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 advaita25 rated 9 months ago - Psychologist Oliver James talking about the 'Affluenza' epidemic - arguing that the 'way of life' found in continental Europe is in many ways preferable to that found in the more consumerist English speaking nations. That mainland Europeans suffer from mental illness and depressi...
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2 Reviews
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- DebWood rated 9 months ago
- I thought this was only contagious in North America but it sounds like it could be becoming pandemic!
- advaita25 rated 9 months ago
- Psychologist Oliver James talking about the 'Affluenza' epidemic - arguing that the 'way of life' found in continental Europe is in many ways preferable to that found in the more consumerist English speaking nations. That mainland Europeans suffer from mental illness and depression at about half the rate as their Anglo-Saxon counterparts (and have nowhere near the levels of personal debt) would seem to bear this out.
From the page: "Nearly all of us want bigger and better," he says..."We define our lives through earnings, possessions, appearances, celebrity, and it's making us more miserable than ever before. The bad news is that a quarter of British people have been mentally ill in the last 12 months and another quarter have been on the verge. The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way."
His study of why the middle classes in the English-speaking world are in such an emotional mess, despite being wealthier and more comfortable, took him on a "mind tour" of seven countries in three months, interviewing people all day and writing their case studies into the night.
James's contention is that we confuse what we want with what we need and we have become obsessed with measuring ourselves and others through "the distorted lens of affluenza values" - essentially, keeping up with the Joneses."
"One day, pretty much out of the blue, the answer came to my wife: do nothing. It was a revelation. The minute she said it, we both had a great sense of relief. There were things we wanted to do, but we needed to do none of them."
He blames "selfish capitalism" for the parlous state of our mental health..."But I am glad to say it has not taken root everywhere, by any means." In Russia, he found a heightened awareness of beauty and art, and a love of serious conversation and intellectual debate. He also found gorgeous, naturally sexy women, quite different from the Sex and the City tarty individuals he encountered in New York.
"However beautiful the woman, none seemed to want beauty to distract me from communicating with them as a person...or to use it to impress or control me." In China, he discovered a positive attitude to life and the sort of stoicism that used to be the preserve of the British. The Danes, he found, were the least materialistic people he interrogated. And the women were not hung up about their looks, either.
In English-speaking countries it is the creeping sameness that distresses him. "Worst of all is the feeling of homogeneity. There is little room for eccentricity, for individuality. Individuality has been replaced by consumerism. People have confused the idea that they are expressing themselves as individuals with the idea of purchasing goods and services."
The anti-affluenza vaccines, he says, aren't all that complicated. "I would say, go back to being British and stop being American. Stop thinking you have got to have more and start concentrating on getting on with your real life, your personal relationships, work that interests you, rather than work motivated by greed."
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