Capture worry in the form of media

November 3, 2011 3:20 PM

Can you think of a movie, clip, song or any piece of media that would express extreme worry or anxiety?

It's for a presentation on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and can be humorous, bizarre, what have you, but if it really captures worry, that would be excellent.

Additionally, if you can think of a song that screams drugs, spit it out.

posted by provoliminal to media & arts (51 answers total)

The Talking Heads's "Psycho Killer"?
posted by steinsaltz at 3:22 PM on November 3, 2011

"Anxiety Attack" by Jeffrey Lewis. Would link but on phone. Should be on YouTube.
posted by griphus at 3:22 PM on November 3, 2011

Monty Python's song I'm So Worried
posted by jozxyqk at 3:25 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm so Worried
posted by Confess, Fletch at 3:26 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

damm..shouldn't have previewed...
posted by Confess, Fletch at 3:26 PM on November 3, 2011

Paranoia/worry? Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
Drugs? What kind of drugs? Anything by Donovan oughta do it.
posted by phunniemee at 3:30 PM on November 3, 2011

Mickey (Woody Allen) having a panic attack about potentially having a brain tumor in Hannah and Her Sisters. Scene.
posted by sweetkid at 3:32 PM on November 3, 2011

Caffeine by Alice Cooper might work.

Lyrics.

Fanmade video.
posted by The Deej at 3:32 PM on November 3, 2011

Worried Man?
posted by buggzzee23 at 3:33 PM on November 3, 2011

I think I need to explain Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
It's worry or anxiety for over six months accompanied by different symptoms like sleep disturbance, tension, being easily fatigued, irritability, difficulty concentrating or going blank, or restlessness.
I'm thinking rather punky or Hitchcockian? Something keyed up, maybe.
posted by provoliminal at 3:35 PM on November 3, 2011

Paranoimia.
posted by mykescipark at 3:36 PM on November 3, 2011

The music for this song does a decent job recreating a bit of what anxiety does: Pat Benatar - Anxiety (Get Nervous.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:41 PM on November 3, 2011

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: I'm So Anxious
posted by bricoleur at 3:42 PM on November 3, 2011

"I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones.
posted by DMelanogaster at 3:44 PM on November 3, 2011

More paranoia than anxiety, but maybe? - Barenaked Ladies Get in Line
posted by violetish at 3:45 PM on November 3, 2011

Like the song enough just to use it.
posted by provoliminal at 3:47 PM on November 3, 2011

Oh, I meant the Southside Johnny. I thought about The Ramones.
posted by provoliminal at 3:47 PM on November 3, 2011

the painting "Anxiety" by Edvard Munch:
posted by DMelanogaster at 3:48 PM on November 3, 2011

The Tenant is filled with moments like this, especially at its climax, although it's probably too horrifying for a presentation. As a guy with turbo-GAD, I'd say that it feels awfully accurate on a metaphorical level, especially with the haunting image of (SPOILER ALERT) his vision of everyone from the film watching him all at once and applauding his demise.

The television show Peep Show also has tons of moments like this, most pointedly with the character Mark. I think it's in the first or second episode where he keeps getting taunted by kids on a corner, and we see/hear/feel Mark's increasingly overblown reactions to them. It's humorous, but uncomfortable, just like most of the show.

The movie Frownland is about a character who probably has, among many other things, GAD. He's irritatingly uncomfortable, confessional, and oververbal in every encounter.

The Weatherman, especially with its tartar sauce monologue, has several well-staged moments where the main character goes into a labyrinth of self-consuming worry.

As far as songs go, how about "Anxiety Attack" by Foetus? It's sort of punky (post-punk industrial).
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:48 PM on November 3, 2011

I get to soundtrack an abnormal psychology class as well. I am loving it. Personality disorders galore.
posted by provoliminal at 3:48 PM on November 3, 2011

Oh, and the score to The Tenant is amazing, especially, for your purposes, the track "Conspiration."
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:49 PM on November 3, 2011

Oh oh oh oh oh! David from Six Feet Under has a number of great moments like this.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:49 PM on November 3, 2011

Sticherbeast, that is very different from what I have picked up on as typical of GAD. Are you sure it's GAD? The Weatherman is an excellent idea.
posted by provoliminal at 3:51 PM on November 3, 2011

Pressure, by Billy Joel?
posted by tomboko at 3:57 PM on November 3, 2011

Talking Heads song "Drugs" is a good drugs song, but I don't know if that's what you're looking for.
Broadcast's "Echo's Answer", while I really like it, has a real tone of unease to it.
So does Eno's "In Dark Trees".
posted by Red Loop at 4:03 PM on November 3, 2011

This Traveller's Insurance advertisement also offers a little humor in addition to a song where most of the lyrics are simply, "Worry worry worry." There are others in the series as well.
posted by carmicha at 4:06 PM on November 3, 2011

sleep disturbance, tension, being easily fatigued, irritability, difficulty concentrating or going blank,

Man, this sounds SO much like The Beatles I'm So Tired.

