One of the ways in which the government attracts our attention is by having a series of steps to move from "no reason to panic" to "run for your life!" The classic example of this is the Homeland Security’s "Advisory System". This moves from a Low Green, through a Guarded Blue, an Elevated Yellow, a High Orange to a Severe Red. For those of you who have lost interest, we are currently at yellow when we walk around the streets of our cities, but orange the moment we take to the air. The same thing recently happened with swine flu that was rapidly renamed the H1N1 flu to avoid the sale of pork dropping through the floor. The World Health Organization ratchets up the warning through eight phases, taking us from, "It’s mainly just the birds and animals dying", to "Now humans are dying too" through "It’s a pandemic" to two phases where we gradually get back to business as usual. In case you were sleeping, we are currently still at the pandemic level of alert even though not many are dying. Actually, when you think about it, this sounds a bit hard-hearted but, in a regular flue season, thousands die. We have apparently been lucky the H1N1 outbreak proved mild.

Putting this another way, it was the intention of the DHS to worry us. If we are vigilant, we may identify unusual behavior in those around us and help prevent a terrorist attack. Equally, the WHO wanted us to take the threat of the flu seriously and protect ourselves by wearing a mask, washing our hands frequently, and so on. People only modify their behavior if you give them a reason to change. To that extent, some worry or anxiety about terrorism or the flu is entirely rational. But it can become irrational where, if the news headline is that ten people have just died of flu in Indonesia, you break out in a sweat, your heart races, your stomach churns and your bowels threaten to open. This is not in any way to suggest we should not be sad if people die in foreign countries. But to showing an overreaction suggests generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The latest research estimate is that about 5% of the US population suffers GAD. Except there will be a range of behavior from background worry to disordered anxiety, and where people fit into the range is likely to change from day to day and their diagnosis will depend on when a doctor sees them.

Unfortunately, we live in stressful times and when the media have hour-by-hour bulletins bringing you the latest frightening accounts of illness and deaths, people are bound to be worried. Sadly, bad news is highlighted. Hope is ignored. When you buy xanax, it helps you to stop seeing the world in black-and-white terms. Life goes on. With counseling and therapy to help challenge the more extreme reactions to perceived threats, people can get back to a more balanced view of the world and its dangers. Perhaps with the help of the cheaper generic xanax, you can switch channels and watch more comedies. Taking a break from the troubles of the world eases your mind.