generally higher anyway, individuals who experience stressful life events don't have so far to go to get to the stage where anxiety is a problem.

I'm not sure all this naval gazing is helpful. People think way too much about themselves. their feelings rather than getting on with life and taking one day at a time.

Sorry but it’s just nuts to suggest life is more difficult now than it was for previous generations.

Gosh yes, this too. I very rarely look at global news anymore. Got called ignorant the other day because if this, but I know my brain can't cope with it.
I have friends who are so so worried about climate change and their children's future. I care, of course I do, but I do my bit and try to live in the present.

I know a lot of 20 year olds who talk about their climate anxiety. It's just another thing to worry about on top of all the other things they worry about!

I hate phones too. Phones with internet have fucked everything. God they're useful, but they're fucking awful too.

There are some really perceptive replies on this thread.
Me - I just have an underlying feeling of dread and that something's coming for us all but I need to back away from my phone!

Totally this. Feeling nervous before a big work thing, an exam, or other stressful time is not 'anxiety', it is feeling anxious which is a completely normal thing to feel at these times and we need to normalise this again. Feeling anxious or worried at times of stress is something that you just have to learn coping techniques to manage rather than wallowing in it - at the moment as soon as the word anxiety is mentioned it seems to be a get-out for all uncomfortable situations.
As a result young people arent learning to cope with these feeling and understanding they are normal.
Im always careful when my kids express worry before a test or sports match or similar, to recognise it yes, but be clear it is completely normal to feel that way.

This too.

This is spot on.

Which is fair, but life is more relentless than it was at any comparable point in the past.

like a pp pointed out, life is loud and information is constant. Noticing (and being irritated by) a rise in anxiety, a rise in diagnoses etc is part of the same issue. Technology has developed and been designed to appeal to our addictive nature alongside the shift to using more fundamental needs on exactly the same platform.

I can reduce screen time and monitor/ban certain sites/apps but then my junior school aged child still has to access a screen to access their homework.

I'd be inclined to agree.

Also, a lot of children seem to learn how to 'emote' as expected, and will turn on panic or hysterical sobbing according to the situation.

I used to think that was I being mean in thinking this, but then I attended the funeral of an adolescent. Rather than the public hysterics and full-blown sobbing that I was half-expecting, her friends seemed to be expressing genuine emotions: they were stunned and silent and appalled with the odd quiet nose-blow. In other words, when the chips were truly down, they behaved exactly like the adults.

I'd also agree with what @ChillysWaterBottle says. I know several people who deliberately avoid the news - one who updates herself every week, and maintains a state of general zen calm, and another who just ignores it entirely and is one of the happiest people I know (despite living with a chronic illness).

ETA I also think that people don't spend enough time out of doors, especially in the winter. It's my personal experience that natural daylight cheers me up no end - not necessarily in any immediate way, but more in a genera lift in my mood. If I spend five hours hours outside on a winter day, the boost it gives me lasts for a couple of weeks. If you're happier, you're less likely to feel stressed and miserable.

Agree. The world has gone soft, obsessed with pronouns and arguing what a woman is (an adult female human but for some reason our leaders can't say it). Generally I think people need to man up and get a grip and stop being so offended by everything. Humanity has never had it so good, particularly in the U.K. where you get so many handouts it's embarrassing.

Focus on telling him its really normal to feel a wide range of emotions and that they will pass.
We are all in the same boat for the most part and tell him highs and lows are part of life - the joyous exciting times like aceing the test or winning the game wouldn't feel so high without the pre-game jitters!

It's not nuts to acknowledge the differences though, is it? Obviously WW2 was no walk in the park, no one is saying that. It is however fair to say that there were advances post-war that reached a peak and then have tailed off and declined. Pensions, job security, the NHS etc etc. I'm not being rose-tinted when I recall the 90s being better in some ways. It's not definitive, there are whole books and studies that go into this so it's not possible to get into the complexities and nuances on here, but it's not nuts to say that the past few years have had some unprecedented challenges, from global pandemics and wars to political extremities on the rise and social media exacerbating it all. Life is always difficult, but it's unhelpful to dismiss and minimise people's troubles now because twas ever thus.

