Why Americans Are Growing More Anxious

[appalachiablue]

Source: CBS

Americans have experienced increases in anxiety levels over the past year, a new report from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finds. And some generations seem to be feeling it more than others.
According to the survey, this year's national anxiety score is 51 on a scale from 0 to 100. That's a five-point jump since 2017.

Millennials continued to be more anxious than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. But Baby Boomers experienced the greatest increase in anxiety levels -- a seven-point spike from 2017 to 2018.
Women reported feeling more anxious than men, and people of color expressed higher levels of anxiety than Caucasians. Overall, nearly four in 10 people say they are more anxious than they were this time last year.

For the report, the APA surveyed more than 1,000 adults from across the United States and compared the results to a similar poll from this time last year. Participants rated their anxiety on five different areas, including health, safety, finances, relationships, and politics.

Across the board, Americans reported being more anxious in all five areas. However, the biggest increase in anxiety levels was around paying bills. Nearly three-fourths of women and three-fourths of young adults aged 18 to 34 said they were somewhat or extremely anxious about paying their bills. Four in five Hispanic adults reported the same thing.
In the survey, people expressed nearly equal levels of anxiety about health, safety, and paying bills. Politics and relationships were somewhat less of a concern.

"This poll shows U.S. adults are increasingly anxious particularly about health, safety and finances. That increased stress and anxiety can significantly impact many aspects of people's lives, including their mental health, and it can affect families," APA President Anita Everett, M.D., said in a statement...Continued.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/why-americans-are-growing-more-anxious/ar-AAwUc4w?li=BBnbfcL

[Initech]

1. The rent is too damn high and the pay is too damn low.

[busterbrown]

6. Simple as that!

First Priority Rent, then Food, Healthcare and Transportation...Absolutely nothing left over to enjoy life.. Restaurants, Travel, Movies, a little retail shopping....And this is exactly why our economy stinks in So. Cal.

[BigmanPigman]

7. You just described my life in S. CA...

I allow myself to buy one new pair of shoes and one new outfit (under $100) a year. Fortunately I was raised on almost no allowance, tons of chores and responsibilities, and have had to pay for everything from my savings from the tiny allowance. Now I can almost make a dime last a week. Last night I was complimented 4 times in one hour on my earnings (hand made), my haircut (a compliment from a hairdresser no less...I have cut my own hair for 30 years) and my new coat (this year's purchase was a success apparently). I go to one movie every few years, eat at a restaurant about that often, haven't taken a vacation since 2005, drive my car until it is 13 years old, and no fancy tech stuff. My health insur and expensive medications takes half of my income and that has been increasing thanks to the GOP. No one can say I am living the high life. It is VERY expensive to live here!!!!!! My family is here and I want to be near them so this is what goes with that choice I guess.

[busterbrown]

8. The one good thing..

Your family is near.. Thats big..

[dembotoz]

16. i don't know how the fuck you guys do it out in ca

i could not live there i live in wisconsin

friend of mine facing eviction trying to find a cheaper place... no luck

my son lives with me. he works full time at more than min wage....he has been sorta looking for a place to move to.
Living with a parent is socially uncool....he almost pulled the trigger than his car started acting stupid. Bothers him more than me....

i watch those home improvement show and i see what they get for the before the reno plans and i am like 500 k for that?

good luck out there
i fear the trend is moving towards me

[llmart]

14. In the eyes of the GOP...

you are just a peon, so quit your whining about "enjoying life" and pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

It's May now and let the media bring back their annual stories about how much fun it can be to take a "staycation"! Just put a sheet over a few branches in your backyard and pretend you're at a different place than your own backyard and you will see just how much FUN a staycation can be.

Movies? Ha! Can't you just watch something on your 3" x 4" cell phone and be happy? What's wrong with you.

Do I need to add that this is sarcasm???

While the media tell us all about every move the wealthy make and the designer clothes they wear and how they jet around and drink wine that costs $300 a bottle, you're supposed to watch/read about this and not wonder what is wrong with this picture. And yes, this includes Trump and his grifter wife and family. The stupid Trump voters can't wait until Ivanka is the next president while they sit and eat their weiners and beans for dinner. That's why they're stupid.

