According to some observers, anxiety is now snowballing in the United States. So, in this Spotlight, we ask whether anxiety truly is becoming more prevalent in the West and, if so, what may be causing it.
For many, anxiety is an ever-present uninvited guest; in our circle of friends, among family members, and in communities at large.
It seems to be rampaging through society like a noncontagious cognitive plague, forming a low-level hum that hides in the corners of our collective minds.
In August 2018, Barnes & Noble — who are the largest book retailer in the United States — announced a huge surge in the sales of books about anxiety; a 25 percent jump on June 2017. “[W]e may be living in an anxious nation,” one press release dryly notes.