Stress, strain and loneliness; How modern Life is Making us Ill
From binge eating to irritable bowels and chronic fatigue, medically unexplained illness now accounts for over 50% of doctor visits in the UK. So why, at a time, when medical science claims to offer an effective treatment for most if not all serious disease, are so many people feeling ill. In this talk, I argue that the unprecedented pace of social change is creating a whole series novel personal dilemma. Children are growing up into a world that they are ill equipped to cope with. Added to that, we are becoming a much more isolated society, tending to rely more on computers and television than community structures to deal with what happens to us. This combination of fundamental change and personal isolation can create tensions which we find difficult to resolve and can make us ill.
