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Morgan Magel

Professor Name

ENG 1201

18 April 2020

Why is anxiety rising over depression, especially in young adults?

From the outside, it is easy to think that somebody has it all figured out. Just because

they get ready every day and go out with a smile on their face, means that they may not have a

care in the world. It is as if everyone is somehow expected to present their scars on their chest

so freely. Frequently people assume that if you cannot see it, then it is not really there. But

most times, the most painful scars are the ones that no one can see. So in today’s society,

especially in young adults, anxiety is rising over depression with all the pressures young people

ensue.

You start to get this feeling in your stomach, almost like another heartbeat. It is this

feeling of something holding you back, holding you back from being too happy. Your mind starts

racing, your heart starts beating so hard, palms begin to sweat, and an overwhelming fear of

what could go wrong starts to overtake you. This is what having anxiety feels like to most

people. One in fourteen people around the world have an anxiety disorder at this moment. One

in five people in the United States have a mental health condition, and each year it costs over

forty-two million dollars to treat these disorders. Anxiety may lead to depression, suicide,

school drop out, it makes it harder to focus, and it can lead to relationship breakdowns. A

reason why people do not think it is that important is that they do not actually know what it is.
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The symptoms can range from restlessness, fear, lack of concentration, the worry of things not

under your control, and lack of focus.

With anxiety, you can feel all ramped up, but with depression, can you feel really down.

“Various factors combined between the 1970s and the 1990s to transform conditions that had

been viewed as “anxiety” into “depression". New interests in the twenty-first century, however,

might lead to the reemergence of anxiety as the signature mental health problem of American

society.” (Horwitz) According to some sources, anxiety is spiraling in the United States. In 2018,

Barnes & Noble announced a massive rise in the sales of books about anxiety at over a 25

percent increase. The World Health Organization has reported that about 300 million people

across the globe have an anxiety disorder.

In today's society, young adults have the most pressure they ever have experienced

compared to years past. With the age of social media, having the perfect body, the perfect hair,

the ideal skin, and the obsession with looking like these unrealistic versions of women has

caused a spike in anxiety. They are having an overwhelming sense of fear of not being good

enough compared to other people. Typically anxiety and depression can go hand-in-hand, and

this is still relevant in some cases. In other cases, it is shown that severe anxiety in young adults

keeps ramping them up, without doing down to depression. While it is a good sign anxiety is

not falling right into depression, it is also not good that people are hyper-analyzing and unable

to connect because of this intense anxiety rise.

Take Chris Evans, for example. He’s a well-known actor, mainly known for his role in the

Marvel franchise as Captain America. He spoke out about his anxiety he dealt with in his early

20’s in an interview for the Marvel franchise. He said, “ I think in most of our lives, the root of
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suffering is listening to that brain noise and actually identifying with it as if it's who you are.

That's just the noise your brain makes. And more often than not, it probably doesn't have much

to say that's going to help you. I've felt my best are the moments that I've been able to pull that

plug and say, 'Chris … shhh … shhh.' And it's not quitting, it's not giving up, it's not washing your

hands of the thought, it's rising above it. All the time I've spent suffering as a result of brain

noise, hours of my life wasted. So that's what I'd say: 'Shhh.'.”

Anxiety in men often goes undetected or unnoticed, especially in younger men. Because

of the pace of our society, pressures of work, generalized masculinity, and the list goes on. For

men, it often comes across as a sign of weakness if they don’t somehow beat it on their own, or

stand up to it, or measure up to it. So they often have a much harder time talking about it or

seeking help. If this happens, it can often lead to depression if it is held in for too long.

I should probably share a part of my story and experience with this topic. I have a

generalized anxiety disorder. It was years of built-up worry, overthinking, constant fear, going

over scenarios in my head over and over again, and it started to take its toll. Last year it became

so overwhelming that panic attacks were beginning to happen, and after years of feeling this

weight, I finally decided that enough is enough. The depression never hit me that typically

follows anxiety, but I could not get the anxiety to go away. Finally, I started going to therapy

and working through the things that caused this anxiety. It was, by far, one of the best choices I

made for myself.

Although I have dealt with anxiety most of my life, I have not personally had depression

come hand in hand with my anxiety. “Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of
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interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems

and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home.” (Parekh)

Depression is the leading mental disability worldwide. A staggering seventy-five

percent of people with mental disorders go untreated, with close to one million people taking

their lives each year. People still do not know a lot about how anxiety and depression work in

the brain, but over time scientists have come to the conclusion that the two types of conditions

are surprisingly relatable. They feel very different in the moment, but they actually have many

symptoms in common and involve very similar thought patterns. It is also thought that they

might even have almost identical brain chemistries. The most commonly linked disorders are

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), in any given year,

about seven percent of the population is diagnosed with both of these disorders together.

Many people have both, about two-thirds of people with major depression also have

some kind of anxiety disorder, and about two-thirds of people with anxiety disorders also have

major depression. But there is also a key symptom of MDD that does not usually show up in

generalized anxiety, low positive affect. Low positive affect basically means that you are not

getting pleasure out of life. While in studies shown in recent years, young adults still get

pleasure out of life but always have a sense of anxiety about being who they are. So we have to

ask ourselves, are the norms in today’s society, causing the rise in anxiety?

So far, there is evidence for nine different causes of both anxiety and depression; two of

them are known to be in our biology. While your genes can make you more sensitive to these

problems, they are not a definite indicator. The most common factors of the causes for these

problems are factors in the way we live. Everyone has natural physical needs, but at the same
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time, every human being has natural psychological needs. You need to feel that you belong,

that your life has meaning and purpose. But living in today’s social media age has really

impacted these physiological needs.

Scrolling through our social media, especially young adults, seems like such a harmless

part of our day. Eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds are the most active age range on social

media, and this is where we start to see the rise in anxiety disorders. The Center for Collegiate

Mental Health found that the top three diagnoses on university campuses were; 1. Anxiety 2.

Depression 3. Stress. And a number of studies from all over the world have linked this high

social media use with these high levels of anxiety. Ninety percent of 18-29-year-olds are on

social media, and they spend, on average, 2 hours a day on these sights. That is just an average,

eighteen to twenty-two-year-olds spend even more time on social media.

With these increasing mental health problems in young adults, the results are saying

that cultural trends over the past ten years are having a more massive effect on mood disorders

and suicidal thoughts among the younger generation compared to the older generations.

We still have traditional causes of anxiety, for example, trauma, complicated

relationships, poverty, loneliness, and the list goes on. Some of these common causes are on

the decline, but the age of social media has caused a massive rise in anxiety worldwide. The

addition of modern anxieties is causing a gradual shift in the social ethos surrounding anxiety.

We are told that anxiety is a natural response to the business and the stress of our daily lives,

but all too frequently people brush off severe problems because they are told to “get over it” or

“life is always stressful.” Even being in this primary age of social media, people are body

shamed, told they are not “good enough,” and this reflects to the rise of generalized anxiety.
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So now, when I speak about anxiety or tell people about my anxiety, I am no longer

afraid of how people will react. This is not an uncommon thing in the world today, and it

touches and impacts so many people. Knowing all types of things can cause anxiety, whether it

be personal issues or living in today’s social media age, it needs to be a more open

conversation. Many people do not know the full effects, and while anxiety and depression can

be directly correlated, there are many new causes of the rise of anxiety.
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