Editorial: War anxiety in a shifting world order

Is it the prevalence of media? Is it the danger of escalation? Is it the fear of future inflation? Is it the idea of running out of fuel? Is it the crumbling façade of the Dubai miracle? Is it all the above?

Two therapists recently reported growing war anxiety among their patients, so it is pertinent to ask what is different about the current situation.

After all, wars and conflicts have been a terrible but undeniable reality for the past decades.

What has changed to make this current situation so destabilising? Perhaps it signals a breakdown in the world order, in the geopolitical reality, in the failure of democracy and the lack of anything to replace it.

This is not to say that the current situation does not merit a twinge of alarm.

While Iran has fought Iraq in the not-so-distant past, you are now looking at tension which has the might of the US on one side, and on the other Israel’s determination to use this excuse to settle as many old scores as it can.

The impact of restricting oil through the Straits of Hormuz is not a vague, distant rumble, but one that has forced a number of countries to adopt a four-day week while others warn that they simply cannot afford the higher prices, while even the EU is wondering how to source sufficient supplies of LNG.

It is hard to believe that it is only a few weeks since the US declared war on Iran, but the implications have rocked many to their core.

The conflicts of the past – from Kosovo to Syria to Ukraine – even drove refugees to our shores.

But what has been happening in the US did not start with the war but earlier, with larger questions about the world order, about attacking boats in the Caribbean, about actions to extract the president of Venezuela, about threats against Greenland. 

Donald Trump is even threatening Cuba. There seems to be no end.

Representatives from two therapy clinics said people were feeling “exhausted” and “heavy” with one blaming: “the long-held assumption that war and instability belong to a past generation or to troubled countries elsewhere is breaking down, and the sense that danger is no longer comfortably distant is difficult to sit with.”

One therapist interviewed said people were becoming “emotionally exhausted”, suggesting techniques to maintain our daily routines, physical activity and supportive relationships.

There is still hope that we will wake up one day and find it is all over, with ripples that will eventually fade away.

We still hope the price of oil will sink back to where it was, that trade will flourish in an atmosphere of peace.

We still hope the world powers are led by people who believe in dialogue and strive for equality.

But what if the situation goes on? What if the rest of the world is forced to grapple with the reality of two major world powers running riot, grabbing what they want? Who will help in this new reality, where we need to defend our livelihoods?

This is at the root of the anxiety being seen by the therapists, the feeling of helplessness, of being unable to make a difference.

Even during the pandemic, we were able to get vaccinated, wear masks, stay indoors. And yet in the face of a conflict that could change all that we have believed in for so many years, what should we do?

The only thing we can do is hope and fight for what is right. Speak up against the despots. Hope does not lie in denying the gravity of the moment, but in recognising that uncertainty cuts both ways: just as things can worsen, they can also stabilise, recalibrate and, in time, recover.