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They also do that in the developing world except that the things that they stress over are actual matters of life and death. In the developed world people are stressed because of two things, either they like it or they are creating it themselves by wanting more and more.

Think about it this way. Your typical developing country. I'm not talking about a tropical Nirvana, but i am not talking about North Korea or the Sudan either.

And let's say its rural-agrarian. Thus, this is the normal time-table. They are awake by 5am, they spend the whole day in rather hard labor at their farms, and they are home by 5pm (and normally in bed by 7.30). Stress occurs when rains are late, and thus worries of crop yields arise, or when there is some pest or affliction that threatens their livelihood. Otherwise they are generally not that stressed. They work hard, harder than most people would imagine, but they do not spend their days worrying about feeding their families (remember: I am talking about a typical country ....not North Korea where hunger is a constant, or Sudan where raiders can come anytime). Most stresses in developing countries are to be found in the towns and cities, where things can be quite tough. In the rural areas things can be quite different. And again note,i am talking about typical developing nations. Not North Korea and Rwanda.

And even in those places it has been noticed that people tend to cope with stresses through intense religious beliefs or rather fatalistic tendencies. For example if a Monsoon hits Bangladesh hard the people actually cope with the elevated stress levels pretty well. It hits, they grieve, they move on. Or in Rwanda. A township is attacked, people arte brutalized, women raped. The next day they cry, at times for days, then they pray, and they leave it to God. There is very little internalization. And again, this is in the outlying cases (and just an aside. I am concentrating on typical situations and not these, but even here stress is not chronic. It may be acute beyond comprehension, but not chronic).

In the west the stresses are different (and the vast majority are actually extremely minor .....it is just that people make them into huge things). Again they are to be found in the cities (rural areas have much lower stress levels). And the key thing is not that the stresses are bigger in magnitude, but that they are constant. Most of my workmates are ALWAYS stressed over something. Mortgages, college loans, relationships, credit bills. Some even stress about not getting stressed (they say it feels 'unnatural').

The body can cope with great stress loads ......what it cannot cope with is CONSTANT stress loads. And by the way this is a medical fact.

BTW: When was the last time cortisol medication was offered for sale in your typical rural area (be it in the developing world, or in a farm n Kansas)?

I must respectfully disagree with you, sir. Human psychology is based on the fundamental wiring of the human central nervous system, and that is a constant across the species. It's my belief that people in every culture suffer equally stress from sorrow, fear, or loss; the flood that takes a child causes just as much rage, confusion, and stress to the simple, uneducated Bangladeshi woman as it would to a sophisticated, educated New Yorker, and the Bangladeshi is no more likely to move on with her life because of religious beliefs than the American. The difference is that the American has access to grief support groups, antidepressant medication, and psychotherapy that can help assuage her grief while the Third-World inhabitant does not, and must simply bear her pain. There is no recourse for the poor Pakistani woman if her husband beats her or her home is destroyed.

How do I know? I have befriended very humble people from impoverished Third-World nations like Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ghana, and Liberia. At first there's a tendency to think they're simple of mind and heart because they don't have sophisticated ways to express complex emotions. But get to know them and you'll find that their feelings and reactions are no less, no different from ours.

I do believe that our stresses are far less serious than those of people in the Third World, particularly as we have the security of knowing that we will not be allowed to die of starvation or disease, have access to recreation, have access to justice, and have only to work hard to achieve financial success. Worrying about college loans and career advancement is a pretty trivial stress compared to the question of whether one will live or die, or whether one's children will die before they're three.

I must respectfully disagree with you, sir. Human psychology is based on the fundamental wiring of the human central nervous system, and that is a constant across cultures. It's my belief that people in every culture suffer equally from sorrow; the monsoon that takes one's children causes just as deep and lasting grief, rage, confusion, and stress to the simple, uneducated Bangladeshi woman than it would to a sophisticated, educated New Yorker, and the Bangladeshi is no more likely to move on with her life because of religious beliefs than the American. The difference is that the American has access to grief support groups, antidepressant medication, and psychotherapy that can help assuage her grief while the Third-World inhabitant does not, and must simply bear her pain. There is no recourse for her if her husband beats her or her home is destroyed.

I do believe that our stresses are far less serious than those of people in the Third World, particularly as we have the security of knowing that we will not be allowed to die of starvation or disease. Worrying about college loans and career advancement is pretty trivial compared to the question of whether one will live or die, or whether one's children will die before they're three.