Why are global levels of anxiety and depression so high? Social epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson presents compelling data on the impact of inequality on mental health and social relationships in countries around the world. “Inequality,” he says, “is the enemy between us.”
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Timothy Wiebe
November 25, 2021 at 5:23 pm
No 2 people ARE equal. So the reduction of inequality for inequalitie’s sake is a zero sum
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 5:28 pm
They are equal as citizens and in the court of law
Timothy Wiebe
November 25, 2021 at 5:58 pm
@Δ.Μ Equal Rights. Now you’re talkin’
My Six Sense
November 25, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Trash Maxist propaganda used by billionaire class to divide and conquer. Congrats on selling your fellow human beings out for a paycheck!
Home Wall
November 25, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Aren’t posed pictures with people you like, while the candid shot was unrelated people getting to work in a transit area?
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:22 pm
Yes, even some of those people who are supposedly unaware they were being photographed were looking stait into the camera. They were simply going home and were busy getting to their destination. It didn’t occur to our lecturer that we don’t always grin our way home. He isn’t smiling at the camera during his lecture.
Home Wall
November 25, 2021 at 5:33 pm
Inequality exists in all times and places. Envy is the human emotion he’s talking about that create anxiety because you started out with a broken mental model, wanting what others have for yourself, making you think you’d either steal it or use “democracy” to steal it as a mob.
Sean Lumly
November 25, 2021 at 6:43 pm
What are you on about? Nearly 40M US citizens live below the poverty line and this exists increasingly in the west.. Try teetering on the boundary of living on the streets or out of your car — and all that it implies — and then tell me that it doesn’t make you worry.
I think your argument is formed on the title of the video, and you’re missing the point wildly. Try watching the video.
EighteenXVIII
November 25, 2021 at 8:51 pm
@Sean Lumly Poverty =/= inequality. The poverty line in the US is still better than upper middle class in a country like India or Peru. The question is: compared to what? Show me how to get rid of inequality. Millions have tried before you in the past century. They only caused massive suffering and poverty. To think that you know “the right way to get rid of inequality” is foolishness and arrogance.
KickingRealConcepts
November 25, 2021 at 9:01 pm
We could actually tax people and businesses to start…
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 9:47 pm
@EighteenXVIII
In the US context, poverty=inequality
Home Wall
November 25, 2021 at 5:35 pm
Would you prefer we all get richer, or we all get poorer. Capitalism will have inequality and most will be richer, but you will be free to choose in a voluntary society. Socialism/fascism will have inequality and most will be poorer, and you will be a slave to the whims of power.
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 5:40 pm
Simple.
I prefer we all we middle class 🤷
Home Wall
November 25, 2021 at 5:36 pm
Do people tend to move from the rich unequal countries to the poor equal ones? Nope! Mental illness arrives when you live a life thinking your life is crap and others are great.
HA HAa
November 25, 2021 at 5:39 pm
Nice!
WildEdibles
November 25, 2021 at 5:50 pm
I find my anxiety really bad right now
Im In the process of getting disability support
Every meeting i have about this is the worst part of me
Discussing this more and more is making my anxiety worse and thinking about it all the time
Noukz
November 26, 2021 at 4:34 pm
If you are okay to talk to a complete stranger, please do contact me! <3
WildEdibles
November 26, 2021 at 6:00 pm
@Noukz your sweet thanks
I don’t mind talking openly because others can read and possibly get help from it too
Thanks
Noukz
November 26, 2021 at 7:00 pm
@WildEdibles Even better then! Very brave and noble of you! 🙂 Talking more about these kinds of issues should be helpful, IF pointed in the right, positive direction, with some effort to finding solutions. Or maybe you should just try a different therapist. 🙂
WildEdibles
November 26, 2021 at 10:25 pm
@Noukz ya mine wont set up meetings been waiting a long time
I have very supportive friends and i really try hard or at least point out what im trying to avoid
I really want to get to the root of things but sometimes we are blind
Admitting it when we see it helps to over come that
Strangepete
November 25, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Having a job = Doing something for many hours a day whether you like or not (most do not) in order to be allowed to be alive by being granted access to a crude obsolete abstraction called ‘money’. There is surely nothing stressful about being forced to work 10 hours a day at a miserable job with starvation on the streets as the only alternative. Sane acceptable society.
