Scientists' Understanding of Anxiety is Radically Evolving
If you think we live in anxious times now, the neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux suggests you consider what life must have been like in the Middle Ages. "That was probably a pretty lousy time to live," LeDoux, author of the 2015 book Anxious and one of the foremost experts on the neuroscience of fear, told Newsweek. "Disease, poverty and just the stress of life."
LeDoux was making a point he also makes in his recent book: Every age thinks it's "the Age of Anxiety."
"We love our anxiety and because it's ours, we think it's so special," he said. "But that's the nature of anxiety—it's all-consuming in your mind. If my mind is charged with anxiety, I can't imagine other people could've felt this bad in their lives."
It was a fair point, but I wasn't entirely convinced. I'd arrived at his office early and, while waiting for the eminent researcher, took a quick peek at my cellphone, which revealed the following news stories: The Amazon rainforest—the "lungs of the world"—was on fire, which could accelerate global warming. The trade war between the U.S. and China had escalated and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged 600 points. There'd been two random mass shootings in recent weeks.
As I contemplated what all this might mean for my children, the planet and my 401k, a text message arrived from my editor at Newsweek. Could I deliver my story on anxiety a week early—say, in three days? If this wasn't the "Age of Anxiety," then what was it?
LeDoux was right about one thing. I am certainly not the only one living in the present who is grappling with fear of the future, even if it sometimes feels like it.
In May, the American Psychiatric Association reported that for the second year in a row, two out of three Americans say they are "extremely or somewhat anxious" about their health, paying bills and keeping themselves and their family safe. The problem is most pronounced for younger adults—70 percent of
