What Percentage Of People Have Anxiety

Whos Most Affected By Mental Health Problems

Anyone can get a mental health problem. But we know that some groups are more likely to get them than others.

These include:

• People who identify as LGBTIQ+. LGBTIQ+ people are between 23 times more likely than heterosexual people to report having a mental health problem in England .
• Black or Black British people. 23% of Black or Black British people will experience a common mental health problem in any given week. This compares to 17% of White British people .
• Young women aged 16-24. Over a quarter of young women aged between 1624 years old report having a common mental health problem in any given week. This compares to 17% of adults. And this number has been going up .
• Around 40% of people in England who have overlapping problems including homelessness, substance misuse and contact with the criminal justice system in any given year also have a mental health problem .

It’s important to know that your identity does not give you mental health problems. Causes of mental health problems can be very complicated. Higher risk for these groups is linked to several factors , including:

• facing social inequality and disadvantage
• facing discrimination and social exclusion

What Causes Generalised Anxiety Disorder

The exact cause of GAD is not fully understood, although it’s likely that a combination of several factors plays a role.

Research has suggested that these may include:

• overactivity in areas of the brain involved in emotions and behaviour
• an imbalance of the brain chemicals serotonin and noradrenaline, which are involved in the control and regulation of mood
• the genes you inherit from your parents you’re estimated to be 5 times more likely to develop GAD if you have a close relative with the condition
• having a history of stressful or traumatic experiences, such as domestic violence, child abuse or bullying
• having a painful long-term health condition, such as arthritis
• having a history of drug or alcohol misuse

But many people develop GAD for no apparent reason.

Mental Health Statistics: Anxiety

Anxiety is a type of fear usually associated with the thought of a threat or something going wrong in the future, but can also arise from something happening right now.

• In 2013, there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK.1
• In England women are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders as men.2
• The one-week prevalence of generalised anxiety in England is 6.6%3
• Be Mindful Online is an online mindfulness course offered by the Mental Health Foundation. Research on the online course in 2013 found that for the 273 people that completed the course, there was, on average, a 58% reduction in anxiety levels.

Recommended Reading: Can You Have Anxiety Without Panic Attacks

Statistical Methods And Measurement Caveats

National Comorbidity Survey Replication

Diagnostic Assessment and Population:

• The NCS-R is a nationally representative, face-to-face, household survey conducted between February 2001 and April 2003 with a response rate of 70.9%. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the fully structured World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview , a fully structured lay-administered diagnostic interview that generates both International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, and DSM-IV diagnoses. The DSM-IV criteria were used here. The Sheehan Disability Scale assessed disability in work role performance, household maintenance, social life, and intimate relationships on a 010 scale. Participants for the main interview totaled 9,282 English-speaking, non-institutionalized, civilian respondents. Any anxiety disorder was assessed in a subsample of 5,692 adults. The NCS-R was led by Harvard University.
• Unlike the DSM-IV criteria used in the NCS-R and NCS-A, the current DSM-5 no longer places post-traumatic stress disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder in the anxiety disorder category. They are listed in new DSM5 categories.

Survey Non-response:

National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement

Diagnostic Assessment and Population:

Survey Non-response:

Get Involved In Your Community

Find a way to volunteer or be active in your community.

Science shows that helping others may influence levels of oxytocin in the brains of volunteers, according to a study in Hormones and Behavior by Michael J. Poulin and E. Alison Holman. Oxytocin helps the body manage stress.

Helping others also allows people to focus on something other than their anxiety.

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Risk Factors For Mental Health

The determinants, onset and severity of mental health disorders are complex they can rarely be attributed to a single factor. Identifying potential risk factors form an important element of health research, potential prevention and in some cases, appropriate treatment nonetheless, many risk factors remain only correlates of observed patterns in mental health. They therefore need to be interpreted carefully.

The World Health Organization synthesize the potential contributors to mental health and wellbeing into three categories:29

• individual attributes and behaviours: these can be particular genetic factors or personality traits
• social and economic circumstances
• environmental factors.

