A recent study performed at the University of Cambridge, in England, has found that Western women suffer from anxiety and stress disorders at at least twice the level that men do. The study was funded by The National Institute for Health Research and the scientists were tasked with reviewing more than 1,200 previous studies regarding stress and anxiety disorders.
Stress was found to be most prevalent in women and especially in those women and men under the age of 35 years old. They determined that about 8% of the population suffers from some manner of anxiety and stress disorder. Also, people who are suffering from some manner of chronic health affliction also suffer from high levels of stress and anxiety.
Olivia Remes, the lead researcher on the study said that, “Anxiety disorders can make life extremely difficult for some people and it is important for our health services to understand how common they are and which groups of people are at greatest risk. By collecting all these data together, we see that these disorders are common across all groups but that women and young people are disproportionately affected. Also, people who have a chronic condition are at a particular risk adding a double burden on their lives.”
The study seemed to reinforce the notions from other research that women also suffer from depression on a much larger scale than men because the depression seems to spring from the stress and anxiety. Women tend to ruminate and contemplate their situations and relationships more than men tend to and hormonal changes such as menopause and childbirth can bring great swings of stress and anxiety as well as the depression.
Science admits that it doesn’t quite truly understand stress and anxiety as some other sectors and disciplines of human nature do. The best they seem able to do is to try and recommend that people get into some sort of scientific treatment for it. Many also seem to believe that if mental and emotional struggles were not so stigmatized and ridiculed here in the West, more people would be more willing to talk about such things and to seek the help they need.
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