“Out, out damned spot!” howls Lady Macbeth in one of the most overplayed and psychologically transparent scenes in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.

The story up to that point involves some troublesome witches, and the murder of a King that both Lady Macbeth and her husband, apparently, have some issues over. Ms. Macbeth just can’t seem to get the blood off her hands…no matter how hard she scrubs.

Slide forward with me 300 years, to a very different country and a somewhat larger cast. The United States of America, founded by Puritans, conceived in liberty, and struggling with a few issues of its own. Any individual, under the weight of extreme psychological distress, will begin to manifest symptoms of that burden. As a society, we can look to the societal trends created by great numbers of individuals to diagnose societal dysfunctions. Continue reading