Is America Suffering an 'Anger Epidemic'? (If You're Nodding Your Head 'Yes,' There Are Some Culprits...and Remedies)

Some are calling it "America's anger epidemic."

And it's likely due to some familiar suspects: From uncertainty in the job market and an economy that continues to sputter to working longer and longer hours -- which these days actually amounts to about one month more total work hours annually than the number of hours Americans labored each year during the 1970s...and with less vacation.

So if it seems to you as though Americans are angrier these days, it's because in many cases, we are, WNYW-TV in New York City reported.

Maybe your reasons aren't limited to the biggies such as your job (or lack thereof) and financial pressures. Perhaps it's day-to-day annoyances such as traffic. For one guy on a widely viewed video, he was peeved over a...city street trombone player?

(We'll post a screen shot from the clip below, but the expletives are so numerous and over the top that you're on your own if you really want to view it.)

Image source: YouTube raw video 

Celebrities aren't immune, it seems, either. We've of course know all about Alec Baldwin's latest tirades, blowing up at reporters and photographers.

Image source: WNYW-TV

Singer Chris Brown was recently ordered to spend three months in rehab after it was said he chucked a rock through his mother's car window, WNYW reported.

Image source: WNYW-TV

Sudeepta Varma, a psychiatrist, said it's not all circumstantial or isolated — Americans really are angrier now than they've ever been.

A lot of it, she told WNYW, has to do with pressures we put on ourselves regarding how much money we believe we should be making, what kind of houses or cars we own — all the way down to what we believe we should look like.

Image source: WNYW-TV

The remedies, Varma said, include:

• Sleeping 8 to 10 hours each night
• Getting exercise
• Spending some time in the sunshine
• Connecting more with family and friends
• And if things are feeling extreme, counseling is good route.

USA Today noted 60 percent of Americans report feeling angry or irritable, WNYW added, which is up from 50 percent when a similar poll was taken in 2011.

So...do you feel part of what this report calls America's "anger epidemic"? Or are you seeing a color other than red?

New York News

(H/T: WNYW-TV)

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