We are coded with possibilities and potentials,
Few of which we ever learn to use.
Living on so narrow a track has brought frustration and misery,
The shadows of hate and the threat of apocalypse.
For we are suffering from an ecological catastrophe
That comes from a gross over use of the outward world
And a terrible underuse of the inner world.
–Jean Houston; The Possible Human–
Switching tracks, is it time to leave the station?
Quick statistics found: One in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. There are roughly about 552,000 mental health professionals in the USA today. These professions are expected to grow about 20% in the next 8 years compared to an average for other occupations of about 7%. Federal spending on substance abuse treatment and treatment research has reached about $10 billion a year. ADHD medication sales have grown 8% a year since 2010 and is projected to reach about $17.5 billion by 2020 making it one of the top psycho pharmaceutical categories on the market. Depression leads to tens of thousands of suicide a year and is a leading cause of medical disability for people aged 14 to 44. The cost of depression(lost productivity and increased medical expenses) is over $80 billion each year. One last one (though there are hundreds more) which is fairly new, screen syndrome (internet/gaming addiction) in which the tissue volume in gray matter (where processing occurs) is found shrinking in studies through out the world. Areas affected include the frontal lobe, executive function in planning, prioritizing, organizing, and impulse control. Volume loss to the striatum involved in reward pathways and the suppression of socially unacceptable impulses. Also one finding was damage to the insula involved in our capacity to develop empathy and compassion and our ability to integrate physical signals with emotion. Sound like ADHD? ( Source for screen syndrome; Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages The Brain by Victoria Dunckley M.D.) Could our “I Know” use some help?