I have read the studies cited in the article. I don't have any argument with the notion that some of the increased mortality of uneducated whites in America is due to despair and the behaviors it induces (alcoholism, drugs, suicide). However, there are two other differences between America and the nations it is being unfavorably compared to: They all have universal health care and they all have more physical activity/less obesity.

When one gets ill in Europe, one does not lose one's job or one' access to health care. Here, one often loses both of those plus all of one's wealth. Little wonder that such folks become drug addicts and suicidal.

Also, Europeans move more. Movement is known to improve one's mood. We have become so accustomed to sedentary lifestyles that most Americans think walking seven miles per day is outrageous. Yet, that's the amount of walking that has been found to be needed to fend of obesity and keep a human in good health. Fat and depressed is deadly.