Mental health issues don’t discriminate. Even the famous model Cara Delevingne has spoken out about her teenage battle with depression and anxiety. She sought help after a breakdown when she was just 15 years old. She has had thoughts of suicide in the past and since learnt methods in which to make herself happy being in a much better place now.
For those who suffer from anxiety, it can seem like everyone around them is happy, stress-free, and bursting with confidence. Anxiety disorders affect about 18% of all adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It can strike anyone, at any time, and for no apparent reason. More than 40 million people suffer panic attacks, social phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms severe enough to be classified as a disorder. In 2013, there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK alone. Fact is that 50% of mental health problems are established by the age of 14 and 75% by age 24. Surveys have shown that 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem and 1 in 6.8 people experience mental health problems in the workplace (14.7%). In 2016, 5,668 suicides were recorded in the UK and of these, 75% were male and 25% female.
Especially students report high levels of anxiety, with 42.8% often or always worried. Almost nine in 10 (87.7%) said they struggled with feelings of anxiety – an increase of 18.7 percentage points over 2017 figures – and a third (33%) reported suffering from loneliness often or all the time.
Millions more feel anxious but fall short of an actual diagnosis. Over the years, celebrities have become more open talking about their own anxiety issues, helping to fight the stigma of mental illness, and let fans know they are not alone.
