Anxiety can stem from a variety of factors, ranging from family history to personality, health issues to stressful events. And where you live may also contribute to general anxiety which, in turn, can contribute to your driving anxiety and driving fears. We’re not just referring to a stressful environment packed with tension and discord. We’re talking about your actual state of residence.
The folks at Crisis Text Line, a free support system that uses texting to help people through discomfort or crisis, reviewed the history of incoming messages asking for help. They were then able to determine the states with the least and most anxiety, along with the months in which residents from such states sent the most messages for help.
Crisis Text Line researchers were also able to pinpoint Wednesday as the most nerve-wracking day of the week overall, and the northeast as largely the most stressful area of the country. While it may seem like cold, grey weather could be a major contributor to anxiety in the northeast, data shows anxiety peaked for some of the most-anxious states during spring, summer and fall.
While the data does not automatically mean you’ll suffer from anxiety if you happen to live in one of the states with high levels of anxiety, the information is interesting nonetheless. Check out the top 10 lists of the states with the most and least anxiety, with the most anxious months noted for the former.
States with the Most Anxiety
- New Hampshire: Nine out of 12 months rated high anxiety for New Hampshire, with the only months not having high levels of anxiety being March, July and October
- Connecticut: Highest anxiety months are May, July, September and October
- Massachusetts: January, February and August
- Maine: February and November
- New Jersey: February, May, November and December
- Delaware: March, July and October
- New York: January and November
- Maryland: January, March and May
- Utah: July, August and December
- Pennsylvania: November
States with the Least Anxiety
- Alaska
- Vermont, exception to the trend of the northeast states having higher anxiety levels
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Nebraska
- Hawaii
- South Dakota
- Alabama
- Iowa
- Arkansas
Additional factors can contribute to the collected data, such as people’s comfort levels with texting for help, access to technology to do so, and awareness that the Crisis Text Line even exists.
Now that you’re aware of its existence, feel free to keep it in mind as yet another tool you can use to get through a panic attack, driving anxiety, driving phobia or driving fears. All you need to do is text “HELLO” to 741741 from anywhere in the U.S. A trained Crisis Counselor will respond ASAP, helping to walk you through whatever is troubling you at the moment.
Crisis Text Line was established to give people another avenue of help in a medium which many are embracing. The more avenues for help there are, the higher the chances people will reach out when they need it most. And this holds true for any type of anxiety and any state in the U.S. you may be in.
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