Why is anxiety on the rise? | David Nutt, Mark Salter, Caroline Hickman

Caroline Hickman, David Nutt, and Mark Salter debate why anxiety rates seem to be increasing.

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/the-age-of-anxie...

Anxiety appears to be a galloping epidemic. Since its introduction as a medical condition in the 80s, anxiety has risen from 2% of cases to the most commonly diagnosed mental illness. Today it affects more than a fifth of the population, including a third of all young people, and the Covid 19 pandemic is causing the number of cases to soar.

But while it's sad that so many individuals are struggling with anxiety, is feeling anxious a rational response to deeply uncertain times? Are we over-medicalising behaviour that would once have been seen as normal? Or is anxiety a troubling consequence of the problems with our society and culture?

#anxiety #mentalhealth #debate

Caroline Hickman is a psychotherapist, and Social Work teaching fellow at the University of Bath.

David Nutt is a neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He was previously head of the University of Bristol's Psychopharmacology Unit.

Mark Salter is a consultant in adult general psychiatry in London's East End. His special interests include risk, untowardness and media portrayals of mental distress.

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