Wealth warning

We may be richer than we were in 1950, but why aren't we happier? Oliver James explains why mental illness seems to increase with our pay

A spate of recent books (Richard Layard, Paul Martin, Alain De Botton) have pointed to evidence that we are no happier compared with 1950, despite being richer. If only that were all. The real worry is much worse than a lack of increase in happiness: modern life is driving more of us bonkers.

Happiness is no big deal. It's a transient and superficial emotion that comes and goes before and after meals, sex and cigarettes. Far more significant is whether you feel like shit most of the time. Fussing about happiness should not distract us from the real problem.

As far as I know, my book Britain on the Couch (1997) was the first one to flag up the bizarreness of the fact that, despite being far richer compared with 1950, we are much more liable to be mentally ill. Courtesy of the British Council, I spent most of last year traipsing to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Shanghai, Moscow, Copenhagen and New York on the premise that there is a global epidemic of middle-class Affluenza (the title of my next book, out next year) - the virus of always wanting what you haven't got and to be someone you're not, resulting in increased pathology.

Perhaps the most reliable indicator of the increase is indirect: rises in violence, youth suicide and substance abuse, which are usually accompanied by mental illness, are markers of it. Taking a more direct method, when large samples from different eras have had their mental health assessed, there are dramatic increases in illness.

Among British thirtysomethings assessed in 1982, 1991 and 2000, there was a doubling of rates between the earlier times and 2000. Many other studies around the world have found the same. A review of nine surveys in eight countries involving 39,000 people found that more recent generations were between three and 10 times more likely to report having suffered a major depression. Critics say that this is because the older generations are less prepared to recall or talk about their illness.

In the Seventies, the young were more prone to introspective self-analysis and psychobabble than the young were in the Fifties. But recent studies show that modern youth are prone to forgetting, too. Having been ill in their teens, when interviewed aged 25, the majority will have blanked out ever having been ill.

Perhaps the reluctance to accept all this is because it flatly contradicts the establishment view that genes cause mental illness. If you accept that there are massive differences in short periods of time, genes begin to look irrelevant - likewise if you take on board the huge differences between nations: Americans are the illest (26 per cent suffer in any 12 months), and Shanghaiese the wellest (4 per cent). Let's face it: that sign which used to hang in offices saying 'You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps' now applies increasingly to our Americanised society.

The mental block

A study of 610 top US bosses provides an insight into why they demand ever-huger salaries (Personnel Psychology).

Payment in share options was a crucial element in their packages. They would be given the chance to buy a certain number of shares in a few years' time at the price on joining, and so long as the shares kept going up, that would be very remunerative.

However, arf arf, shares have gone down sharply, rather than up in many cases, meaning the options are worthless. The study showed that such 'underwater' falls caused bosses to actively search for new jobs. This was especially true if the boss regarded money earned as a symbol of their success, even if they were being paid shedloads, even by bloated boss standards.

To avoid losing executives, some companies (like Microsoft) have started offering restricted shares instead of options, giving the exec some shares rather than options to buy, and ones which are a safer bet. But also, it may be that bosses are increasingly looking for cash in hand, packages where they are guaranteed preposterous salaries, rather than being at the mercy of stock-market fluctuations. Implication: what about the workers?

· Yet more evidence that family environment is crucial in causing both hyperactivity and aggression: 335 children were studied at home every three years from age three (Development and Psychopathology). Lack of emotional support and intellectual stimulation from parents predicted subsequent hyperactivity, whereas family conflict and chaos predicted aggression.