[lbo-talk] Individualism and psychiatric treatment

[James Heartfield]

Doug
'The OECD does offer some support for the notion   that Americans experience more mental troubles than most other  
nationalities. There are good reasons for this - the extreme   competitiveness, the inequality, the terrible consequences of failure,   an ideology of self-reliance and a culture of individualism'

Though the finding that France is also high on the list would militate against that conclusion, since France is often cited as the European country with the most developed hostility to free market individualism in its culture. 

I have only read some excerpts from Barbara Ehrenreich's book but what I did read seemed a bit one-sided to me. Is the official culture unremittingly optimistic and individualistic? I would say it is almost the opposite. I hear overwhelming pessimism and a ever-greater willingness on the part of professionals and others to take people's decision-making away from them.