Wealth and Greed - Do You Suffer from Affluenza?

Affluenza: A Human Created Disease With Profound Consequences

Chances are that you haven't come across the disease known as affluenza, even if you have been an avid reader of newspapers and listener of news broadcasts. It is possibly the least discussed of the more debilitating diseases of our time. Strangeness characterizes this disease in many other ways too. Almost every one of us actively carries it. Its effects impact not only the immediate carrier but also society at large. Its symptoms are so commonplace that few people make a connection between the disease and the discomfort that it breeds. It infects rich and poor alike, and is beginning to imbed itself in younger and younger carriers. Oddly, those that do recognize the scourge that it sometimes brings are disparagingly referred to as hypocrites, elitists, party-poopers, or catastrophists. And most confusing, it is a disease that is socially acceptable among many of us. Wow, what a bizarre disease, huh? Yet, fortunately, known cures exist for this disorder but they require our dedication and perseverance to eradicate this pernicious malady.

Defined by authors of a book with the same title, Affluenza is "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more" (de Graaf et al.). In simple terms, affluenza is a disease that many of us suffer because we are too fixated on buying and consuming more and more. Do you think you or others you know might have it? But how would you know if you have it? What are the signs of this disease?

According to some, affluenza is so encompassing in its effects on our psyches and our bodies that many symptoms of it do not appear different other more common disorders. Other symptoms are more easily distinguishable.

Rather than spell out each symptom one by one, let's determine the extent to which you might have this disease through a series of questions. Answer the following questions with yes or no answers:

1. When you find yourself in a depressed mood, do you often get an impulse to buy something to soothe yourself?;

2. Do you often pay close to the minimum payment on your credit cards because of lack of available funds?

3. Do you work a job (either a 2nd job or an additional job to your spouse's) in order to afford the "luxuries" in life?;

4. Do you spend holidays with family members in facilities designated for consuming products-e.