Solutions February 2018 | Page 54

If there’s one country on earth where people should be happy, it’s the United States of America. But depression affects more than 19 percent of American adults, 3 and anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million, or 18 percent of the population. A 2016 federal data analysis found that suicide rates in America had surged to their highest level in thirty years, rising in that period by 63 percent among middle-aged women and 43 percent among men of that same age. LIVING a life of JOY By Dr. David Jeremiah 54 Solutions A worldwide study of 90,000 people showed the ten richest countries in the world also had the highest rates of depression. The United States had the second-highest rate, exceeded only by France. This tells us that joy and happiness aren’t dependent on wealth and circumstances. Those who have the most reason to be joyful are often the most depressed. “We Americans are obsessed with being happy,” says theologian and philosopher J. P. Moreland. “But we are also terribly confused about what happiness is. As a result, we seldom