The Roots of Your Anxiety and Its Implications In Modern Society

Anxiety is a symptom that is present in most psychiatric illnesses. As the 1980’s rolled about, anxiety was finally recognized as a separate mental health issue on its own.

Let's go back in time for a while…(The 20th Century)

In the Classical Antiquity era up until the early 20th century, the majority view saw anxiety as something normal and even beneficial under circumstances that required high alertness. Further, DBpedia.org defines The Classical era as the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 6th century AD centered on the Mediterranean Sea, combining civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome with civilizations in the regions of Northern Africa, Western Asia and Europe feeling the impact of their influence.

Simultaneously, in the 20th century is when there was a rise in the theory of Freudianism. The theory of Freudianism originates from the Austrian Neurologist named Sigmund Freud who is the founding father of psychoanalysis (McLeod, 2018). This is also when the recognition for separate anxiety diagnosis came into existence. To illustrate, some of these included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III (DSM III) in the 1980’s, were Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and Panic Disorder (PD).

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In fact, the recognition of PTSD diagnosis was linked to the experience of the Vietnam war veterans. By the 1980’s about 500 000 to 700 000 Vietnam war veterans received the diagnosis of PTSD even if they had not served in the battlefield.

Back to Modern Day Society… (The 21st century)

Comparatively, In the book A Brief History of Anxiety (Yours and Mine), Patricia Pearson argues that some of the main contributing factors to higher incidences anxiety rates today is due to the Culture of Hucksterism and Conspiracism. Furthermore, the Culture of Hucksterism is defined as the widespread anxiety because of a culture that celebrates an intense winner-take all in campuses, the media, in the government ,and all through the corporate world (Pearson, 2009). The individual on the receiving end, in this case, “the loser” suffers a great deal of nerves. In addition, Dowbiggin (2009), describes Conspiracism as the worries about terrorism which then feeds on paranoia and that becomes a similar contagious mentality when put side-by-side with fear.

Implications to society:

The Self-Help Recovery Movement (SHRM) was purposefully introduced for peers to have a safe and non-judgmental environment within their community. Furthermore, the SHRM was designed with the intent to help peers empower themselves and hold themselves accountable and responsible. However, there are some harmful outcomes that arose from the Self-Help Recovery Movement (SHRM) when manipulated. To illustrate, Dowbiggin (2009) mentions that the main negative themes that occur in SHRM are victimization, powerlessness, and vulnerability. In addition, Dowbiggin (2009) argues that this phenomenon also re-assures society that anxiety is a normal and acceptable response to modern day society resulting in those afflicted with an anxiety related diagnosis being made to believe that they are sicker than they actually are.

My Experience

While understanding the main objectives of the SHRM and gaining its benefits, I did face the consequences of being vulnerable and open with my diagnosis. As a result, when the third-party had that leverage, I felt powerless and thus felt victimized. 

Conclusion

In short, now that you are more aware of how prevalent anxiety and its symptoms are in modern society with the combination of the Culture of Hucksterism and Conspiracism, It does not hurt to be kind to one another. That can be as simple as smiling to a stranger passing by.

References

DBpedia. n.d. Classical antiquity. [online] Available at: <https://dbpedia.org/page/Classical_antiquity> [Accessed 21 August 2022].

Dowbiggin, I., 2009. High Anxieties: The Social Construction of Anxiety Disorders. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 54(7), pp.429-436.

Mcleod, S., 2018. [Sigmund Freud's Theories]. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: <https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html> [Accessed 21 August 2022].

Pearson, P., 2009. A brief history of anxiety (yours & mine). Toronto: CNIB.

"Reasons to Panic? The history of anxiety disorders and its implications for the 21st Century"