To wonder why anxiety and depression are so prevalent?

[Triplesalchow]

I am struggling dreadfully at the moment. I have had anxiety for a long time and recently I feel things slipping into depression. I'm getting some professional help.
I'm reluctant to share with many people close to me as I worry they will think I'm jumping on some kind of bandwagon. I know so many people with similar issues, people at work are off sick with it and you can read about how common it is in the media daily. Why is that the case? Was it always like this but it's just being talked about/ diagnosed now? Is it modern living? In which case why can't we as society change our lives to improve our mental health? Nothing really happened in my life to trigger it. Anyone got any insight into this?

[Dumbledoresgirl]

I have no specific evidence for this obviously, but I have always thought it is down to the fact that modern life has moved on faster than human evolution. I don't just mean innovations in the last couple of decades, but changes brought about to society since the Industrial Revolution. People are, on the whole, no longer in touch with the changing seasons, they are not tilling the soil and raising animals for food. They don't rise with the sun and go to bed with the sunset. They don't live in small communitites where everyone knows them, and they know everyone. They don't use their hands to make or mend things. They don't walk enough.

Even within a more modern time frame, society has become faster paced and less community orientated. Most people don't stand at the garden gate, chatting to their neighbours. People commute longer distances to work. Some work longer hours. Social media makes us more aware of what others have, makes us either less happy with our lot or more determined to work to achieve, at the cost of a gentler, kinder work/life balance. There is the ridiculous expectation that we should aim to 'have it all'.

I know there will be people who disagree with this.

[Neoflex]

Laughing at the person who thinks drinking fizzy drinks and coffee is the same as drinking just water. You need to drink extra water just to flush out the poison that enters your body if you drink a bottle of coke. You would be better off drinking beer.

Plus there's a difference between having anxiety and having an anxiety disorder. Or being depressed and having depression. So if a person regularly feels anxious about something it doesn't minimise or maximise the suffering of a person with a disorder. It just is so.

A good book I always recommend is "Stillness Speaks" by Eckhart Tolle. It isn't a cure for anxiety or depression but it takes about an hour to read and just takes you away from all the nonsense for a little while.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"Laughing at the person who thinks drinking fizzy drinks and coffee is the same as drinking just water. "

I did say there were problems with fizzy drinks.
Coffee has health benefits as well as some drawbacks. Convenient that you've left tea out.

"if you drink a bottle of coke. You would be better off drinking beer."

No, that's just not true.

[MynewnameisKy]

Definitely also check out the link between Vitamin D deficiency and depression. This has turned my life around.

[Gwenhwyfar]

About the myths of needing more water: www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html

Even if it were true, people drink even more water now than in the past so I don't see how a lack of water could be a factor in any way.

[EnthusiasmIsDisturbed]

I think modern day living the overload social media the pace less family support can certainly add to stress that can lead to anxiety and depression

But I don’t believe we are more depressed now than before, there will be times when there are spikes political turmoil, recession, mass grief (after Diana died this was the case) and of course war

We do talk about it more and we are perhaps collectively searching for answers in a different way to how many other societies do or have in the past. I also don’t believe that in poorer countries they are happier I think this is a very western point of view as what we value can be different and also what we expect from life where you have strong religious grounding in society you are more likely to see an acceptance of this being your chosen path but that doesn’t necessarily make people less depressed

And we do also have a safety net this to some degree allows people to have time off work, get (or try to) get support from professionals so this is all taken into account when collecting data

I can’t think of many more depressing situations than not having enough or little food for your children day in day out and not being able to afford basic medicine or medical treatments for them but this was life for many of our grandparents and great grandparents and many just did have to get on with it now we are more likely to be open about how these situations make us feel

[LemonysSnicket]

Humams thrive on adversity. In a society like todays when were ridiculously better off than in the past our brains try to conjure adversity. Basically were not in out natural habitat and we got too smart so we internalise adversity and it fucks us up.

[LemonysSnicket]

Sorry for the typos, new phone !

[LemonysSnicket]

Id recommend the book 'the subtle art of not giving a fuck'. It explains a lot and helps you get out of 'the feedback loop from hell' that is anxiety.

[MissWilmottsGhost]

I think our modern lifestyle is responsible or a lot of it, and as PP said, the more americanised our culture becomes, the worse it seems to get.

A capitalist economy requires spending, for people to spend they must want stuff, to want stuff they must be unhappy with what they already have.

We are bombarded daily with advertising designed to make us unhappy, to persuade us we are missing out, that everyone else has stuff we don't have, to get us to spend spend spend, and to spend we must work work work.

It's a relentless and exhausting treadmill and no matter how hard we try we don't feel any better off than we did before. It's no surprise people are miserable and anxious.

