LeDoux was making a point he also makes in his recent book: Every age thinks it's "the Age of Anxiety." "We love our anxiety and because it's ours, we think it's so special," he said. "But that's the nature of anxiety—it's all-consuming in your mind. If my mind is charged with anxiety, I can't imagine other people could've felt this bad in their lives."
It was a fair point, but I wasn't entirely convinced. I'd arrived at his office early and, while waiting for the eminent researcher, took a quick peek at my cellphone, which revealed the following news stories: The Amazon rainforest—the "lungs of the world"—was on fire, which could accelerate global warming. The trade war between the U.S. and China had escalated and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged 600 points. There'd been two random mass shootings in recent weeks.
In May, the American Psychiatric Association reported that for the second year in a row, two out of three Americans say they are "extremely or somewhat anxious" about their health, paying bills and keeping themselves and their family safe.
