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I think the question of whether or not mental illness derives from a culture or a culture ‘creates’ a mental illness is very interesting. According to a show I recently saw on MSNBC, one in three American workers are chronically overworked, due to longer hours and the more demanding jobs in today’s market. In addition, people feel an increased pressure to overwork because of the fear that they will lose their job in this poor economy. What mental and physical health consequences come with this (relatively new) high-stress lifestyle that most Americans lead today? Researchers have noticed an increase in the diagnosis of ADD/ADHD in America in the past ten years. Are American’s daily demands too much for our mental health? Is it true that more American children today do not have the ‘healthy’ attention span that requires them to sit through a full day of school? Or is it not the child’s fault, but instead the structure of the classroom, and then later the structure of the workplace that inhibits them from holding their attention? It is interesting to look into the correlation between more ADD/ADHD diagnoses in America together with the increased demands placed on us.

In addition, I am not familiar with the instance of ADD/ADHD in other cultures around the world, but it would be intriguing to look into whether or not they have also seen an increasing trend in demands of the workplace and diagnoses of ADD/ADHD, or other mental illnesses.