Anxiety is becoming more common – A doctor gives advice that can help everyone – 2024-04-28 02:16:51

More and more people are anxious.

Anxiety is the fifth most common visit diagnosis in Mehiläinen’s private health services in Finland. In the capital region and Central Finland, anxiety is even the third most common visit diagnosis in Mehiläinen’s data.

Many people with anxiety disorders are young, educated women. They are known because they have told about their anxiety in healthcare.

– They have the wonderful feature that they seek help, says the specialist in psychiatry Teemu Kärnä.

According to Kärnä, the youngest patients suffering from anxiety are in their early teens, i.e. around 11 years old. However, the largest patient group in terms of anxiety are young adults.

Numerous possible reasons have been found for the prevalence of anxiety. The basic question of many anxious people concerns how to cope with the rapidly changing patterns of life.

Anxiety can be especially increased by uncertainty about whether one will be able to cope in an increasingly demanding and ever-changing life. Lifestock, Adobe Stock / AOP

Exercise instead of medicine

One factor that increases anxiety can be the fact that the interaction between people has shifted more and more to social media.

The corona pandemic, wars and climate change have caused uncertainty in life. Individualism and competition, as well as a decrease in community, can especially give young people reason to be anxious.

All in all, there are a lot of changes in life that would require more and more resilience to adapt to.

Many anxious people are also depressed. According to Kärnä, antidepressants can also be used for most anxiety disorders, but the increase in the use of drugs is leveling off.

In the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, more and more non-medicinal forms of treatment have started to be used, which include, for example, exercise rehabilitation.