The Rev. Mark FlynnWe live in an increasingly anxious world.
In his book, “My Age of Anxiety,” Scott Stossel notes that only three academic papers were published on anxiety in 1927. By 1941, that number had increased to 14, and by 1950 it had grown to 37. Today, physicians report that anxiety is one of their patients’ most common complaints. Even a cursory Internet search reveals millions of articles on anxiety.
Let me clarify, by “anxiety” I am not referring to clinical depression or anxiety disorders. People who suffer from these medical conditions need our support on their difficult journey, but they also need to be under a physician’s care. I am referring to the general anxiety that has been steadily growing over the last 50 years.
The “causes” of stress are not the events or trends that rightly give reasonable people concern: terrorism, economic downturns, unemployment, social transformation, etc. These are real issues and should be taken seriously, but they do not cause anxiety. People can be fully informed on these topics and allow them to influence their decision making without becoming filled with anxiety. The cause of our anxiety is found in how we respond to these circumstances.
While there is no consensus among even experts, I find there are seven common threads among those writing about the causes of anxiety: