Economy Causing Record Anxiety?

It’s impossible to turn on the television or radio without hearing more dire news about the current state of our economy. Upswings in unemployment, the FDIC taking over failing banks, and viola! We have ourselves a nifty recession to deal with.

Downstream of that are even more things being written and read about how this tempest is affecting the population at large, which  seems like a pretty stupid question. It reminds me of when television reporters show up at the scene of some tragedy, shove their microphones in the faces of people who have suffered an enormous loss, and ask, “So how are you feeling about losing your house and all of your possessions?”

It comes as no surprise then to learn that groups like the Mental Health Foundation are sharing the results of studies that show roughly 37% of respondents feel more frightened than they used to. Two-thirds claim to be experiencing fear and anxiety as a result of the current financial maelstrom.

Ya think?

I’m not sure how you can pin the anxiety label on that. Anxiety is generally recognized as a mood state characterized by no identifiable triggering stimulus. Saying that a lot of people are fearful in this environment seems rational, but there’s a Gatling-gun of stimulus firing at us daily, which would seem to render any anxiety labeling inaccurate.

Of course, the 24-hour news cycle is being saddled with most of the blame for this rise in “anxiety”, so I suppose if you keep getting whacked on the head with a stick around the clock, there are bound to be some side effects. But we have the power to flip that switch to the off position, and we can also realize that watching a news report of a plane crash is bad, but watching it fifty times doesn’t make the crash any better or worse. It is what it is.

What do you think? Are you feeling more anxiety as a result of current events, or simply fear in different areas?

Record levels of anxiety in a “culture of fear”