Anxiety is defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” It affects approximately 40 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population, making it the most commonly diagnosed mental illness in the country.
Many people who experience anxiety have more than one of the above, so some of those statistics overlap. However, it is easy to see how pervasive an issue like anxiety is – nearly 1 in 5 people struggle with it regularly. Anxiety disorders develop from a variety of compounding factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.