Generally speaking, common sense is of the opinion that today's young people are more anxious than “old youth”. The numbers seem to confirm a significant statistical phenomenon in terms of the prevalence of anxiety among young students. In the context of consultation, it is common to find anxiety as a phenomenon underlying the psychological problems presented: addictions, neurosis, comorbidities and other disorders. Will we live in the age of anxiety?
Anxiety
Anxiety is a derivative of fear, forming part of a more pathological dimension of this emotion. It should be noted that fear is not pathological in itself - it is an emotion with evolutionary value. Anxiety describes an activation of diffuse fear, which lasts over time and does not respond to internal self-regulation resources. It is the fear of something that may happen - or not happen - whether it may have an object or not. In psychoanalysis, defense mechanisms are responsible for managing, stressing, projecting, or denying the object of anxiety.
Fear, sadness, and anger are classically classified as undesirable emotions in modern societies, and there is an implicit “doctrine” to promote their avoidance. Anxiety also involves a process of mental rumination - constant “worry”, anticipation of the worst, repetition of negative thoughts that are not resolved internally. A teacher of mine often distinguished “worry” from “worry”: anxious people worry, overcome by this ruminative fear of failure. The best medicine, according to him? Get busy.
Today we are dealing with a massive and growing influx of information, much of it anxiogenic. We are constantly being asked for notifications, comparative content, and endless micro-debates. This increase in anxious responses may be related to the evolution of the world around us, which has substantially increased its capacity to “serve” us with information for which we probably do not have management resources.
In evolutionary terms, our brain reaps anxiogenic information more quickly than reassuring information - a useful bias for the survival of the species, but today problematic. To counter it, effort and education are needed. Perhaps anti-anxiety education has made us too vulnerable to our own anxiety.
I recently read the concept of “programmed negligent education”, referring to the educational model practiced by parents in the 70s, 80s and 90s - a relative lack of interest on the part of parents in daily monitoring that granted greater freedom and taught their children to manage difficult situations. In consultation, in the exploration of the life history of Generation X, there is in fact greater freedom, fewer screens, parents described as “busy”. They still have anxiety, but they seem to be able to resolve it in short therapy.
At a recent conference, Gilles Lipovetsky referred to interactions with parents who showed great anxiety and fear of not being loved by their children. It may be suggested that the emotional deprivation of previous generations awakened a desire to share emotions - even with very young children. Covid didn't help. The technologies don't seem to help either, especially for those who tend to worry.
The future of this generation may lie in the problem of screens. The screens that replace the exercise of the imaginary - an essential competence for solving problems and for building a stable self-concept. The screens that can replace parents for moments. There is a paradox today that consists of constantly talking about everything, including feelings and fears - which previous generations lacked - but which today seems to have a catalytic effect of more anxiety.
Today there is less movement, less body, less direct contact with the world. This contact is mediated by a screen that filters, mediates and transforms, but which in the end doesn't seem to build anything that lasts.
What is the impact on the professionals of the future?
Tomorrow's professionals will have to know how to deal with pressure, demand, competition, and demand that are expected to tend to increase over time. Still, I think that the greatest challenge for this generation will lie in the issue of decision-making and the effects of anxiety over time. With regard to decision-making, I think that this capacity may be affected, taking the expression of chronic procrastination for some, or, for others, assuming a form of decision-making oriented to the protection of the ego and reputation, away from professional judgment. Another aspect will be related to the somatic effects resulting from anxiety and stress that are not symbolized and stressed, as well as the health problems associated with chronic anxiety that wears out the body and mind over time: cardiovascular, gastrointestinal problems, burnouts and depressions with regard to mental health.
I also think that today as yesterday, success was the key to happiness, but that today the ability to compare ourselves is greater and constant, with the “help” of the screens. This generation will undoubtedly be able to find the solution to their fears and anxieties - with us eventually - because we still debate each other and meet, even if online, because we want to walk better. The key to the problem will lie in self-regulation: the ability to put down the screen, to reconnect to yourself and to others, to promote an acceptance of what we are and not of what we seem to be on social networks.
Anxiety doesn't go away with advice, videos, or manuals - it dissolves into the experience of talking to the other, of connecting emotionally. This generation will need to reconnect to themselves, to the other and to speak up - as we have always done, to this day.
Would Nietzsche say that when we look at a screen for a long time, the screen looks back at us?
Article written by Carlos Costa at the invitation of MindPartner