The Rise of Anxiety Disorder

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As the world leaps into the future, it seems that mental illness is becoming more of a problem among many people. One of the most common types of illness's among the current population is anxiety disorders. It is evident that there is a rise of anxiety disorder among the Western World. There are three main factors that contribute to this, they include our education system, technology and media, and the treatment and decreasing criticism anxiety patients receive.
In recent years, it has become a well noted fact that the education system has become in many ways tougher, for better or for worse. Nevertheless, for anyone susceptible to an anxiety disorder, school often aggravates their symptoms. Today over 10 per-cent of European and American citizens suffer from an anxiety disorder, and it is an even greater number among young people (Points of View: FEAR NOT). As English-speaking countries move forward through time, testing becomes more stressful and more competitive, it should be expected that anxiety will increase. As well, according to Psychology Today the “[a]verage high school student [in the United States] has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s” (Psychology Today: How Big a Problem is Anxiety Today). This is logical considering that a similar study done in 2010 concluded that high school and college students were more than five times as likely to develop either depression or an anxiety disorder than a student fifty years ago (Psychology Today: The Decline of Play and the Rise of Children's Mental Disorders?). This excessive rise exemplifies the amount of stress students have. As the years pass, it is becoming increasingly evident that anxiety disorder is prevalent among a majority...

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Leahy, R. L. (2008, April 30). How Big a Problem is Anxiety?. Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/200804/how-big-problem-is-anxiety
McBain, S. (2014). Anxiety Nation. (cover story). New Statesman, 143(14), 24. Retrieved May 10, 2014, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=p3h&AN=95495009&lang=en- ca&site=pov-can
Shields, M. (2004). Social Anxiety Disorder – Beyond Shyness. Health Reports, 1545. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/041026/dq041026b-eng.htm
Vaas, R. V. (2004). FEAR NOT. Scientific American Special Edition, 14(1), 62. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=p3h&AN=12545985&lang=en- ca&site=pov-can

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