44punisherable
November 26, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Then find something you like doing in a good way for yourself and others
Hussain Fahmy حسين فحمي
November 25, 2021 at 5:56 pm
*_Emotional discontentment drives people to take extreme remedies. In the remembrance of Allah, the heart finds peace, tranquillity and solace._*
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:14 pm
If that were true they wouldn’t be flying planes into skyscrapers.
Greg Bishop
November 25, 2021 at 5:58 pm
I haven’t ever found that the solution to my depression or anxiety is for other people to change or society to change. There is and will always be inequality that I perceive – even if the inequality is because of a future I’m interested in that I don’t currently experience. The key is my perception and relationship to that inequality. I find that focusing on gratitude and the positive gain toward a goal is what helps me maintain the right mindset toward this inequality. Not trying to remove the inequality itself.
KickingRealConcepts
November 25, 2021 at 8:59 pm
I’m sure that feels good, but you’re wrong.
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 9:46 pm
Since inequality is the source of the stress, then it’s necessary to be removed or at least get significantly reduced. Common sense.
Mannaggialtubo
November 26, 2021 at 6:27 pm
It’s like saying that wearing safety belt is useless because people should be aware lol
haskomd
November 25, 2021 at 6:22 pm
Hello there ! I am Hasret and I am a Medical student . I would like to add a turkish subtitle into your videos in order to improve my English skills. How can I do that ? Could you please help me .
Thanks in advance 🙂
Cactus Jack 🌵🌍
November 25, 2021 at 9:22 pm
i can help you to learn english 🙂 greetings from istanbul:)
Camilla 卡米拉
November 25, 2021 at 10:36 pm
Press the □ top right of the screen 🙂
Brendan White
November 25, 2021 at 6:50 pm
People have much larger stresses in life than being compared to a rich person
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 9:44 pm
….oh my sweet sweet summer child 🤗
When will you realize that most stresses in life come from comparing thyself to your neighbor?
Psychology 101
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:16 pm
I like hearing from the contended. Well said. We’re not all dreaming of being Trumps.
EighteenXVIII
November 25, 2021 at 8:32 pm
“Richard Gerald Wilkinson is a British social epidemiologist, author, advocate, and left-wing political activist.”
Tells you all you need to know. This presentation isn’t science, it’s propaganda.
Christian Taliani
November 25, 2021 at 8:55 pm
I think you get the cause and effect relationship wrong. His thesis does not depend on being leftist, but rather the opposite: he became leftist because science (the relationship between anxiety and inequality that he studied) opened his eyes.
And sorry for my poor english.
EighteenXVIII
November 25, 2021 at 9:44 pm
@Christian Taliani The problem is that blanket statements like “Inequality is the enemy between us”, which could come straight out of the Communist Manifesto, have no scientific basis. The issue is always: compared to what, and at what cost? We’ve had a century worth of socialism and communism. 100 million people died. Billions have suffered untold pain. The politics that he supports are no different, and still have the same central goal to reduce inequality. But intentions don’t matter as much as outcomes.
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 9:53 pm
@EighteenXVIII
No inequality is indeed a great problem for any society. It has nothing to do with politics.
Dr Jordan Peterson, a great Canadian clinical psychologist has emphasized that inequality within a society is positively correlated with male homicide.
In other words, the higher the inequality the higher the crime rate. That’s scientifically proven.
Δ.Μ
November 25, 2021 at 9:57 pm
@EighteenXVIII
Besides reducing inequality is the goal of all political ideologies.
Libertarians want to reduce inequality through the free market.
Conservatives want to reduce inequality through the return to traditional values
Liberals want to reduce inequality through government regulations
Communists want to reduce inequality through revolution, somehow.
Essentially you could say that the main difference between political ideologies is that they aspire to address inequality in different ways.
Hope I made things clearer, Cheers!
