The 18th century marked the Age of Enlightenment. Then, Thomas Paine penned his famous plea for an Age of Reason. Some psychologists argue that it should be called the Age of Anxiety. And they say it's getting worse.
More people visit doctors for anxiety than for colds.
Twenge recently analyzed 170 studies conducted from 1952 to 1993 to track changes in anxiety levels. Her conclusion, based on the records of 40,192 college students and 12,056 children, ages 9 to 17, are sobering. Crime, AIDS, divorce, unemployment, living alone, lack of trust, and other changes in the social environment have produced anxiety levels in children and young adults that rival those of child psychiatric patients of the 1950s. The symptoms are chronic and unremitting, and usually grow worse if left untreated. These afflictions are known as trait anxiety, as opposed to state anxiety, which is a temporary emotion caused by a particular situation.