On the &quot;bad old days:&quot;<p>I think it is important to ask ourselves which of the problems the author is talking about are uniquely &quot;new.&quot;  For example, PTSD has always been a thing, but our awareness of it has changed.  In the past, people with PTSD weren&#x27;t necessarily thought of as sick even if they were clearly unable to function.<p>A while ago, there would be no ailing grandma &quot;type&quot; as described in the article because whatever diseases they were seeing the doctor for would kill them too quickly.  What I&#x27;m getting at is that the issues he discusses were just as relevant and prevalent in olden times, but in olden times you also had to worry about being hung for witchcraft or starving to death because food stamps weren&#x27;t invented yet.<p>We have to remember that &quot;most people today have it pretty good&quot; is a comparative statement, and there were times when <i>everyone</i> was a creationist.