Why is anxiety and MH issues so common now?

[Ilovedogs1]

Hi. So I've been posting a lot over the last few months due to having a bad episode with anxiety/OCD/breakdown.

I've noticed more and more anxiety threads popping up. Just wondering why are we all so anxious? What's happening to people ? Just pondering really.

I think information overload and a need to cram so much into our daily lives has a lot to do with it.

My actual diagnosis is OCD/intrusive thoughts/anxiety. I have had a lot of change in my life over the past couple of years which I think has triggered this episode. Even though I'm back at work now and better than I was I still feel massively wrong. I can't explain it but I feel anxious for the majority of the day, I've got loads of 'what if' thoughts bouncing around constantly and just a general feeling of dread. I'm not really sure how to cope with how I feel atm. Should I just feel all the feelings and try not to get sucked into overthinking and just let a natural process happen or should I be more pro active and push myself to do stuff. What if it never gets better and this is it for me now?

For me, it’s working 40 hours a week in a hard going job, raising three children with a husband that works away a lot. Studying for a degree on the side. Managing a home, elderly parents, pets, bills, the mental and physical health of children, the list is endless. Eat right, work out; see friends. Muddling though on 5-6 hours sleep a night for years on end.
Than bang!
Every few years something just pops inside me and Im crippled. Then we jump on the merry-go-round again for another few years.

All the positive reasons such as reduced stigma and more openness to talk about it but also negatives such as the world being on fire, everyone is stressed and mad along with what used to be called normal everyday uncertainties now being called anxiety.

Social media, covid, a generation who have been taught that any kind of feeling anxious is ‘anxiety’

I think it's mainly that it's more out in the open now with better awareness, but also social media and the intensity of consumer culture.

We spend too much time doing things we don't want to do. Everything is so controlled from a very early age. Most people feel trapped and exhausted.

I think you just need to read the news to realise why people are stressed! I also think there’s less self medication as people don’t smoke like they used to. A few years ago you may well have been prescribed heavy duty sedative medication

This is so true.

Sometimes, I do what I want to do, the rest of the time I do what I have to do.

It's got better now i'm self employed though. I don't often do anything I don't want to do now.

I don’t know if it’s any worse or that it’s just more recognised, talked about and diagnosed. I remember growing up being told some relatives “suffer with their nerves” which I know realise was code for had anxiety. My dad has always suffered with anxiety and was only diagnosed recently.

Totally agree with this but you put it much better than I ever could

Everyone's mortgage doubling overnight perhaps?

Abuse and trauma.

I know a few people who believe in “feel the feelings”. Sadly I think it’s just trial and error in terms of finding what will work for you.

Same here working been on meds 5 weeks still not right tho struggling with anxiety cost of living etc

Personally for me, it is the result of childhood abuse/neglect/trauma. Finally (I'm nearly 50) a diagnosis of C-PTSD. At last I feel validated in struggling in social/work situations etc. So, some of it can begin in childhood and be inherited.

In general a number of things don't help but apart from the financial strain and general cost of living, a sense of disconnection - family, community etc. Lack of tolerance of others and differences. Screens have really not helped either - instant dopamine hits for children and adults. Teens who are bullied virutally because there are less inhibitions on behalf of those doing the bullying and teens becoming increasingly self conscious through messages portrayed through the media. I myself, rely on mumsnet because I struggle to make connections (or enough connections) in real life. I'm conscious of it and trying to make changes but apart from therapy, I rarely feel listened to and acknowledged. A shaky base (re. dysfunctional family) has set me up for this. I know I shouldn't take the victim mentality but the effects have been enduring.

Our mental health system is in a dreadful state (certainly where I live - I'm still battling for treatment and will most likely have to go private but not everyone can do this). It needs a complete re-think. We need to think more What If questions...What if we could reduce isolation etc? What if we could relieve pressure on our children through the school system (which is about telling children stuff because certain targets have to be met) and not encouraging them to use their imagination and creativity for more broader thinking through more play and connection with nature.

People seem to be simmering in a pressure pot. Not all of us can handle this. The notion of survival of the fittest seems to still reign (with power and greed at the root). Society is too transactional. We are animals at heart, nothing much seems to have changed.

Social media. The problem is people's attitude to them. We take everything we see on the Internet too seriously, compare ourselves with others, and focus too much on material things that are projected and promoted on the Internet than on spiritual things and self-development...