Can a New Rolex Help Your Mental Health?

In the musical Cabaret when Sally Bowles sang that money makes the world go around, it reverberated deep within the psyche of every man. Wealth makes you happy, gets you the girl you’ve always dreamed of, and your life will be fantastic for ever more. All that is required is the ways and means. That surely is the adage that drives all men. nnBut, research carried out by the Government last year seems to prove us all wrong. It shows that there is no link between affluence and good mental health. However, just you try telling that to the man in the street today! n nEven press-releases can fall into the same trap. Just look at this latest one issued by a jeweller regarding an actor called Owen Wilson. It reads: ‘Men, are you feeling depressed? In a bad mood? Miserable? Then, fear not, because there is a new panacea for this deep-seated psychological distress. Before you all rush off to your GP to get a prescription, I should warn you that it is not at present – nor likely to be any time soon – available on the NHS. This miracle cure for those feeling low? A Rolex. No, you didn't misread that – a Rolex, as in the watch. The troubled actor Owen Wilson recovered from his suicide attempt in 2007 with the help of his Rolex watch.’nnOn closer reading, though, this improbable claim is based on the rather shaky observation that Owen Wilson was photographed after returning from hospital wearing one. nn"Obviously," stated the jeweller’s press release, "the quality of a Rolex watch helped Owen realise and appreciate the quality of his own life." nnSceptics will be pleased to hear that no double-blind, randomised clinical trial was ever done to substantiate these claims and should someone undertake this research, they will probably discover that whatever did help Owen Wilson recover, his Rolex watch was somewhat secondary to the process. nnThat clearly absurd press release was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the factors contributing to wellbeing, particularly with reference to mental health. While advertising companies and jewellers might like to tell us that material possessions make us happy, they clearly do not. nnIn fact, research carried out last year showed that over the past 50 years, there has been no associated increase in reported happiness. We are actually more prone to mental illness – since 1945, ten times more people suffer from major depression.nnThe trappings of affluence that so many men crave – that expensive sports car, that mansion in the country – can actually have a negative impact on mental health because they pitch one man against another. This causes what has been called ‘status anxiety’, whereby judging our success or failure in life on our accumulation of objects generates unhappiness.n nThere is evidence from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that during severe recessions such as the one we are all experiencing at the moment, life expectancy falls and rates of mental illness increase. It is clear then that men who specifically use wealth, power or status to define themselves are at particular risk because they are the ones who have most to lose during economic difficulties. nnAs the suicide a few weeks ago of the German billionaire Adolf Merckle illustrates, having vast wealth then losing it can have devastating consequences. Merckle’s whole life had been geared to his own success, and as soon as that faltered due to the global recession, his wealth along with his accumulated self-pride, foundered into grains of sand. When he finally realised there was no way back, he walked to the nearby railway line, checked when the local train was due to speed past, and at precisely the correct hour walked slowly into the path of the oncoming train. The driver had absolutely no chance to avoid him. For Merckle, it would seem that the old adage ‘the higher you climb, the harder you fall’ was true. nnMen are traditionally vulnerable to this syndrome for two reasons. First, if they believe in traditional gender roles (the male being the sole provider), they can feel stripped of their identity when redundancy or lower income looms. nnSecondly, men, unlike women, tend not to talk about their feelings, bottling them up deep within themselves. This places them at increased risk of major depressive illness or suicide when faced with financial difficulty or sudden loss of power. nnSo, if wealth itself does not make man happy, what does? A number of things have been shown to have direct correlation to happiness, and they have nothing to do with accumulation of wealth. According to research from the University of Illinois, lasting friendships have a much bigger effect on happiness than a person's income. The same can be said for marriage, or a belief in something bigger than yourself, such as religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life. The important thing to realise is that all these areas take time. They cannot, like wealth, be built up instantly at the mere throw of a dice or a lucky win on the lottery. nnJust ask Sally Bowles. There is a scene in Cabaret where she goes under a railway bridge to scream when her life became too much. It’s a tragedy that Herr Merckle didn’t do the same.