Sunday, September 14, 2008

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

The mental health of the in America is worsening. Oliver James, a media analyst cites the new disease Affluenza as the cause. James defines Affluenza as "a contagious, middle-class virus causing depression, anxiety, addiction and ennui'. If the virus of reason during modernity said, "god is dead", this virus says, "man is dead." Anxiety, depression boredom and deadness are its symptoms.
He argues that in present system of democracy means the right to vote for people who make you richer. Meaning the cause for the disease is in the society. Many poor Scandinavian socialist countries have good mental health.
James Hillman a couple of decades back argued with similar sentiment that human illness are caused in the violent individual conflicts between human desires to live and think in a rational ways and the requirement of the society that we live and think in ways that are absurd. And not by sexual repressions in childhood as believed by Freudian psychoanalytical school.
The most obvious and clear answer to this argument is that the mental condition is worsening because there are more psychologist in the country. Behaviors which were seen as normal sometime back are pathologised today. Is Affluenza a product of society awash with therapy?
Richard Easterling's research in 1974 shows that the happiness level of American's after the post war boom in 1945, and in 1974 remained the same. Experts at that time ridiculed his work. In 1900's the economist at Warwick University rediscovered his work. They found out that affluence had no-correlation with happiness level. Unemployment and lack of good life style didn't make people any happier. Andrew Oswal reviewing the book Affluenza on national review.com says "On one thing he is right. There is evidence that all is not well. Mental health in the UK is getting worse, according to an annual survey of 10,000 Britons analysed by myself and Nattavudh Powdthavee at the University of London" But points the cause of illness to the childhood poverty rather than the emotional maladjustment and misery because of affluence.
Easterling in his paper Is There an Iron Law of Happiness published in 1995 says that "although genetic factors help to explain individual differences at a point in time, survey evidence demonstrates that over the life cycle economic circumstances, family life, health and work are important in determining the course of happiness. However, life events do not necessarily dominate life cycle satisfaction in different domains and economic theories would benefit from following psychologist lead by incorporating goals and adaptation."

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