Artful Dodger:
> What's the biggest factor that makes today so different?

This is the real finding in all this. We are no different than we always were. We had insanity, paranoia, depression and all the mental ills of our modern era in all eras of human history.

Think ofthe Roman Empire and its depravity and insanity. Or the depressed artists and philosophers of the past.

War, famine, imperialism, fascism, political crises, economic crises, manipulation of the masses. They have been there since we started farming and building cities.

The great difference today is that we are aware of it on a global scale. Modern means of communication make the insanity apparent almost instantly.

We also have other factors such as moderm pollution, which is different from pollution in the past. Prior to the 20th century pollution took the form of bacteria (due to poor sanitation and dranage systems) and lead poisoning (lead was heavily used in glass, ceramics, and piping for running water). Today our pollution is much more rich on organic chemicals that interact directly with our DNA (it is why ther is so much cancer today). For sure much of that pollution is damaging our brains too. In the past depression and insanity were heavily linked to lead posioning (Beethoven and Van Gogh are good examples). Now we know better and have eliminated a lot of the lead in our immediate environment. However, aromatic hydrocarbons from improper combustion of fossil fuels are everywhere. We have plasticizers in plastics, chloramine in water, pesticides and herbicides, antibiotics in food, etc. Many of these substances do things to our bodies that we don't even know about, and mass consumption means that just about everyone is consuming these substances.

Let's add tot his the high pace of modern life. High expectations of wealth and consumption add to our daily stress. We are bombarded with mass advertising, sensationalistic news headlines, images of war and violence, pornography, the constant insanity of stock and financial markets, the uncertainty of an ever faltering economy, etc. These things add up in our psyche. If a person is well balanced and healthy, they can absorb all the stressors and release them somehow. But if the surrounding chemical environment has somehow affected the brain, all the stressors can add up to many pathological psychiatric conditions. It comes as no surprise that 25% of the world will suffer from some mental health problem at some point.

Is there a solution? It would probably require a lot of research on all the factors that lead to these mental health problems, then aiming at eliminating each of these factors one by one (like we did with lead). Then it would need a rethinking of mass consumption and the use of chemical commodities that damage our bodies. We would have to make a more peaceful world and take measures to stop exposing our children and youth to violence and pornography. Considering the lack of willingness in our governments to change anything (as we saw recently with the video game legislation failure), change will be slow.