You’re Not Crazy: Why Living in the U.S. Is Bad for Your Mental Health

And tips on how to stay sane

For all the pride and money we put into our medical system, there’s something fundamentally wrong with our health in the U.S. — our chronic anxiety levels are through the roof.

If only we put as much energy into reducing the country’s stress levels as we put into producing anti-depressants.

It clearly pays to keep America stressed.

As someone who struggles with chronic anxiety, I’ve spent years trying to separate what was coming from within from what was coming from without. And then learning to shield myself from it.

During my three years of staying in England and Denmark, I learned that I was a much more relaxed person without the outside stimulation that came with living in the U.S.

Now back home, I’m learning to live (calmer) with it.

Obvious issues aside, here are just some of the less-discussed things that trigger my anxiety levels in America, and, no doubt, affect millions of other people.

We’re overstimulated

As my dear (European) husband noticed, “America is a giant amusement park.”

Oversized billboards.

Endless TV commercials.

Anxiety-inducing news reporting.

Death-threatening medical ads.

Insane warning signs.

Incessant noise from machinery, stores, restaurants, cars, TV screens, you name it.

Loud political campaigns.

Loud voices.

Even dogs are louder.

Surprise-surprise: constant stimulation is not good for your mental health.

Sanity tip: stop watching the news for one month and limit your news reading to ten minutes a day. Use your free time to learn a new language instead. Notice the change.

We’re drowned in noise

Speaking of loud voices…

Yesterday, I was in a cafe in Los Angeles where a live band performed while the TV was playing at high volume. Welcome to the every-day life in the U.S.

Unfortunately for me, and millions of others, chronic anxiety often leads to noise sensitivity. With that in mind, it’s often very hard to stay relaxed in America.

Here are just some of the noises I’m exposed to daily in my life in an American city: loud cars without mufflers, honking for no reason, people using phone speakers to talk, music blasting in stores and cafes, multiple songs playing simultaneously in the same place, excessively loud sirens, beeping ATMs and check-out registers, strangers talking for the whole street to hear. The list goes on.

Sometimes a cacophony of sounds is all I hear when I step out of my house.

I can judge my anxiety levels just by how much the outside noises are affecting me. On a good day, I barely notice them. On a bad one, they make me wanna run back home and shut the windows.

Living in much-quieter Europe made me realize just how (unnecessarily) loud America was.

Quietness is essential for self-reflection, and self-reflection is an important step to happier well-being.

Do people in the U.S. need to make noise just to hear and acknowledge each other?

Sanity tip: get noise-cancelling headphones. I couldn’t live without mine.

We’re in survival mode

If constant overstimulation wasn’t enough, we in the U.S. are in survival mode, to begin with.

Unless you’re one of the few lucky ones, you probably have to hustle your way through life here, save up for college or take out loans, work overtime to pay them off, pray you don’t get sick, and save up some more before you can “afford” children, then save up again so they can go to daycare and college.

When your life is a grind, there’s not a lot of space left to contemplate and think about happiness. So we take whatever we’re sold: happiness is a by-product of achievement. Off to the rat race we go.

When indeed, true happiness is feeling like you don’t have to race anywhere to have a decent life.

Not knowing how you’ll pay for college, an unexpected medical treatment, or your next rent bill is not good for your mental health.

On top of that, we’re so often gaslit into believing that America has everything you need to be happy… as long as you work hard for a long time. And if you’re not happy, you just didn’t try hard enough.

And that is a set-up for a lifetime of anxiety.

Sanity tip: make a list of five things that truly make you happy. I bet some of them don’t cost a dime. Think about how you could build your life around those. Focusing on simple pleasures might take the weight off your shoulders.

We have few community values

I use the Nextdoor app to virtually connect me to my community here in Santa Monica, CA. Members can introduce themselves, exchange information, or arrange meet-ups.

Yet through daily notifications, I noticed that many forum threads are filled with complaining, bickering, anxiety-spreading, and even hostility (I could do a whole separate piece just on that). I never engage but I do follow, out of curiosity.

This got me thinking about the (lack of) community values in the United States. Or any values for that matter.

When people are out to out-do one another, to gain wealth and possessions, instead of investing in their communities and building relationships, you have a recipe for anxiety and depression.

It’s a lonely world we live in here.

Healthy relationships have long been proven to improve our mental health, so let’s remember to invest in people in our lives before we invest in more crypto.

Sanity tip: spend a month actively focusing on cultivating positive relationships you have in your life. Be of service to others. Have more real face time. Notice the difference.

If you ever feel like you’re going crazy, just remember it’s probably not you, it’s (the) U.S.