How The U.S. Understands Stress

How we think about stress as individuals and as a society can have a huge impact on our mental health. This review of the book "One Nation Under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea" explores the history of stress, the ways stress is gendered, and how focusing on individual stress can gloss over societal inequities and systems of oppression.

This is Becker’s objection to the culture of stress: Stress exists, but it’s been blown out of proportion, falsely rendered, and has spawned an entire ecosystem of pseudo-psychological empowerment, from therapy to VitaminWater that purportedly offers relaxation.

SOURCE: The New Republic • AUTHOR: Alexander Nazaryan • LAST UPDATED: March 13, 2013