“But our bodies are not disconnected from our minds. Not surprisingly, then, as our consumption has affected our bodies, it has affected all our minds as well. American children have the overwhelmingly highest rate of attention deficit disorder, perhaps as high as 80% of the world's cases. Given all our choices, it would seem we have become easily distracted.

The United states also handily wins the competition for the country with the highest rates of depressive illness, with 9.6% of the population experiencing bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, or chronic minor depression over the course of a year. As the song goes, money can't buy me love, and it appears it cannot buy our nation mental health either.

That is not to say we have not tried. This year American buyers of self-help tools- books, audiotapes, seminars, personal coaching -will spend an estimated $11 billion. We spend more than 100 billion a year on mental health services and nearly double that on prescription drugs. How is that working out?

We are not well physically, and we are not well mentally. Our wealth, status, and privilege have not translated into a culture that is whole.
(Will Samson, Enough-Contentment in an Age of Excess, 2009, p. 103)