Today, nearly one in five Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder (Howard). However, only a third seek help because the ridiculous social stigma surrounding mental illness that makes those with a disorder, men especially, feel ashamed and like a social pariah (“Facts & Statistics). Unfortunately, when people do not receive treatment for their anxiety disorder, it often can lead to a plethora of other dangerous health issues like eating disorders and substance abuse. In our society, men are expected to be a strong, macho, and show no weakness in order to be masculine while women are thought of as emotional creatures with lesser intelligence and unattainable bodies. While we, as a society, are becoming more aggressive and beginning to abandon these outrageous stereotypes, failure to comply with these obscenely outdated gender roles can still make the individual feel as though they are less of a woman or man. The competitive and cut-throat nature of our society has raised anxiety rates among both men and women higher significantly in recent years. Modern Western society causes men and women to experience anxiety differently and more intensely.

In the United States alone, more than 40 million people have an anxiety disorder (“Facts & Statistics). This means that nearly 20% of Americans are burdened with constant anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and panic attacks that are often debilitating and hinder those affected from doing simple things like going to work, going to school, or simply living their life (Howard).  While it is possible to manage anxiety, only one-third of those with an anxiety disorder seek treatment leaving the vast majority to suffer in silence rather than living their lives to their full potentials and being happy (“Facts & Statistics”). Anxiety wreaks such intense havoc on the body, especially if left untreated, that anxiety-sufferers are “three to five times more likely to go the doctor” and also “six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders” (“Facts & Statistics”). Even those who are fortunate enough to not suffer from an anxiety disorder or know someone with anxiety are still affected because “anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year” in tax dollars (“Facts & Statistics”). As a society, we subconsciously perpetuate and worsen anxiety for both men and women in varying ways. Fortunately, together, we have the ability to significantly decrease anxiety in both men and women if we become aware of how we cause each gender to suffer from anxiety and then collectively change our behaviors. 

Stereotypical expectations of men in Western society cause them to experience anxiety dramatically differently than women. There exists an “obnoxious stigma” regarding men’s mental health that makes them feel as though it is socially unacceptable for them to share their feelings with others (Holmes). Our society urges men to be unrealistically strong and brave and to conceal any aspects of themselves that could be portrayed as weak or feminine. In fear of being emasculated, men tend to keep their feelings and emotions to themselves, so when they experience anxious or depressing thoughts, they usually do not express how they are feeling because they have not been taught how to do so effectively or, more likely, they are too ashamed to. Because men often do not seek proper treatment for their anxiety, they are at a higher risk than women of depending on alcohol, drugs, or nicotine to cope with their feelings (Vesga Lopéz). In addition, men with an anxiety disorder are much more likely than women to also develop an “antisocial personality disorder” and avoid social interactions because they feel alienated and misunderstood by a society that expects them to be “masculine” (Vesga-Lopéz).  While society discourages men from being emotional and rather urges them to conceal their anxious thoughts, women are permitted, and even expected, to be sensitive and express their feelings. This aspect of the female gender role contributes to why there are much higher reported rates of anxiety in women than men. Today, it is commonly accepted that women are twice as likely as men to suffer from an anxiety disorder, however, there is a strong possibility that this information is inaccurate because many men are too ashamed or uncomfortable to come forward with their anxiety so it cannot be accounted for (Howard). In addition, women with anxiety are much more likely to have a “family history of depression” or other mental disorders while male anxiety is more likely to be triggered by life events than have a genetic cause (Vesga-Lopéz).

Gender differences in anxiety begin to emerge in early childhood. “By age six, girls are twice as boys likely to have experienced an anxiety disorder” and these changes continue into adolescence as “adolescent girls report a greater number of worries” and are “six times more likely to develop generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) than adolescent boys” (Anderson).  While studies have found that female youth are more anxious than their male counterparts, “childhood obsessive compulsive disorder is three times as common among boys until puberty” (Anderson). In adulthood, women tend to have certain anxiety disorders including PTSD and GAD while “gender differences appear to be least pronounced for social anxiety disorder (SAD) and OCD” (Anderson). Men and women’s contrasting roles in society play a significant role in explaining why each gender has a predisposition to experience certain anxiety disorders.

