A new study found that women are more likely to suffer from anxiety than men.
If you’ve experienced anxiety, you know the panic it can cause: it feels like there’s something wrong with you. But please know there’s nothing wrong, because anxiety affects 30% of all teen girls, and is the most common mental health disorder in the United States.
A new study published by The Medical Daily has found that “women are almost twice as likely to suffer from anxiety as men,” but by understanding why we get anxiety, it’s way easier to get over, and trust us, you will!
To understand anxiety, first we need to understand the cause—stress. According to the study, women are “more prone to stress, which can increase their anxiety”. While women tend to deal mentally, analyzing the causes and consequences of a problem, men “engage more in active, problem-focused coping”. According to Carl Pickhardt, PhD, a psychologist and author of The Everything Parent’s Guide to Positive Discipline, “A woman is often at risk of letting other people’s needs determine her limits.” Pickhardt shared that the biggest stressors are “relationship loss for women, performance failure for men”. In today’s day and age, women are as independent as ever. By nature, we’re “nurturers”, caring most about relationships, and we stress about how well we’re keeping them. Now, we have now adapted the “man’s” goal of taking action as well. This is great—women should want to be a boss in their relationships and careers! But, it can be stressful, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is when stress stops you from living your life as your happy and healthy self.
Two boss ladies that have shared what it feels like to have anxiety are Ellie Goulding and Camilla Cabello. Ellie confessed that anxiety for her feels like, “your heart racing uncontrollably.” Camilla has been open about experiencing anxiety attacks, where she would have racing thoughts. “Early recognition of symptoms is important so that treatment can be administered.” So it’s best to follow their lead and be open about your anxiety—most importantly with yourself and a doctor. Your next step may be seeking emotional therapy, taking medication, or trying methods like yoga and meditation. Something that can be really helpful is focusing on ways to improve your outlook!
Anxiety is scary for everyone- celebrity or not, but no matter who you are, you can always overcome it. Though I sometimes still get stressed, I am proud to say that I was able to overcome my anxiety disorder with the help of talking about it. And we can certainly say that while anxiety is a pain, it doesn’t make you any less of a boss!
By Sierra Petro