I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No, no, no
...

But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
For a little peace of mind
posted by yoink at 4:18 PM on November 3, 2011

totally wired
posted by leading question at 4:33 PM on November 3, 2011

Maybe not what you mean, but the first minute or so of Profokiev's Dance of the Knights is menacing yet unsettling in a way I associate with anxiety.
posted by Rumple at 4:33 PM on November 3, 2011

The Black Eyed Peas' Anxiety seems appropriate.
posted by mogget at 4:53 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sticherbeast, that is very different from what I have picked up on as typical of GAD. Are you sure it's GAD?

If we're talking about The Tenant, then sure. Minus the cross-dressing and paranoid ideation.
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:05 PM on November 3, 2011

Eraserhead? Like, the whole thing.
posted by stoneandstar at 5:22 PM on November 3, 2011

The Housemartins' Anxious is probably a little too specific and political if you listen to all the words, but it's simple and evocative, and people probably couldn't make out much more than the chorus anyway.
posted by ernielundquist at 5:42 PM on November 3, 2011

Dream Theater's Panic Attack.
posted by Autumn at 5:58 PM on November 3, 2011

Flight of the Bumblebee, gives me palpitations.
posted by Iteki at 6:03 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you want a song that evokes anxiety in its purest form, then here you go:

Butthole Surfers, 22 Going On 23

(Also: this song is PURE EVIL.)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:28 PM on November 3, 2011

Main title theme from the Klute soundtrack
posted by marsha56 at 6:41 PM on November 3, 2011

Pressure Point by the Zutons. (lyrics)
posted by ann_disaster at 7:05 PM on November 3, 2011

The scene from "Inglorious Basterds" where Hans Landa is having coffee with Shoshanna (now living undercover as a Frenchwoman who runs a movie house) and wondering whether or not he recognizes her as the girl whose family he killed years ago. That scene is so incredibly tense, and the stakes so high, and one slip and her cover is blown.

A secondary scene is Diane Krueger's character explaining to the Nazis at a fete that she broke her leg mountain climbing a few weeks ago when in truth she was the woman they shot in the leg a few days earlier. Not quite as high tension, but close.
posted by elizeh at 7:52 PM on November 3, 2011

Todd Haynes's Safe.
posted by hot soup girl at 8:02 PM on November 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

There's a scene in the original "Producers" where Gene Wilder is talking with Zero Mostel, who is timing Wilder with a stopwatch. I think Wilder's reaction counts as worry or anxiety.
posted by Gorgik at 8:22 PM on November 3, 2011

There is an interview from the Jean Rouche French cinema verite film Chronicle of a Summer (Chronique d'un ete) in which a woman essentially experiences crushing anxiety while being interviewed for several minutes. Makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it, and it's been at least 3-4 years since I saw the film.

Similar scene: from the 1997 film The Rainmaker, a close up of Virginia Madsen's hands trembling out of her control as she tells crucial information to the main lawyer involved in a high stakes legal case.

Hope that helps!
posted by Temeraria at 10:47 PM on November 3, 2011

What about Ennio Morricone's Rapimento in Campo Aperto ("Kidnapping in an Open Field")? It's a bit short and bizarre (that's Morricone for you) but with its dissonance and edgy strings, it was the first thing came to my mind.
posted by procrastinator at 11:57 PM on November 3, 2011

The Conversation
posted by pete_22 at 3:26 AM on November 4, 2011

The World's A Mess, It's in My Kiss by X, of course.
posted by thinkpiece at 4:37 AM on November 4, 2011

You need some dubstep: Benga — Crunked Up
posted by Tom-B at 6:01 AM on November 4, 2011

My first thought was Roman Polanski's film Repulsion. The trailer makes it look like more of a straightforward horror, but most of the film is pretty low-key, with Catherine Deneuve giving an amazing performance as a woman just teetering on the edge of completely losing her mind. The quieter scenes of her walking around London or sitting alone in her flat virtually drip with anxiety and dread.
posted by afx237vi at 6:06 AM on November 4, 2011

Mayo (Red Krayola) Thompson - Worried, Worried
posted by porn in the woods at 9:07 AM on November 4, 2011

Girl Anachronism, by the Dresden Dolls
posted by 23skidoo at 11:17 AM on November 4, 2011

Independence Day - The Comsat Angels. Primarily for the following lyrics:

And I can't stand up and I can't sit down
'cause a great big problem stop me in my tracks
I can't relax 'cause I haven't done a thing
And I can't do a thing 'cause I can't relax
posted by Decani at 11:57 AM on November 4, 2011

The Rosemary's Baby soundtrack does it for me, but I'm not sure how much that has to do with association with the movie.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:24 PM on November 4, 2011