...An elementary school in Silver Spring, Md., offers a stress management class for second-graders. Merchants do a brisk business in scented candles with alleged calming properties. Meanwhile, Americans gulp all varieties of legal and illegal drugs "to take the edge off."But doing one thing at a time is more than some people can take. Hence, power yoga, which purports to combine the meditative process with burning carbs.
Perhaps all this frenetic activity is itself a drug to drive off the demons of depression. Weaker family ties and friendships leave many vulnerable to loneliness. Television and the Web offer only the illusion of companionship...
(Froma Harrop, "'2010: A Space Odyssey' Updated" at Rasmussen Reports)
