In the previous issue of Family Matters (no.51), an article by Richard Eckersley, 'Redefining progress: shaping the future to human needs' was published in which he argued that economic growth was no longer contributing to an improved quality of life. He argued that modern society is becoming 'increasingly hostile to our wellbeing' and he suggested the need for a fundamental change in the way people think about progress. This article represents a critique of that paper in which the author is skeptical about some of the research findings reported in Eckersley's paper. The author states that if studies 'find that one third of young people are psychologically distressed or disturbed, or that two thirds of students each year seriously think about killing themselves, then perhaps we should start asking questions about the design of the studies and the measurement of their indicators before we start criticising the society which is said to be generating these astonishing levels of despair.' He criticises Eckersley for locating the blame for current difficulties in 'society's failure to provide an adequate cultural framework'. He believes that individuals might have something to answer for, and that solutions might lie in demanding higher individual standards than in making demands on society.