you can't pick up a newspaper or a magazine today without being hit over the head with report after report of how stressed everyone is. and now i found out that there's a name for it: affluenza.
affluenza: extreme materialism which is the impetus for accumulating wealth and for overconsumption of goods; also, feelings of guilt and isolation from the dysfunctional pursuit of wealth and goods. (dictionary.com)
i would further add that the relentless pursuit of the perfect life--perfect career, perfect family, perfect friends, perfect holiday--is the problem. and is the main symptom of affluenza.
a british psychologist named Oliver James has written book about it and may have coined the term. amazon, here i come!
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