Introduction
Anxiety disorders are medical illnesses where humans anticipate future concerns that cause reactions to stress. Anxiety comes from the fear of something. Anxiety disorders aren’t the same as having our normal feelings of nervousness. Although it is the most common mental disorder, only about 30% of adults are affected at some point in their lives (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Under anxiety disorders are more specific anxiety disorders such as but not limited to specific phobias, social anxiety disorders, panic disorders, agoraphobia, generalized, and separation anxiety disorders.
Anxiety disorders can result from multiple risk factors such as brain chemistry, traumatic events, personality, and life events. As a result of anxiety disorders, there are physical and mental effects. Some mental triggers are work, relationships, and financial stress. Some physical triggers are locations, crowds, and being around specific people (“What are anxiety disorders?” n.d.). Some effects of anxiety include, but aren’t limited to difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, pain and bloating in the abdomen, trembling, chest pains, dizziness, headaches, fatigue, and feelings of discomfort.
To spread awareness, people must first know what anxiety is, and how to live with it. The best solution to spread awareness of anxiety disorders is first to get it out to the world. The best way to do this is not to be ashamed and be vocal. Statistics show that only about 43.2% of humans with anxiety disorders receive treatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Over half of the people who treat their anxiety have a success rate. When the world is more open to disorders, the better the chances are to heal not only yourself but the world. When people are confident in themselves and getting help, the first step is awareness; after awareness comes healing. Most people aren’t sure where to start or where to go for treatment, so they deal with it to the best of their ability. Hopefully, spreading awareness helps them to find the direction needed to find treatment and healing.
Hypothesis
How has anxiety affected the world? The critical focus of anxiety disorders is how to manage day-to-day activities with them. Some people have anxiety disorders from going to the grocery stores. As technology improves, things are made more accessible, for example, curbside pick-ups. This probably wasn’t created solely based on people with anxiety disorders, but over time they have migrated to this option.
Spreading awareness of anxiety has impacted the world in positive and negative ways. With most of the world using social media to stay in the know, it is a positive impact that people worldwide can share their triggers and coping mechanisms. On the negative aspect, in the same sense, there has been an increase in smoking and drinking. People with mental health issues are believed to smoke and drink more than the general population.
Participants
According to statistics, women are more likely to have anxiety disorders than men. On the personality spectrum, introverted individuals with high emotional reactivity are more prone to have anxiety disorders. As a group, ages ranging from 30-44 have the highest anxiety rate. It is most common in the United States of America. Florida has the lowest anxiety rates, and Oregon has the highest rates. Social media not only raised awareness but also made anxiety more common. It increased the need to feel accepted, as well as poor sleep habits. By feeling the need to be accepted by the world, individuals have a fear of “not doing life right,” which gives them anxiety about being around certain people and in certain locations.
Sampling Method
To select the right population pool for the current research study, the combination of clustered and convenience sampling will be used. Clustered sampling entails dividing the population into strata based on their specific characteristics. The population of interest will be stratified into individuals with a history of anxiety or mental health issues that include anxiety episodes. However, it is currently not possible to include individuals using completely random methods of sampling because they have to be accessible to the researcher. Therefore, once the random cluster of potential participants is selected, the researcher will go through the sample and use the convenience method to ensure that only available and willing to participate individuals are involved. The potential participants will be contacted either in person or via email and asked whether they are available and ready to participate in the study (Stratton, 2021). It is expected that the number of participants will decrease after the convenience sampling stage is complete; however, combining the approach with clustered sampling lowers the bias inherent to non-probability approaches.
Even though convenience sampling has its disadvantages, it was chosen because it can offer a pool of participants who will be willing to talk freely about their anxiety. Not all people can open up about their mental health struggles or acknowledge that they use smoking and drinking as coping mechanisms. Moreover, this research is not about a treatment intervention experiment but instead studies the opinions and perspectives of individuals affected by an anxiety disorder. The more open the participants are to share their experiences, the more successful the study will be in terms of revealing important insights about the issues being studied.
Data Collection Procedures
In the current study, the interview data collection methodology will be used. It entails the exchange of information between the interviewer and research participants through a pre-determined set of questions and answers. The questions will be developed by the researcher to elicit valuable information from study participants on the topic of anxiety and their experiences with this mental health challenge. Each research question will be informed by the research questions developed at the beginning of the study. While there are several types of interviews depending on the way of their implementation and the structure of questions, this study will use the structured interview. This data collection procedure is a systematic approach to interviewing research participants using the same pre-identified questions to all participants in the same order, rating them with the use of a standardized system of scoring.
