Has anyone else noticed this?

More Aussies suffering from mass anxiety

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/More-Aussies-suffering-from-mass-anxiety/2007/08/27/1188066989116.html

Australians could be developing a mass anxiety disorder as the level of fear in the community rises, and it is the Muslim community that feels it most, new research shows.

Macquarie University psychologist Dr Doris McIlwain has addressed the issue of fear as part of National Science Week in Canberra.

Dr McIlwain believes people are constantly reminded of the need to be suspicious of things that are unusual and different and that this could be turning Australia into a society with a sort of "mass anxiety disorder".

"Fear makes you hyper-vigilant to certain things in the environment...it makes you scan the environment for threats and can make you miss out on the more worthwhile things," she said.

As part of the survey researchers developed a "fear scale" to measure the effect of fear on behaviour with a score of 90 meaning people would not leave the house.

The average score for the population was 21, but the Muslim community scored well over 40.

The survey also indicates that the media may play a role in perpetuating this fear with 67.2 per cent of the Muslim community feeling they where negatively portrayed by the media, compared to only 19 per cent in the broader community.

Professor Balnaves said people must be wary of the power that fear has over them, he said.

"Fear can be important in motivating us to protect ourselves, but it can also lead to social isolation and psychological damage."

I'm more worried about getting run over on my way to work.

mantra - muslims are responsible for ALL the terrorist attacks.

Who are you going to blame for the mass murder of Aussies in bali ?