In the table we see the WHOs breakdown of potential adverse and protective factors for mental health within these three categories. These factors often interact, compound or negate one another and should therefore not be considered as individual traits or exposures. For example, particular individual traits may make a given person more vulnerable to mental health disorders with the onset of a particular economic or social scenario the instance of one does not necessarily result in a mental health disorder, but combined there is a significantly higher vulnerability.

Risk factors through the life-course

Pre-conception and pre-natal period

Infancy and early childhood

Childhood

Adolescence

Adulthood

Older age

Prevalence Of Mental Health And Substance Use Disorders

The predominant focus of this entry is the prevalence and impacts of mental health disorders . However, it is useful as introduction to understand the total prevalence and disease burden which results from the broad IHME and WHO category of mental health and substance use disorders. This category comprises a range of disorders including depression, anxiety, bipolar, eating disorders, schizophrenia, intellectual developmental disability, and alcohol and drug use disorders.

Mental and substance use disorders are common globally

In the map we see that globally, mental and substance use disorders are very common: around 1-in-7 people have one or more mental or substance use disorders.

Prevalence of mental health disorders by disorder type

Its estimated that 970 million people worldwide had a mental or substance use disorder in 2017. The largest number of people had an anxiety disorder, estimated at around 4 percent of the population.

Prevalence of mental health disorders by genders

Also Check: What Is Good For Anxiety Over The Counter

Concepts Of Dental Fear Dental Anxiety And Dental Phobia

The first to adopt the term dental anxiety was Coriat , who defined it as an excessive dread of anything being done to the teeth with the result that any dental surgery, no matter how minor, or even dental prophylaxis, may be so postponed or procrastinated that the inroads of disease may affect the entire dental apparatus. Coriat suggested that a fear of the dentist was anticipatory anxiety because it stemmed from a fear of real danger and an anticipated unknown danger.

The terms dental fear and dental anxiety are frequently used interchangeably, and the umbrella term dental fear and anxiety will be used in this paper. However, dental phobia is sometimes considered to be a separate concept Lautch defined dental phobia as a special kind of fear, out of proportion to the demands of the situation, which will not respond to reason, is apparently beyond voluntary control and leads to avoidance of dental treatment where this is really necessary. Freeman also stressed the importance of avoidance being present in dental phobia, stating that dental phobia cannot be diagnosed purely from the presence of dental anxiety the patient’s history of dental experiences must also be considered.

Worrisome Anxiety Statistics And Facts For 2021

written by Mira Rakicevic / January 2, 2021

Everybody worries from time to time. However, if you feel constant worry or fear about everyday situations, you may suffer from an anxiety disorder. Many people disregard this condition believing that theyor their loved onessimply worry too much. But anxiety disorders are, in fact, the most common mental disorder in the US according to the latest anxiety statistics.

Fortunately, they can be treated like any other medical condition. Still, the majority of people experiencing anxiety symptoms dont receive adequate treatment, and their excessive worry interferes with their daily lives.

Recommended Reading: Can You Self Diagnose Anxiety

Can We Blame Social Media

Some others have looked to the impact of social media on mental health. After all, social media has flooded society so thoroughly in such a short space of time, it is highly unlikely to have had no impact at all.

Facebook was founded in 2004 today, almost 1.5 billion people use it at least once per day.

So one, singular, standalone website is now perused by around 1 in 5 people globally.

Thats incredible, and Facebook is only one of the many social media giants.

Studies looking at the link between social media and anxiety are relatively easy to find.

For instance, one that investigated social media use, sleep, and mental health in over 400 Scottish adolescents revealed that those who used social media the most, particularly at night-time, had lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Another investigation surveyed more than 1,700 young U.S. adults. The researchers compared the number of social platforms used with levels of anxiety and depression.

People who frequented higher numbers of social platforms reported higher levels of depression and anxiety. Another study on 1822-year-olds came to similar .

Before we throw Facebook and their staff to the lions, we need to remember that cause and effect cannot be established in the vast majority of these studies.