I am a psychologist and I completely agree with this. I am very concerned by the medicalisation/pathologisation of what are normal human emotions and experiences. Terms ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’ have replaced being able to talk about feelings without labelling; such as feeling worried, fearful, nervous, sad, upset, scared. So many children and adults are losing their ability to recognise and understand their emotions, or they haven’t developed this in the first place.

I think the medicalisation of distress serves to create more hysteria around people’s struggles, and there is so much misinformation online too - I’ve lost count of how many posts I’ve even seen on MN where people are self diagnosing based on TikTok videos. Neurodivergence is the same. People seeking a diagnosis can further medicalise their distress which is often rooted in contextual factors e.g stress at home/work, previous trauma, health concerns etc. It is tricky because sometimes having a ‘label’ can be helpful for people in terms of feeling less alone and can be a gateway to accessing treatments. However we need to transform the language around distress, I also dislike the term ‘mental health’ for this reason but even I use it, as it seems to be ubiquitous.

Emotional regulation starts at home, starts with early years attachment and parenting. Resilience starts from there too and I do think basic strategies should be taught in schools, as not everyone will have emotionally regulated parents as role models!

Well, it's completely normal to feel incredibly anxious when you see everything happening in the world and the climate crisis makes the future quite frightening.

When I was a child, we were scared of the threat of nuclear war, worried about environmental issues and afraid of the effects of Thatcherism...but we had perhaps half an hour of news in the evening, and that only after we got a tv when I was 10. School was quite easy and there wasn't much pressure to do well, people could still get good jobs without a degree and degrees didn't put you into enormous debt.

Nowadays there's so much information and so much misinformation too and so much pressure on young people on all sides, it's natural to be anxious.

There's also more awareness of emotions, which is a good thing.

Imo it's partly because in Western society, people have become increasingly individualistic and have been encouraged to believe that we should be aiming to remove all adversity, discomfort, challenge and encounters with things we don't like from our lives. Not only is that an impossible goal, it's also undesirable and counterproductive.

Children are being over-protected from interaction and activities in real-life, while being allowed to roam the internet unchecked. As a result they grow up to be scared of the wrong things and blasé about the wrong things. They have been taught that being anxious about a challenging activity or situation, is an abnormal feeling which needs to be cured or avoided, rather than a totally normal, necessary and temporary human reaction.

Social media

I agree with this too, global events and rising political uncertainty and extremism certainly impact the mental health of the population, especially children. 9/11 and the 2009 recession had a formative impact on me, and I know many others in my generation feel the same. A pervasive sense of threat and uncertainty, all generations experience these massive events with have an impact.

Great post @ChillysWaterBottle
Agreed.

The fact that young people are recorded by CCTV/ring doorbell & some people even have it in their living room. Every move is tracked. It’s impossible to bunk off a lesson!

More pressure to pass exams - Michael Gove's dream of everyone doing rigorous exams with nothing there for non academic kids.

Pressure to look a certain way - fillers, fake everything.

Price of university & housing.

Also the constant talk about wellbeing & focus on it. I saw a funny clip about mindfulness & how in the 80's/90's we just had to sit on a bus or wait in a queue & so had space in our heads whereas nowadays people just log on & constantly watch stuff. There’s no down time.

As the mother of someone whose two children have anxiety it is horrible to witness. And no it’s not just that they need more resilience. 🙄

I don’t doubt there’s some that call your normal feelings of nervousness anxiety but for some anxiety plagues their daily lives.

I feel like all these threads do is minimise and say oh you just need to toughen up.

my DD suspected ASD struggles immensely with anxiety and it is well researched that those who are ND have an increased risk of developing anxiety.

Me and Dad are not anxious in the slightest so this is isn’t a learnt trait.

During WWII, at least, in Britain, there was enormous collective effort towards a shared goal, followed by unprecedented social support and optimism.

Now, we see catastrophic events taking place with no consensus on action evident, people's fears often ignored, and less social support or optimism.

This is the reason