Why are there so many people with "anxiety" these days? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poorly compensated people hired to care for babies and toddlers who don't really care about them. I see it every day. If you think it doesn't matter down the road, think again.

Little children need to be loved and well-cared for. Really.

My mother SAH with me for 10 years and was extremely loving. Yet I suffer from anxiety. As did she. And other members of my family. It's an inherited illness, like many things.

Did she or you get any counseling to help? What sorts of issues are you anxious about? Parenting issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the rates of alcoholism and other addictions have changed among the middle and upper middle classes who can afford regular access to therapy and medications. I would guess there are some people who have been diagnosed with anxiety and take meds for it today but thirty years ago would have been a self-medicating addict.

Definitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poorly compensated people hired to care for babies and toddlers who don't really care about them. I see it every day. If you think it doesn't matter down the road, think again.

Little children need to be loved and well-cared for. Really.

My mother SAH with me for 10 years and was extremely loving. Yet I suffer from anxiety. As did she. And other members of my family. It's an inherited illness, like many things.

Did she or you get any counseling to help? What sorts of issues are you anxious about? Parenting issues?

She never got counseling. I don't think it was a recognized "thing" so much then. Or at least there was more stigma. I have gotten counseling and now am on anti-anxiety meds. I did not run to counseling, and I put off meds for way way way longer than I should have. I just thought I was a weak person. It took a long time for me to admit to myself that I actually have an anxiety disorder. When I did, it was so freeing.

What was I anxious about? Everything. It's hard to even explain. It's a feeling in your body that just courses through you. I am a high functioning professional. Most people wouldn't realize that I suffered from anxiety, but boy was it exhausting to try to control it on my own. Exhausting. It's like your world gets smaller and smaller.

The medication has done wonders for me. I am also a person of faith which helps me feel peace but was also one of the reasons I didn't seek out medication earlier. I felt like medication was admitting that prayer didn't work. Silly right? Would someone not seek medical treatment for a broken leg? Same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poorly compensated people hired to care for babies and toddlers who don't really care about them. I see it every day. If you think it doesn't matter down the road, think again.

Little children need to be loved and well-cared for. Really.

My mother SAH with me for 10 years and was extremely loving. Yet I suffer from anxiety. As did she. And other members of my family. It's an inherited illness, like many things.

This. I am a poster from above with severe anxiety. My mother went back to work when I was 10 as well. I had an idyllic childhood. Wonderful. Supported. Loved but not spoiled. My parents werent perfect, but I wasnt a daycare kid and I still developed debilitating mental illness.

I only hope I am not destroying my kids since they are all in daycare and have been since infancy.

Same here. I was raised by a SAHM. She didn't go back to work until I was in elementary school but she had serious anxiety and depression issues. She was actually sent to a mental health rehab for a while. I now have anxiety as well. I try hard to fight it so I don't end up at her level, but it's very hard. I think a lot of issues like anxiety are genetic and related to brain chemistry.

[Anonymous]

Contributing factor: More medical doctors playing amateur psychiatrist. So much easier to say symptoms are caused by stress/anxiety and getting rid of the patient in 5 minutes to meet quotas instead of doing some work to figure out if something is actually wrong. This actually increases the numbers of people who think they have anxiety when they don't.

In previous times, doctors actually spent time with patients and took their complaints more seriously. It's sometimes amazing what a doctor can find if he actually bothers to examine you. And often when they couldn't find something, they'd give you B12 shots, which actually solved the problem for some as a B12 deficiency can cause anxiety.

Few things are as anxiety producing as feeling truly rotten and being told it's all in your head.

At the same time, I have some sympathy for doctors as there has been a rise in health anxiety owing to much wider dissemination of medical information on the internet, lots more public warnings about cancer and heart conditions and the like. But there is a big difference between health anxiety and those with undiagnosed real problems and doctors should learn the difference and act accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cry it out sleeping technique.

It has to have some effect, right? I mean nature makes infant cries so pitiful so that parents pick them up pronto. If we let them CIO, maybe it is making them feel that they are all alone in the world and that no one will help them because no one cares for them.

Very interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anxiety is an excuse to be medicated.

If you cry, scream into a pillow, run around the block a few times, your anxiety goes away.

pills kill.

Hi Mr. Tom Cruise,

Big fan here! I followed your excellent advice for PPD and vitamin C completely cured me of that nonsense!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poorly compensated people hired to care for babies and toddlers who don't really care about them. I see it every day. If you think it doesn't matter down the road, think again.

Little children need to be loved and well-cared for. Really.

My mother SAH with me for 10 years and was extremely loving. Yet I suffer from anxiety. As did she. And other members of my family. It's an inherited illness, like many things.

Did she or you get any counseling to help? What sorts of issues are you anxious about? Parenting issues?

...but did she Fur-brrr-ized you?

[Anonymous]

Anxiety runs deep in my family. I also grew up with helicopter parents and grandparents that made it SO MUCH WORSE. To this day my mom can never just say bye when I leave. It's always "be careful". Awful. I've promised not to do it with my kid.

[Anonymous]

I think better identification and treatment plays a huge role in the increase. We learned that one relative had obviously had untreated agoraphobia--it was just something no one ever addressed or (from what we can tell) talked about. Another had, since childhood, a series of issues that seem related to anxiety but were untreated and have only gotten worse with time.

[Anonymous]

For me the biggest causes are

1. Full time work
2. Commute
3. Kids
4. Financial worries ( PhD but make less than 100k). Without DHs salary, I would not be able to support kids on my salary.

all these are related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speed of life is also a reason. I also think being out of tune with nature - nature deficit disorder - leads to increased anxiety.Go out in nature for a hike or a walk- and both the exercise, the nature, and the slowdown can all help the mind quiet and reduce anxiety.

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cry it out sleeping technique.

It has to have some effect, right? I mean nature makes infant cries so pitiful so that parents pick them up pronto. If we let them CIO, maybe it is making them feel that they are all alone in the world and that no one will help them because no one cares for them.

Very interesting.

Except CIO is nothing new.

[Anonymous]

This.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/ptsd-war-home-sebastian-junger

The best explanation for what ails us that I've ever read.

Yes, many people have a genetic predisposition to mental illness. Modern life fans the flames, and makes many others I'll as well.

[Anonymous]

^^makes many others *ill*.