The Uprise of Anxiety and Depression
90% of generation Z that are battling a mental health condition are diagnosed with anxiety, 78% with depression.
I myself have suffered through anxiety and panic disorder. At the worst of it, I often found myself digging deeper into isolation, afraid to go out to eat, attend events and even go grocery shopping. But in a world where you can do just about everything from home (virtual events, order groceries, zoom meets and working), why would I challenge myself?
Eventually that mindset dug me deeper into my anxiety which made crawling out of it the biggest challenge I’ve faced thus far. I am blessed to have such a caring and dedicated support system around me that helped walk me through this challenge and into recovery.
Now in my recovery, I have had a chance to look back at that experience with a more curious lens. Out of 10 friends of mine 8 of them suffer from anxiety, or depression. Out of those 8, at least 6 have been on some form of SSRI. And that is just accounting for those closest to me.
In my battle with anxiety, I was prescribed Lexapro, which I was on for a little over a year and eventually, I weaned myself off. I was better for a while but after moving out on our own, having a big and busy holiday season and getting COVID, I fell back into a pit of anxiety which led a primary care doctor to prescribe me another medication, Buspirone. I was on the Buspirone for around 2.5 months before weaning myself off.
Side note: this is an opinion piece so just acknowledge that I am not providing medical advice and in no way are suggesting anyone go against their doctors suggestions. If you have questions about medication, consult your doctor. But I do have to add in here a little blurb about my experience with both medications. From the get-go I do not like to take any medication whatsoever. I am blessed to have never been in a situation where I needed to take medication to save my life, but in terms of common medications that I feel are given out like candy to people nowadays, I opt to stay away. Unfortunately, in the pit of my worst anxiety, the doctor I saw was able to convince me to take anxiety medication. The first time with Lexapro, in my opinion, was a band aid. Yes, it slowed my fears for a bit and I was able to function better but when I was done with the medication and life got more challenging, my anxiety came back and it came back worse than ever before. As for the Buspirone, it actually escalated my symptoms, making the anxiety worse. On the Buspirone, I had about 2 panic attacks a day and couldn’t function normally whatsoever. After I was off of the Buspirone, I replaced it with therapy, acupuncture and growing in my Christian faith and I have never felt better. Again, everyone’s experience with medication is different but I felt I’d share my own personal anecdote.
So why are anxiety and depression so common? Why are anixety medications (SSRI’s in particular) given out like candy? Are the SSRI’s providing real support or are they distracting us from getting to the root cause?
Well, some of the reasons I have noted in research I’ve been conducting have pieced together a few different reasons why mental health is deteriorating especially for generation Z. In a systematic review conducted in June of 2020, researchers found that “social media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals” (Adler et al, 2020). A study conducted by IDC research found that 80% of respondents check their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up. Imagine, the first thing your brain absorbs in the morning is an obscene amount of information, of course that could be overwhelming. Especially if you head to a social media app right away, you begin your day by absorbing information at an alarming rate and comparing yourself to others.
Another cause of this chronic anxiety could be the increased knowledge of world events. With social media, television and information pretty much everywhere you look, it is hard for the younger generation to avoid knowing about everything and anything occurring in the world. Before the rise in technology, adults carried most of the weight of the worlds events on their shoulders but now younger people have access and can learn and better understand more. This could be positive in some facets but in others, we are exposing young minds to horrible happenings which can increase their levels of anxiety tenfold.
To connect this to nutrition, because I must, we are also in a world, and specifically if you are in the US we are in a country, where mass production and saving money has become a priority over the health of the people of the world. Highly processed foods, inflammatory seed oils, synthetic fragrances, over-medicating and so much more has taken a huge toll on our health as humans. I tend to see that as we stray further away from a simplistic homesteading lifestyle we stray further away from health (again an opinion). We also live in a world of false nutrition and wellness information. With many influencers on social media playing the role of doctor, nutritionist and personal trainer, spreading trends and challenges that are setting our bodies up for failure.
In my opinion, I have felt like often times our medical system has laid focus on treating conditions rather than preventing them and mental health is no outlier to this trend. When we go to the doctor, we often find ourselves leaving with a new prescription and that has been very much normalized in society. I often find myself wondering if all of these SSRI’s, PPI’s (for heartburn), antibiotics and many other medications are making all of this worse. We are all taking more and more medications, at younger and younger ages but seem to be getting sicker and sicker. Food for thought.
So where do we go from here? How do we combat this mental health epidemic?
Well, I always say the first thing to do is do your research. Learn and better understand the facts so you can form your own opinion on what is best for you and your family. Professional opinions are great but you cannot trust everyone so it is always better to be aware and knowledgable on your own as well. My next bit of advice is overall to simplify your life. Consume less info, spend less time on your phone, buy less things, eat foods with less ingredients, have less fragrance in your life, stop trying to multitask. When you are on line at the store of waiting in a waiting room, don’t scroll on your phone, sit or stand in that space and just be. You will find true peace in switching from being a consumer to being a provider.
For those who are suffering from a mental health condition, keep pushing forward, although in the moment it can feel as though you will never get better, I promise you, you will.
References
CBS Interactive. (2013, April 12). Study: 80% of people grab smartphone within 15 minutes of waking. CBS News. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/study-80-of-people-grab-smartphone-within-15-minutes-of-waking/
Karim F, Oyewande AA, Abdalla LF, Chaudhry Ehsanullah R, Khan S. Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2020 Jun 15;12(6):e8627. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8627. PMID: 32685296; PMCID: PMC7364393.