While open-ended and unstructured interviews can provide vast insights into individual experiences, the structured approach fits the current study better due to several significant benefits. Specifically, structured interviews lead to a more consistent exchange of information between the researcher and participants, with fewer errors being made. In addition, the interview experience becomes more effective because questions are developed in advance and thus allow for collecting the most valuable and relevant information. The interview process based on the structured methodology is less likely to lead to bias because interviewers will base all interactions on a script. Finally, the interview responses gathered as a result of structured interviews are easier to compare and evaluate because there are limitations as to what responders should say or how they should formulate their responses.
Data Analysis
The data acquired from the structured interviews will be qualitative, which warrants the implementation of particular data analysis methods. In contrast with quantitative data, a qualitative analysis provides more detail to academic reports because it provides insight into the diverse perspectives of research participants and adds more context. Once the interviews are completed, the researcher will develop a complete interview transcript to be further used for data analysis.
This study will adopt the inductive approach to data analysis, which entails scanning through the data, allowing codes and concepts to emerge. A thematic content analysis is a type of inductive data analysis that starts with eliminating any biases and establishing the overarching impressions of the data involved. This approach calls for abandoning any pre-determined impressions to search for common themes as the researchers scan the transcripts organically. The development of themes and findings using inductive data analysis will help answer the established research question. Throughout the data analysis process, which entails scanning through the transcripts to find common themes, the codes from responders’ own words illustrate that the data is representative of specific findings. Such a process will help track necessary evidence and will provide a place for developing conclusions from the findings.
The sequence of steps in the data analysis process will start with reading through the data in each category of interview responses to determine common themes that are repeated in the answers. Then, pattern coding will be used to find patterns in the sources of data. This process allows for condensing the codes that are being created during open coding to segment data into fewer analytic concepts, which is conducive to summarizing data when findings are developed.
Contribution to the Field
Mental health issues, and anxiety disorders in particular, will continue to be relevant in the context of public health because there is no universal cure that can help eliminate them. As new social, economic, political, environmental, or personal problems take place, people are bound to experience anxiety that may further transform into disorders that need addressing (Taschereau-Dumouchel et al., 2022). Therefore, the core contribution of the current study in the field of mental health research is showing why the population in the age range of 30-44 has the highest anxiety rate. Specifically, the study will illustrate which external and internal factors are more likely to cause anxiety disorders, calling for action on the part of social improvement, mental health initiatives, as well as self-care.
There is a trend of sidelining the mental qualities of mental health disorder treatments, which led to limited effectiveness. As a result, negative attitudes about the subjective experiences of individuals emerged, providing few opportunities for scientific studies of such experiences (Taschereau-Dumouchel et al., 2022). This study, however, brings the subjective experiences of individuals to the forefront of exploring anxiety disorders. Even though the causes of implications of the disorder vary from one person to another, there will be common patterns that they share. For example, the social pressures that women experience regarding their responsibilities to juggle home and work life have an overarching negative impact on their mental health (Miller & Essex, 2023). Another example is the growing financial crisis and inflation that the global population experiences, which is bound to lead to anxiety among certain population segments (American Psychological Association, 2022). Thus, the current study contributes to the existing body of research by offering insight into the experiences of real people.
Limitations
This qualitative research has several limitations in its design as well as its findings. Qualitative interviews take a lot of time to complete, requiring the researcher to spend time asking probing questions that will allow for answering the established research questions. Interviews are research methods that imply a degree of bias because of their underlying misconceptions and stereotypes toward the interviewee or the questions being asked. In addition, some responders may not always tell the truth or hide some aspects of their experiences to avoid being judged. Due to the limited accessibility to responders, the study had to use convenience sampling for the most part, the disadvantage of which is the inability to generalize the findings to a larger population. Random sampling methods could not be implemented because the subject of the study is highly personal, with not many people agreeing to participate and share their experiences and perspectives on anxiety.
Conclusion
This study shows that anxiety disorders require more attention in the modern research literature because the public health issue remains unresolved and warrants further study. The purpose of the current research was to illustrate the different experiences of real people with anxiety and point out common trends and characteristics they share despite their uniqueness. Understanding why anxiety occurs allows for formulating more effective intervention strategies for self-care or mental health treatment. Besides, this study did not involve an experiment to determine whether a particular intervention could help alleviate the burden of anxiety disorders. This means that the research could be expanded in the future using mixed-methods methodology to test the efficacy of certain interventions.
References
American Psychological Association. (2022). Stress in America 2022: Concerned for the future, beset by inflation. Web.
Miller, D. A., & Essex, R. (2023). The impact of Covid-19 on self-employed female psychologists in the UK. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 11, 100477. Web.
Stratton, S. J. (2021). Population research: Convenience sampling strategies. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 36(4), 373–374. Web.
Taschereau-Dumouchel, V., Michel, M., Lau, H., Hoffman, S. G., & LeDoux, J. E. (2022). Putting the “mental” back in “mental disorders”: A perspective from research on fear and anxiety. Molecular Psychiatry, 27, 1322–1330. Web.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Any anxiety disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. Web.
What are anxiety disorders? (n.d.). Web.