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:07 pm
Well, if we’re going by how we look in a photograph. I’d say you’re the most miserable person I’ve ever seen. Cheer-up. At least those people were going somewhere. You’re looking directly into a camera. SMILE 😉
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:10 pm
74% of Londoners are not about to kill their neighbours as you seem to suggest.
MostlyLoveOfMusic
November 25, 2021 at 10:25 pm
this was a strong video
jxj__
November 25, 2021 at 10:26 pm
@Ted Does it seriously seem like a good idea to post this today when suicide increases around holidays? What impact you think this has on the people who watch it who are sitting alone without the social support they need trying to enjoy something only to watch this about how you need social support to be happy? I think people who’ve had this experience already know these things and people who haven’t are the ones who don’t understand social support. Try some sensitivity to your audience. You’re TED Talks, don’t you know better than this? And no, it don’t bother me and this is me speaking for the people I guarantee it does. And to anyone who might be feeling down out there, hello hello hi hi hi 🤗💟
Toni
November 25, 2021 at 10:34 pm
You know, it’s not the underserviced people that are demanding more services, it’s the educated. The NEWS that’s pushing it. The hospitals, the legal profession. The more they’re serviced the worse it gets.
They need good food, not junk food. Their brains are being stewed by rubbish. What they don’t need is a chemical factory washing round in their brains.
Redman_10t
November 25, 2021 at 11:38 pm
This video makes me think about how Republicans often view Californian people as narcissistic. My thoughts are anecdotal at best, but after hearing some of the information in the video, it’s made me think more about why Republicans have this view. Republicans tend to live in rural areas where most people are close both socially and economically and as such don’t feel like there is inequality. Furthermore, Republicans heavily subscribe to the notion that all wealth is rightfully earned, and if they want more wealth they just need to work for it. As opposed to Republicans, many Californians live in areas where there are greater disparities in wealth and have increased access to social media, this makes them more keenly aware of inequality. If you compound this with Californians being far more aware of the long-term and widespread issues that make it so hard to escape inequality, it’s natural to see why Republicans view Californians as so much more narcissistic than themselves.
Aaron Wilson
November 26, 2021 at 6:06 am
So many things wrong with this. For starters, when did Californians become a political party?
Redman_10t
November 26, 2021 at 6:17 am
@Aaron Wilson I’m not calling California a political party, although I can see why you would think that based on how I structured my comment. I mostly chose California as it is frequently bemoaned by Republicans to be everything wrong with America, similar to how many Democrats bemoan the South or single out Texas to be everything wrong with America.
Δ.Μ
November 26, 2021 at 9:09 am
Republicans have no touch with reality… who would have thought? 😂
Δ.Μ
November 26, 2021 at 9:10 am
@Aaron Wilson
California is an American state not a political party… 🤦
Aaron Wilson
November 27, 2021 at 9:45 am
@Δ.Μ that is exactly my point…
27
November 26, 2021 at 12:07 am
We live in a time where two systems collide. Where each side is convinced the other has lied.
We must remember to ask whats wrong and whats right. Or risk falling to prey to shadows hiding in light.
The people are one, as the earth is the same. It would be quite a shame, to just throw that away.
The feelings we have, universally the same. No matter your creed, we must try to stay sane.
When times are hard it is easy to blame, but again please remember, we are all just the same.
In hope for a life without trouble and strife, humanities test is the next one in line.
We must remember the past is not like the present, but history does rhyme, a crime to forget that.
It’s a beautiful world, with senses to see, the difference of colors, the animals, the trees, the sea.
Its a beautiful world, with feelings to feel, regardless of type its what makes us feel real. From universal love, to the beauty of sadness, to the calm that is felt from the quiet of silence. The fear and the hatred may form moments of madness, so humanities test is to put it beside us.
We are the children of the earth, the earth is the child of the sun and moon, the sun and moon are the children of the universe, therefore we are the universe.
The earth is finite, the universe is not, we live in the most important times of this era of human civilization. The steps going forward are crucial in whether humanity will be at peace, or at war.
What is reality and why do we exist. Placed on a finite earth surrounded by infinite space, one thing in my opinion is certain and absolute.
Humanity is meant to discover the universe, not by having to abandon a dying home, but by always having a united one to return to.
