Recent research revealed that almost 20 percent of Australians believe people who suffer from anxiety are ‘putting it on’ and are using this condition as an excuse to ‘get out of things’. This news is likely to leave the two million people in Australia suffering from anxiety feeling even more isolated and misunderstood.
But there is another side to this story which is more encouraging. The same research shows that more than 50 percent of us disagree with this idea and another 30 percent have no particular viewpoint. This means that at least half of the Australian population understands anxiety is real and exists on a continuum.