Health

Americans are stressed out

A new report by the American Psychiatric Association finds that thirty-six percent of people surveyed are feeling more anxiety today than they did a year ago.

The survey of more than a thousand adults finds most Americans are stressed about five major things: health, safety, finances, politics and relationships.

“I am not at all surprised by that finding,” said Dr. Sara Dimitri Carlton, an Atlanta area psychologist.

“I have definitely seen an uptick in the amount of anxiety and distress and stress in our country over the last year and a half I would say.”

Sixty-eight percent of people says they are extremely or somewhat anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe and healthy. Baby boomers' anxiety increased the most with a seven point jump between 2017 and 2018. Millennials are the most anxious generation, according to the survey.

“People will come in and say  ‘I don’t know why I feel so nervous. It just feels like its an uncertain time in our country and in our world.’ It’s helpful to them to hear that other people feel that way too,” Dr. Carlton said.

She estimates that fifty percent of her sessions were spent discussing the election and the worries that came from that, including the topics covered in the survey.

“People are very worried about their health care, finances... people are definitely worried about what was going to happen to their own personal pocketbooks.”

She suggests that breathing exercises, physical exercise, just trying to remain healthy, trying to remain connected to the folks in your life could be helpful in dealing with stress.

“Many of the people I talked with did not get out and vote,” Dr. Carlton said. “They are the ones for whom sexism and xenophobia just really don’t fit with their culture. I think this has been sort of a rude awakening for them of what country they actually live in.”

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