Lyza/Flickr. Some rights reserved.Anxiety and depression are at unprecedented levels worldwide and the numbers are growing. The World Health Organization (WHO) describe it as an epidemic, and report that the period between 1990 and 2013 saw close to a 50% increase in the number of people suffering from one or both of these conditions, with the figure rising to 615 million people – almost 10% of the world’s population. Given that many developing countries have yet to be extensively polled, these figures, while staggering, provide in all likelihood only an indication of the depth of the problem.
The weight of expectation
What are the factors that create such a fear-inducing, hostile environment? Why do so many people regard the world as unkind, intolerant and life as something to be feared?
In a recent programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, listeners were invited to share their stories of anxiety. Parents rang in to tell of children – nineteen, twelve, nine years of age – who are living with the debilitating condition. Many callers spoke of being reduced to tears when listening to the accounts being related: children and teenagers unable to go to school; middle-aged men too anxious to face the world; and women unable to step out of their homes and engage with life for fear of ridicule.