The combination of anxiety, particularly in women, and the social pressures regarding female body image causes many to develop an eating disorder. Typically, people with eating disorders have a “coexisting psychiatric and physical illness” like anxiety, depression, or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) that lies at the root of the problem (“Eating Disorders”). A study from 2004 revealed that “two-thirds of peoples with eating disorders suffer from an anxiety disorder” and also that “42 percent had developed an anxiety disorder during childhood” predating their struggle with an eating disorder (“Eating Disorders”). While it is more socially acceptable for women to come forward and seek treatment for an anxiety or any other mental disorder, “only about one-third of those suffering” actually do so while the rest of anxious Americans – nearly twenty-seven million people – are still too ashamed to get treatment because of the social stigma surrounding mental health regardless of gender (“Facts & Statistics”). Further, many do not seek treatment for anxiety disorders because they have not been taught to recognize when medical help is necessary like we have been with physical illnesses.

Unfortunately, if left untreated, anxiety can often lead to other dangerous illnesses like eating disorders, found more commonly in women, and substance addiction or abuse, found more commonly in men. If our society did not encourage men to be strong and emotionless and did not suggest that women have perfect, unattainable bodies, these extremely dangerous disorders would be far less likely to develop in people with preexisting anxiety disorders. However, because that is the current state of our society and will likely not change in the near future, we should, at the very least, take strides towards making mental health less taboo and encourage those suffering to seek help so that more problems do not develop. Once they more issues do emerge, treatment is much more difficult because “recovery from one disorder does not ensure recovery from another” and both need to be addressed separately (“Eating Disorders”).   

Although society plays a large role in why men and women experience anxiety disorders differently, there are some biological and genetic factors that also contribute on a smaller to this gender divergence.  “Genetic factors are estimated to account for up to one third of the total variance” of phobias in people, especially those involving animals (Anderson). Women are much more likely than men for a genetic factor to play a role in the causation of their anxiety. In addition, “research with child and adolescent samples consistently shows higher heritability estimates for fear and phobias for girls than boys” (Anderson). While issues within our current societal condition have a larger effect on the gender differences in anxiety disorders, they also “correspond with a differential genetic predisposition to anxiety disorders or their vulnerability factors” (Anderson).

Not only does Western society cause men and women to suffer from anxiety in different manners, it also has created a toxic environment that perpetuates anxiety in both genders.  “People younger than 35 in North America and Western Europe” are more likely to experience an anxiety disorder than any other place in the world because of the nature of our societies (Howard). The increased stresses of the last several decades “such as ongoing economic recession, wage inequality, political polarization, and environmental pollution” have caused the American population to experience higher rates of anxiety than ever (Bourne). The fast-paced, high-stress societal condition of our country has had a disastrous impact on the mental health on more than 20% of the United States (Howard). In her TED talk, “Anxiety: Hibernate, Adapt, or Migrate,” Summer Beretsky, an anxiety sufferer herself, discusses the poisonous environment created in our country in recent years that consists that promotes intense competition, unrealistic beauty standards, and a plethora of harmful stereotypes and prejudices. Beretsky proposes that, if we, as a society, placed more importance on being supportive and accepting of everyone, we could significantly reduce anxiety and stress in the United States. While it is true that competition is an important aspect of the American identity, it is entirely possible to be competitive while still maintaining respect and showing consideration for the well-being of the rest of the country.

While men and women do experience anxiety differently, Western society has wreaked havoc on the mental health of both men and women alike. It is common to blame the many problems of our country on society as a whole because it is easier than accepting the blame and responsibility ourselves as individuals who make up that society. Fortunately, as a member of Western society and American citizen, we have the ability to make the society in which we live. Once we recognize the role we play, although not intentionally, in perpetuating toxic stereotypes and prejudices about each gender, we can make strides towards consciously abolishing them in the United States. If we can get rid of these unhealthy gender roles and be supportive of one another rather requiring men and women to act a certain way in order to be accepted, we can drastically decrease the rate of anxiety that is much too high in this country and increase the quality of life for millions of Americans which is extremely powerful.
