Why do you think so many people suffer from anxiety and depression?

Answer:
too self focused. As a society we look so much to our own gratification, that if we are not completely satisfied (then something must be wrong). However, if we learned to help others, seek the buildup of others and basically were focused on treating others with respect, dignity, and admiration. We would be satisfied. We go about it all wrong and it causes much mental mess.

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T.V. has too much negativity on it

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I think society is partially to blame. We blame too much on depression/anxiety. Now a days, if you're feeling blue...you're dealing with depression. Just about anything emotionally wrong with you, is considered anxiety/depression. So people start to believe they have it and that its so common to have it.

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it's because of lack of support of family and friends..

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I think as children we weren't taught that challenges will come as adults and how to be confident to deal with all that life throws at us. When all we're taught is fairy tales as children we don't really get a grasp on reality as adults.

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it's what people eat. and what the media feeds our minds.

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a hypertension environment
complicated with a lousy (fast food) diet
release and relax
i know i'm not good at it
(i vomit frequently without true reason)
it is the society we allow ourselves to engage

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First of all, I don't think depression and anxiety are any more prevalent than in the past. I just think that awareness and treatment have increased, as well as the decrease in stigma against having depression and anxiety.

The causes of anxiety and depression seem pretty straightforward, from a brain point of view. The more straightforward a cause of a problem, the more likely it is to occur. I don't think there's some kind of theological reason, it's just something that happens. And with better treatments being developed every day, living with it is easier.

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I grew up in a family that has done nothing but insult me, put me down and make me feel like i'll never be good enough. They've done this my whole life. I've gotten to a point where how you think it's natural to just get up and go to the store whereas i have to think ok what time/day is it, would it be busy, have i been there at this time before, what if it's crowded, what if someones there i dont like and they make fun of me? What if i slip and fall getting out of my car, what if someone hates my outfit, am i going to be made fun of for being overweight? My list goes on and on, it took a few years of therapy to pinpoint that it was how i was treated to realize my problem. I now know just because people are family doesn't mean i need to please or even get along with them. I've pretty much dropped most of them. I know the feeling of a weight being taken off my shoulds. I've gotten better but i think no matter if it's society, family, friends, neighbors. There's only so much of anything that one person can take before they snap and go through both anxiety which in the end causes you to be depressed.

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Studies have shown that in societies with a fixed religious belief structure, anxiety is not much of an issue. Freedom of religion is a wonderful thing, but it is a two-edged sword. If we are free to believe what we choose, then it's up to us to decide what is right and stick with it, even though there are many around us who refute or attack our beliefs.

Studies have also shown that in subsistence cultures, depression and anxiety levels are far lower than in "civilized" agrarian societies. (This in spite of the fact that there is no guarantee that the culture will not perish of famine or drought from season to season!) I believe this is an indication that we civilized folk have strayed so far from a natural way of living that energies we would normally direct toward survival are refocused inward. We have become too abstract. In essence, we have TIME to become depressed and anxious.

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If there were no anxiety or depression how would the drug companies make their money?

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I've recently just recovered from a period of depression. I don't know what caused it, I did have some things going on in my life but I don't want to dig around, its in the past.

Before I suffered I never owuld have understood it, now I have I feel I am a different person because of it. Depression is either clinical or circumstantial - clinical is a lack of seratonin in your brain which is rectified with SSRi's usually, circumstantial is based upon events going on in peoples lives and is fixed with a mixture of therapy and SSRI's id needed.

My advice to anyone feeling depressed is study your life, find out what there is that you dont like and change it, if you cant change it then dont worry about it. Simple as that.

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