Meg van Deusen

Stressed in the U.S. Meg van Deusen

Because loneliness, sleep-deprivation, social media use, tech use, and even gut-imbalance--which the Huntington Post refers to as "the modern plague"--are all causes and results of stress. Stress is the reason for at least 75 percent of today's doctor visits, costing the US billions per year in employee absenteeism, accidents, and illnesses. 9/11, climate change, a historic economic crisis, numerous mass shootings, an inordinate amount of school lockdowns, a foreign attack on our election, a politically divided country, tech-induced anxiety and addiction, and information overload: since 2000, these unique-to-our-time phenomena have created a petri dish of stress in the US, causing a host of emotional and physical ailments.

Here's the problem: while the well-researched, psychological theory on attachment tells us that secure attachments to each other and to our nation create resilience to stress, our current American culture is creating barriers, not pathways, to human trust and closeness.