It’s not an accident that doing business today, and being in the workforce today, is more stressful than it used to be. Peter Whybrow, in his book American Mania: When More Is Not Enough, argues that many of the ills that we suffer from today have very little to do with the bad food we’re eating or the partially hydrogenated oils in our diet.

A recent study conducted by McKinsey and Lean In, for example, which surveyed more than sixty-five thousand North American employees, primarily from knowledge sector jobs, found a significant increase in those describing themselves as feeling burned out “often” or “almost always.” A subsequent Gallup poll showed that American workers are now among

Jobs where employees encounter high expectations and low control have been shown to lead to symptoms of depression. • Depression-like symptoms are painful. When people feel bad, they use distractions to avoid their pain and regain a sense of control.