It is the test of humanity, whether we unite as one or fight divided. With light, I believe we can unite.
solsang
November 26, 2021 at 12:08 am
The constant changing of zoom is really confusing, had to close my eyes to listen to the talk
Mariam Shajahan
November 26, 2021 at 1:00 am
This is so true!
Nikhil Buch
November 26, 2021 at 1:05 am
Increasing spirituality results in reduced stress & anxiety
moo he
November 26, 2021 at 3:35 am
Great video. I’ve been being inferiority since my childhood,it’s really sad,
Prasenna Balachandran
November 26, 2021 at 3:59 am
This video is an eye opener for me
Thanh Tran
November 26, 2021 at 9:00 am
China is the outlier in the self-enhancement graph despite being rated as having a more unequal economy, lol. Perhaps it is because of the Confucianism culture.
Jim Bean
November 26, 2021 at 12:36 pm
You should look into the link between TED and race baiting.
Zehra Jafri
November 26, 2021 at 2:13 pm
Inequality is death from unhappiness for everyone as well as the planet in the long run.
Punnarooth Srimongkolsilp
November 27, 2021 at 5:34 am
I love watching “Ted” so, I learn something new, every day 🙏😍 Thank you 🙏
Dr. Harish Ravi
November 27, 2021 at 9:05 am
Had a good time. Don’t care
Malcolm Pagett
November 27, 2021 at 10:24 am
0:25 Top left of picture: ….”Soon”.
hachi Mr
November 27, 2021 at 1:07 pm
This speaker’s English is very understandable for me. Thanks TED.
Invox
November 27, 2021 at 8:25 pm
I read aomewhere that a shepperd in the middle-ages actually had MORE free time, better health (considering mental also) and even better income (relation time/money), than the average worker nowaday.
Invox
November 27, 2021 at 8:25 pm
I read somewhere that a shepperd in the middle-ages actually had MORE free time, better health (considering mental also) and even better income (relation time/money), than the average worker nowaday.
Mohamed Esam
November 28, 2021 at 12:12 am
What makes these happen is that we are in life that’s it
Joe Smith
November 28, 2021 at 12:51 am
The inequality in America will continue to rise. The poor must pay high rents to the wealthy. The poor will continue to scrap by or become homeless while working customer service and retail jobs that serve only the fittest of society. Nothing changes because at every level of government (local or national) wealthy law-makers don’t want to give lower class citizens what they all have, and that is the top 3 layers of Maslow’s hierarchy – belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Nobody is looking out for poor people. Sooner or later, the wealthy are going to kill the American experiment with what humans to best; GREED…. MINE, MINE, MINE…. ALL MINE AND YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bryan Bushman
November 28, 2021 at 4:09 pm
In summary: Comparison is the theif of joy.
S T
November 28, 2021 at 10:31 pm
Would communism help?
Will Power Is Everything
November 30, 2021 at 3:44 am
change your youtube profile picture to the dislike button we want the dislike option back nobody asked for thiss
totalfreedom45
November 30, 2021 at 3:36 pm
_Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth._ —Gautama Buddha
*_1_* What is *_the self_* (the ego)? It is a bundle of memories in an empty shell, the twisted product of our evolutionary animal heritage where self-preservation is essential for survival: all animals pursue pleasure, avoid pain, and avoid being killed by another animal owing to the instinct of self-preservation. *_We all_* have that unnecessary product reinforced by heavy societal conditioning except for one known case—Gautama Buddha. The self has created beliefs like soul, spirit, God, the hereafter, and so on.
*_2_* Buddha was uninterested in a Supreme Being. At 35 he realized that the *most* important thing in life is to end psychological suffering, which is caused by the self.
💕 ☮ 🌎 🌌
Nicholas L
December 1, 2021 at 4:15 am
I just got done reading Richard’s work. While I would “mostly” agree that the methodologies being used are producing causality in the effects, I am not convinced of causal direction. The lecturer argues inequality —> mental illness, but can it not also be mental illness —> inequality? There still seems to be an endogenous problem in the form a feedback loop at the minimum. While his work his interesting the pedigree of his work is pretty laughable. These kinds of analyses would not fly in economic journals.