Inconsiderate, intimidating neighbors cause depression and anxiety?
Lets; say you have neighbors that sit outside your apartment building, smoke "weed" in public view (which is illegal) and use intimidating gestures towards you as you come and go. Could this be enough to cause legitimate depression and anxiety?
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One day smoking marijuana will probably be legal everywhere and the only way to avoid contact with it would be to move into a smoke free place, even home owners have problems with neighbours smoking outside on their property and the smell gets into their homes. I personally know people who enjoy marijuana and they are very reputable and decent people who prefer the weed more than alcohol, there has been more problems due to drinking in our world from this and with all the stress today I feel it won’t get better anytime soon.
Those are very good questions, for a number of reasons.
When I first saw several men smoking marijuana and "carrying on" in front of the apartment building my first and only thought was that this is not a good look for the apartment complex (Don't you think?). I didn't say anything or give dirty looks or anything like that as I passed within feet of them. One time, early on, as I was walking by I was going to say hello to one of the men, who was alone at the time, but he gave me an angry scowl! None of my neighbors ever did that! Most say hello.
Then one night as I was walking to the main door two of the men saw me and started following me with menacing looks on their faces then stopped when I got to the door. At that point I knew this was a potential problem. Then it happened again almost exactly like before. What I realized, and I what I confirmed with someone who grew up in the bad part of this city, was that those men were trying to intimidate me and cause fear so I would not report their activities to any authorities. This I learned is very common behavior in certain neighborhoods. These men are trying to establish their way of living here. I was told it was attempted years ago at a neighboring complex but was shut down rather quickly. Apparently they turned the parking lot into an open air drug market. It's not going to happen here either.
I also believe there is more than marijuana based on their behavior, which is not "love, peace, happiness, laughter, et,". If it is just marijuana then all that about it being benign and makes people peaceful, etc. is not true for everyone.
Plus without going into detail there are strong indications that they may also be selling drugs right out in front of the building. If this is true it is certainly a danger to all residents.
As I noted above, I tried to be friendly and it didn't work. In fact it was the same when I tried to be friendly to the bullies in school. You can't, unless you are one of them. They are on a "different track".
The really good thing for me, because lots of people are skeptical when they shouldn't given certain information, is that I'm not the only one who contacted the landlord about the same issue. That I believe was key to having the landlord taken action.