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Anxiety and depression are widely spread among Americans of all ages and backgrounds, but there is a new study that offers the latest views on this situation. Its findings relay that about 4 million American workers have suffered from some kind of anxiety disorder in the past year.
The study was conducted by the American Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and it is based on data that they have collected from 67,500 participants, with ages ranging from 12 and up, who completed their survey between 2008 and 2012.
The program was called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and it assessed the participants’ state of mental health in a wide variety of questions meant to identify episodes of depression and anxiety, ranging from mild cases to severe ones.
“People with anxiety disorders can have a hard time gaining employment and sometimes dealing with certain situations,” said Pamela Hyde, the administrator of SAMHSA.
She further explained how these people are in great need of support from their loved ones and from professional help, so as to get past their hardships. Furthermore, when they receive proper treatment, they are able to flourish and contribute enormously to the benefit of the community.
By extrapolating their results, SAMHSA’s report concluded that the rate of anxiety is different among people, according to their working status.
Thus, it revealed that 5,6% of people who have part-time jobs suffer from some type of anxiety disorder, which amounts to 1,7 million adults. As for people with full-time jobs, only 3,7% of them reported anxiety episodes, meaning 4,3 million people.
In contrast with these results, many more people who were without any job and who are not enrolled in the workforce have reported that they were suffering from anxiety than those who do have a job, regardless of the time frame.
Most likely as a consequence of the financial insecurity that obviously has many complicated ramifications, 6.9 % of unemployed people, that correspond to 1 million adults, are facing anxiety. As for the ones who are not enrolled in the workforce, 8.9 % have reported having had anxiety episodes, the equivalent of 5,9 million adults.
As a conclusion, the report revealed that about 13 million people have battled episodes of anxiety in the past year, that represents 5.7 % of American adults.
The main significance of this report is to raise awareness to this pressing matter, that is affecting so many people, so that more pertinent measures be taken to mend it. People are still facing the stigma that society imposes on then when they admit going through issues such as anxiety or depression.
Most of the time this makes them think that they cannot get treatment without being labeled as crazy by those around them. It is unacceptable that one of the most prevalent diseases of the 21st century sill be considered tabu. Therefore, people need to be provided places where they can get help without having to face the indignities of discrimination.
Image Source: forefrontmag