[corythatwas]

Good points by Enthusiasm. Certainly my grandfather seemed to ascribe his depression (which appears to be genetic as it has surfaced in every generation since) to his early life experience of poverty and insecurity and a dysfunctional family life. The latter directly related to poverty (his mother forced to marry drunkard husband due to inability to make living as a widow). Come to think of it, I don't suppose gf's stepf's drinking bouts and wife-beatings were a very signal example of people "just getting on with it" either. Nor were Gin Lane or the heavy alcoholism of early Victorian England.

[TaylorTinker]

Tinkly that sounds like a great turnaround for your daughter.

[Notonaschoolnight]

I’m ready to leave my job due to the fact that I just can’t manage the constant conversation of team members anxiety and their children’s anxiety none of which has been triggered by something real that I could empathise with. I’ve had a very difficult life numerous horrendous things to live through and without question have depression and anxiety because of it but I still believe that work is for being professional and getting on with what you’re there for and I’m angry at them and myself that I’m leaving my job because I cant handle having to listen in detail to their anxiety issues every day, I doubt I’m the only one that couldn’t handle it and it’s worrying that it’s becoming so prevalent in the workplace

[Neoflex]

www.quora.com/Whats-more-healthy-Drinking-one-12oz-Coca-Cola-per-day-or-drinking-one-12oz-ale-style-beer

[MeMeMeMe123]

Lemony's I'm going to buy that book. I'm anxious about my anxiety and am only too aware that my anxiety is currently driven by a relentless confirmation bias, which, ironically, is fuelling the anxiety even further.

I too have deleted FB, OLD apps. I practice mindfulness when i can and observe my merry-go-round of thoughts as 'thinking'. This has helped to reduce anxiety overall.

However, i accept that my life is on shifting sands now and anxiety will possibly be all the higher for it. So for now, feeling flat/meh is an improvement for me..

Tinkly that was a heartwarming post about your daughter. I hope shes doing well !!

[Vitalogy]

Has anyone heard about the rice experiment, two containers with rice and water in, one container labelled love and the other with hate, everyday you focus on each container, one with thoughts and words of hate, the other with words and thoughts of love, after so many days the hate container has gone all mouldy, but the love container is fine. I've not tried it myself but many people have found it works. Thoughts and words are powerful. I think I'll give it a go.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Neoflex - that article mentions high fructose corn syrup which is used in coke in America but not here.

[coldhead]

Sounds really unlikely, Vitalogy.

MeMeMe, be wary of online recommendations for that book. Having looked at the reviews for it on Amazon, there are strong telltale signs of the positive reviews being fake ie bought.

Or at least, buy it if you wish, but if you do, I'd recommend buying it secondhand, so if it is a con, you lose less.

[TheNaze73]

I do think wrapping children up in cotton wool is not the root cause but, really has contributed to the issue

[coldhead]

See fakespot to spot fake Amazon reviews; this gave this book a D rating for 'indications of unreliable/low quality reviews'.

[MeMeMeMe123]

cold thank you! does the 'D' rating mean its likely to have higher levels of fake reviews or quite lower (relatively speaking)

[MeMeMeMe123]

cold that is a fascinating website!

[HandbagKrabby]

In the past lots more people smoked and drank, presumably to ‘help’ with feelings of anxiety and depression. These days we don’t as much as it’s so unhealthy so the feelings are not masked as much.

Modern life generally is difficult as we’re bombarded with the message that we could all be at the top of various pyramids if we just tried harder and worked more.

Personally I don’t watch the news - there’s enough on the radio and online that I know what’s going on in the world but I don’t seek it out unless it’s a specific event as the unrelenting horror and feeling of powerlessness to do anything about it is bad for my mental health. I don’t read women’s magazines as I feel they’re designed to provoke dissatisfaction with women’s looks and lives in order to get you to buy more stuff.

[Auldspinster]

I don't think it's anything new - I'm in my early 40s and can remember stories in the 80s about widespread tranquiliser addiction amongst housewives, prescribed for their 'nerves'.

Perhaps there's less of a stigma attached to discussing mental health issues.

Neurosis has ceased to be a widely used term but is essentially what's being referred to on this thread. Semantics have a lot to do with the perceived changes.

[coldhead]

MeMeMe, put in the Amazon url to read the full details. I think it refers to how many reviews are likely to be fake. Obviously, not all will be.

I discovered this recently after being very disappointed with a book I bought that had amazing reviews, none of which had thought to mention it was the worst quality self published book I'd ever seen. Lo and behold, fakespot gave its reviews an F rating!

Have learnt my lesson now. It's too easy to pay others to write good ratings, or automate them.

I remember coming across an advert on a freelance jobs website looking for someone to write 10 fake Amazon reviews AND 10 fake Mumsnet reviews (ie not reviews as such, but product placements eg dropping it into threads randomly). I was reminded of that here...