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People living in first-world, industrialized cultures are experiencing alarming rates of anxiety disorder. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 40 million people per year in the US will contend with this distressing malaise. The alarming numbers speak of an epidemic.
Rather than simply acclimate to the disorder and medicate the symptoms of anxiety—which may have problematic if not damaging effects—better to first ask why this avalanche of distress is occurring and, second, how we can overcome the underlying causes of anxiety. This article will fundamentally address the first question. My next post will explore how to overcome this malaise, as I share therapeutic methods that I deploy.
When a dysfunction such as anxiety, or depression, for that matter, becomes so commonplace, it's necessary to examine contemporary culture, which is our aggregate way of living. Those suffering from anxiety are often simply mirroring an overwrought way of living, and turning the victim into the problem makes no sense at all. A preponderance of people suffering in a similar way suggests the effects of an incongruous, if not insane, way of living, fostered by a dysfuctional worldview.
It is essential to address the underlying causes and not simply suppress the symptoms. The difficulty is that we have a quick-fix mentality that equates quieting the symptoms with being well.
It is necessary to see that anxiety is not as the enemy but an expression of our struggle in adapting to a way of living that actually imperils us. From this vantage, anxiety is, paradoxically, sensible as a reaction to toxic conditions. Anxiety is akin to a fever—a call to attention that all is not well. One irony is that by medicating our symptoms away, we ensure continued suffering; the underlying struggle is never resolved toward a breakthrough, merely placated.
Moving Through Anxiety
One consequence of taking anti-anxiety medication is that it encourages people to believe that they lack the resources to deal with their distress. For both the culture as a whole and afflicted individuals, trying to contain anxiety blocks actualization. We need to move through anxiety, not defend against it. It is a signal for needed change and growth, not an external evil to be medicated.
An Addiction to Analyzing
We are heirs to the worldview set in motion by the thinking of Isaac Newton and Renée Descartes in the 17th century. We come to depend on measurement and analysis to drill down to the source in order to control and master our lives and environment. Rational and analytical thinking are the foundation of this worldview, and it has led to many remarkable advances.,.
But the predictability and certainty it fosters, while fruitful in moderation, became pathological in the extreme. The epidemic of anxiety now riling the world stems from over-reliance on analytical and rational thinking. The mandate to subject all human experience and emotion to rational and analytical judgment excoriates us.
The pursuit of predictability and certainty causes us to lose our way. In assuring proper and predictable outcomes we seek to avoid “mistakes.” We respond with excessive worrying, at the cost of wonder, awe, and imagination—all essential to a balanced and harmonious life. The loss of so much of what it means to be human creates an existential crisis from which anxiety surfaces.
People inclined toward anxiety lose themselves to the measuring tendency of their thoughts, all the while separating themselves from a coherent flow of life. The compulsion to compare and measure—so prevalent in the competitive, individualistic culture in which we live—exacerbates estrangement from others, further imprisoning those with anxiety in their own compulsive thoughts and leading to despair.
Slicing and Dicing Reality
Relentless questioning over decision-making—Should I do this or do that?—is designed to protect against wrong choices but instead delivers anxiety. It also undermines self-esteem. The more that people become captive to their own thoughts and miss the very flow of life, the more that thoughts fragment—life experience sliced and diced into increasingly maddening bits—and the more anxiety perpetuates itself.
Keeping Score
When I have the occasion to go to a baseball game, I noticed that some fans still keep a scorecard, a remnant of my youth. They note every play, their eyes fixed on the scorecard, rather than on the game. So it is with anxiety, removing us from the joy of being present. If your inner monologue is self-measuring and overly critical, you’re missing the flow of your life.
In addition to society’s contribution to anxiety, there are personal and biographical contributions to anxiety, the subject of the next post. I will also detail some methods that many of my clients have found helpful in breaking free from the torrent of fearful thinking.
Check out Mel's live, interactive zoom course, Overcoming Anxiety