Because social media is so ubiquitous, it is difficult to run a study with a control group of adults who have not been introduced to it.

Anxiety Disorders And Anxiety

Anxiety is a spectrum of experience. All of us will worry, but when anxiety is persistent and getting in the way of everyday life we might consider it to be a disorder. Not everyone who is anxious will meet all of the criteria for a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. Many famous people have talked openly about their struggles with anxiety, though not all of whom have confirmed whether they sought mental health treatment.

Also Check: How To Retrain Your Brain From Anxiety

Endogenous Sources Of Dfa

The term endogenous relates to the idea that individuals are dentally anxious for internal reasons, such as personality traits. Locker et al. has referred to internal aetiological factors as a constitutional vulnerability to anxiety disorders.

Heritability

Ray et al. tested the hypothesis of a genetic component of DFA. In their longitudinal study of over 2,000 twins , the authors measured DFA and dental fear intensity. These measures took the form of 3 dental fear questions answered by selecting yes or no, and a single question about the intensity of the dental fear. Data were collected when participants were 1314 years old and again 3 years later. A genetic component in dental fear/anxiety was found, and the heritability was shown to be higher in girls than in boys. No such gender difference was found for dental fear intensity. These findings not only fill a gap in the literature but they also provide an interesting addition to theories of the antecedents of DFA.

Personality Traits

The predominant model of personality, in current psychological research, is the 5-factor model which divides personality into 5 traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism . Neuroticism and extraversion are the two traits that are predominantly related to DFA . Costa and McCrae define these traits as follows:

• Extraversion involves warmth, excitement seeking and assertiveness.

Cognitive Ability

Anxiety Disorder Types And Percentages

NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES REFER TO ADULT U.S. POPULATION AFFECTED

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: 6.8 million, 3.1%.

• Women are twice as likely to be afflicted than men. We believe the number of men who struggle with generalized anxiety is much higher because many don’t report it to their doctors.
• Very likely to be co-exist with other disorders.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: 2.2 million, 1.0%.

• It is equally common among men and women.
• One third of afflicted adults had their first symptoms in childhood.
• In 1990 OCD cost the U.S. 6% of the total $148 billion mental health bill.

Panic Disorder: 6 million, 2.7%.

• Women are twice as likely to be afflicted than men .
• Often co-exists with depression.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: 7.7 million, 3.5%.

• Women are more likely to be afflicted than men.
• Rape is the most likely trigger of PTSD, 65% of men and 45.9% of women who are raped will develop the disorder.
• Childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of lifetime likelihood for developing PTSD.

Social Anxiety Disorder: 15 million, 6.8%.

• It is equally common among men and women.
• Specific Phobia affects: 19 million, 8.7%.
• Women are twice as likely to be afflicted as men.

According to our statistics over the last 16 years, 54 percent of woman and 46 percent of men experience anxiety disorder.

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Techniques For Managing Anxiety

You can learn some new skills that make a big difference in how well you manage your anxiety. Instead of the anxiety controlling you and what you do, you can take charge. Things you can do to break out of the cycle of anxiety include:

• understanding anxiety
• accepting and tolerating normal anxiety
• taking small steps towards doing the things you are worried about coping with, instead of avoiding them
• learning mindfulness

Read about tips for managing anxiety. See also anxiety apps and e-learning programmes.

Support For Anxiety And Suicide

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 2017, 47,173 Americans died by suicide, and there were an estimated 1.4 million suicide attempts. The relationship between anxiety and suicide has been studied for years, but results seem inconclusive. One study suggests that anxiety disorders are statistically significant but weak predictors of suicide ideation and attempts. Another found that panic disorder and PTSD are strongly associated with suicide attempts. Regardless of its relationship though, anyone who is seeking support can call the suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or find resources on the ADAAs website.

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How Generalised Anxiety Disorder Is Treated

GAD can have a significant effect on your daily life, but several different treatments are available that can ease your symptoms.

These include:

• medicine such as a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

With treatment, many people are able to control their anxiety levels. But some treatments may need to be continued for a long time and there may be periods when your symptoms worsen.