[mountain grammy]

11. Exactly. Wages haven't kept up and everyone knows it.

Free market my ass.

[Beartracks]

2. The results directly contradict the idea that America is being made great again.

========

[FirstLight]

3. I feel it...

just got a second job...(of course contingent upon things like a credit check (wtf?) and a drug test (ugh))

I keep waiting for the sociologists to study whether our collective drinking/anxiety hes spiked during this Presidency. I know I can't watch Rachel now without a few shots!

[PSPS]

4. Gee. Let me think. What has changed over the past year? Hmmm. Have to think about it...

[Tobin S.]

5. The median annual income before taxes per individual who works legally in this country is

about $30,000 last I heard. That means that half of the people who work legally in this country make less than 30k per year.

The three richest people in America have more wealth than than the bottom half of the population. There are some other stunning numbers in the article at the link. Like the list of the 400 wealthiest people according to Forbes has more wealth than the GDP of Great Britain, and more than the populations of Canada and Mexico combined.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/11/09/the-3-richest-americans-hold-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-of-country-study-finds/#698799f83cf8

[Igel]

9. Yeah, $31k or so. For full-time. For all workers reported.

That's median. Half above, half below. That incudes those who are entry level and those who are CEOs. Includes those here illegally who report their income, not just legals.

If you're a sole worker, in a household with one breadwinner, it can be rough to still be doing unskilled entry-level work.

After that, it's all community and family structure. Where I live it's mostly two-parent families, often both parents working; and very often the oldest kid hangs around at home, paying for himself (herself) and contributing to the family or going to school. But in Texas where I live in 2016 something like 40% of births were to single mothers, and for the most part those are less stable relationships, and very often there's no relationship so it's really just the mother (and her parents) doing the supporting.

[Sherman A1]

10. Income stagnation coupled with rising prices

For just about everything. Add in the steady barrage of pseudo self serving news media that is busy telling us about just every bit of “terrible” stuff when they get a few seconds of airtime between the pharmaceutical advertising and the commercials for stairlifts and Medicare sign ups. It’s no wonder that folks are feeling uneasy. This is all choreographed to make us feel badly about the country and the world.

[MrScorpio]

12. If you put GOPrs in charge of everything, this is what you get.

We all know from the experience of life under GOPr rule that a fall is always just right around the corner.

[Perseus]

13. I have been thinking about this for a few days

I am glad an article talking about that has been published.

I was saying to a friend, who is also suffering from "political anxiety", that I think productivity in this country must be suffering because most people are constantly thinking about the political toxicity that we are all living everyday, getting worst as the days go by.

How can people work and produce quality when their mind is on something else?

Something needs to happen fast, the USA is on its way to become a Venezuela, a Philippines, think of any third world country and that is where the USA is headed.

People keep blaming trump, and yes he has a lot to do with it, but his minions from the GOP are the brains of the destruction, that is why I personally do not want trump impeached so that pence can take over, they need to be defeated this November and then in 2020, they all have to be taken out of office, pence is more dangerous, he is evil but portrays himself as a soft-spoken, religious guy who in fact will cause more damage if put in office than the buffoon who currently occupies it. The other danger with pence is, because of his soft-spoken act, that he can fool a lot of people into thinking that he is a good guy, and he could easily, aided by voters ignorance, win a second term. I think pence is also implicated in the Russia deal along with other GOP members and of course, trump.

[Ligyron]

15. I'm with you.

Trump in office, bad as it is, drives people away from the GOP which has negative consequences for them in every election. We can tie the Trump Albatross around the neck of ever GOP official in the country with him as President. Pence would be every bit as bad, if not worse, but would make folks feel things were under control again.

[Nitram]

17. Anyone who isn't a little anxious is in denial.

[jcgoldie]

18. Uhm this one is easy

The president is a blowhard buffoon who inspires only anger, fear, and resentment in both his supporters and opposition... it isn't hard to figure this out.

[Orsino]

19. The rich are robbing us of our physical and economic security.

In dismantling our infrastructure and social safety net, they are taking away the tools we might use for progress.

[rtracey]

20. yeah well

Have you seen who is running this country.....thanks fro the update

[smirkymonkey]

21. K&R

[Blue_Tires]

22. no great shock there...

I've probably aged five years since Jan. 2017...