How Anxiety Affects Individual Behaviors

Anxiety in Post-Pandemic America

• Distress:

In reality, the increasing prevalence of anxiety among Americans is understandable given the wide array of existential threats that are already arrayed against humankind. These threats are combined with nearly daily mass shootings and a looming civil war due to a polarized nation at odds with itself over political and ideological differences. Against this backdrop, it is little wonder that Americans are increasingly anxious as evidenced by the types of irrational or excessive fears and concerns over ordinary aspects of life, such as a growing reluctance to return to the physical workplace after working at home as well as legitimate concerns over attending gatherings in public settings or even shopping at the local grocery store due to social phobias caused by anxiety.

It is also important to note that anxiety can linger in sufferers long after the actual threats have passed, suggesting that responses to threatening conditions can have a cumulative effect on people (Aberg et al., 2023). Furthermore, taken to its extreme, anxiety can manifest in a number of ways that cause distress as characterized by mental or emotional imbalance. Because anxiety can affect people of all ages, it is reasonable to suggest that the younger generational cohorts will suffer an inordinate incidence of anxiety during their lifetimes, making this issue a largely unmet public health emergency as discussed below.

• Dysfunction

Although every individual’s anxiety is unique, there are some common effects the condition can have on adaptive daily functioning. For example, according to the clinicians at the National Institute of Mental Health, “For people with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships” (What is Anxiety?, 2023, para. 2).

As noted above, anxiety affects people of all ages so the adverse effects of anxiety will vary depending on individuals’ life circumstances. It is clear, though, that the young and elderly are at an especially elevated risk of suffering from the physical and mental effects of anxiety since they may already be less capable of accomplishing the daily tasks of living that are needed for a heathy life. These realities underscore the severity of the disorder and the importance of developing evidence-based interventions as discussed below.

• Danger

Anxiety is a normal part of the human condition and everyone experiences this response to certain stimuli from time to time. Left untreated, anxiety can intensify in severity, causing both physical and mental health problems, such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, and gastrointestinal issues as well as a corresponding diminished cognitive and decision-making ability (Meshram & Rambola, 2023). Indeed, anxiety can even result in suicide or other deviant antisocial behaviors which exacerbate the collective level of anxiety across the nation as discussed below.

• Deviance

Because everyone experiences anxiety from time to time and over time, this condition must be considered a normal human response. Here again, though, everyone’s level of anxiety – and resilience to threatening circumstances – are unique. Therefore, the extent to which anxiety causes behaviors that go beyond what is regarded as typical or adaptive is the extent to which anxiety deviates from normality.