Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have anxiety because it is so hard to live a fake life. I don't want to be a human. I don't like humans. I wish I had been born an ant or better yet not born at all. My whole life is fake. My friends I don't like, the things I do I don't like. Some days I loose it. Recently while I was driving I just started screaming at the top of my lungs " I hate scrapbooking " I wish I was never born but I didn't get that choice. So yes I have anxiety but I think I hide it enough,

Please get some professional help.

The PP above you spins a tale good enough to fool you. It is a parody of anxiety.

A lot has to do with where we live - most actually.

I've lived in other areas of the country - Colorado for example- and anxiety as an issue was never ever brought up. People there are much happier, less stressed, they are out in nature much more, they are more physically fit, they don't get caught up in politics, or who has what, where their neighbors kids are going to college, who goes to what private, and they NEVER discuss money.

My grandmother had the problem. Hers was worse than mine. I would like it first established that there are more people with anxiety or worse cases of anxiety before I start contemplating reasons.

This thread is so very important. One of the best I've read on DCUM. I am finding value in every single post. Please keep sharing your perspectives. Thank you, OP.

Who are some of you people? You think people have anxiety to be popular and fit in? Also, you think anxiety is new? I agree that the social fracturing we're experiencing is heightening it, but I'm about a fourth generation worrier. If I never had another panic attack, I'd be okay with that.

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.

Media saturation which makes the prevalence of bad things seem out of proportion to what is. 24 hours news cycle which fills blank spots with supposition and innuendo. Loosening of family connections. Loosening of societal connections. Moving around alot.

All this causes anxiety. Now whether it rises to the level of needing medication - that's for you and your doctor to decide. Not all people process information the same way and what one person characterizes as "normal worries" becomes all outsized to another person. I am one of those people who don't worry about things generally, but my best friend and my mother are consummate worriers - and my best friend is on medication for an anxiety disorder and my mother goes off and on medication for the same. She's much better when she's on medication. It's the perseverating that makes it so bad...

Anonymous wrote:Expectations of our roles and the cost of everything has gone up. Companies have downsized and workloads have increased, our commutes are longer, childcare is very expensive, buying a home is nearly impossible in some areas, the sport mentality in this country is beyond ridiculous - not every child is going to be an Olympian!, our parenting expectations - I could go on and on. Life isn't as easy and slow as it once was.

Yes, life isn't as easy and slow as it once was, in the good old days, for example the Great Depression, when 1 in 4 workers was unemployed, a lot of people had medical conditions related to malnutrition, life expectancy at birth was 58 for men and 62 for women due to high infant mortality, and millions of people left their homes.

I don't think more people have anxiety. I think more people talk about having anxiety. It use to be "high strung" or "on edge" ...

Anonymous wrote:I have anxiety because it is so hard to live a fake life. I don't want to be a human. I don't like humans. I wish I had been born an ant or better yet not born at all. My whole life is fake. My friends I don't like, the things I do I don't like. Some days I loose it. Recently while I was driving I just started screaming at the top of my lungs " I hate scrapbooking " I wish I was never born but I didn't get that choice. So yes I have anxiety but I think I hide it enough,

Please get some professional help.

Anonymous wrote:Speed of life. Used to be ok to mail a letter, wait 5-7 days for a person to get it. Let them respond, wait 5-7 to get a letter back. Now, we send an email to someone in a different time zone and get pissy if we don't have an answer in 5 minutes without consideration for the fact that the person might be 1) off 2) at lunch 3) working on something else 4) doing any number of other things or 5) that the world WILL NOT END if you don't get an answer RIGHT NOW

This. It makes work intolerable in my profession (architecture). Too much time spent emailing. Not enough time to thoughtfully draw. I don't have anxiety per se but I do think this constant stream of needing to respond immediately to every little thing makes for an anxious and less productive day.

I have anxiety because it is so hard to live a fake life. I don't want to be a human. I don't like humans. I wish I had been born an ant or better yet not born at all. My whole life is fake. My friends I don't like, the things I do I don't like. Some days I loose it. Recently while I was driving I just started screaming at the top of my lungs " I hate scrapbooking " I wish I was never born but I didn't get that choice. So yes I have anxiety but I think I hide it enough,

The world us a stressful place. Every local, national and international tragedy is in our face constantly. Danger, fear and conflict seem omnipresent. Our politicians are useless to make things better. We are overwhelmed by information. Technology and connectivity had led employers to expect more output from employees and to be "on-call" nearly 24/7. The social fabric of our country is being ripped apart by political discord and media that allows people to disagree with one another publicly and sometimes violently. The past 14 years since 9/11 have been full of war and economic and political unrest. Everyone experiences anxiety and it serves an important evolutionary purpose. But we have not adapted to a life with omnipresent stressors and we are not good judges of risk to begin with. When so many things feel like risk/danger, and you feel powerless to change it, it gets harder to cope.

Expectations of our roles and the cost of everything has gone up. Companies have downsized and workloads have increased, our commutes are longer, childcare is very expensive, buying a home is nearly impossible in some areas, the sport mentality in this country is beyond ridiculous - not every child is going to be an Olympian!, our parenting expectations - I could go on and on. Life isn't as easy and slow as it once was.

Anonymous wrote:Speed of life. Used to be ok to mail a letter, wait 5-7 days for a person to get it. Let them respond, wait 5-7 to get a letter back. Now, we send an email to someone in a different time zone and get pissy if we don't have an answer in 5 minutes without consideration for the fact that the person might be 1) off 2) at lunch 3) working on something else 4) doing any number of other things or 5) that the world WILL NOT END if you don't get an answer RIGHT NOW

This.

It causes us to become neurotic. We start over analyzing every delay as meaning something.