Affluenza by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd

Chapter 8

Spending ourselves sick

You do look glum! What you need is a gramme

of soma.

——Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

The drugged culture

This book arose out of one observation. Despite the huge improvements in our material wellbeing in the last 50 years, we have become no happier. It can even be argued that we are less happy than we were when our incomes were only a third of what they are now. Yet, with the exception of Indigenous Australians—who seem to be experiencing all the sicknesses of affluence but few of the benefits—Australians have never been physically healthier. Despite this, we are more obsessed with and anxious about our health, which is both a sign of social malaise and a golden marketing opportunity.

Perhaps the best indication of how we are travelling as a nation is provided by measures of our psychological health. The proliferation of the diseases of affluence suggests that the psychological wellbeing of people in rich countries is in decline. Among these illnesses are drug dependence, obesity, loneliness, and a suite of psychological disorders ranging from depression, anxiety and compulsive behaviours to widespread but ill-defined anomie. Possibly the most telling evidence is the very high prevalence of depression in rich countries:

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