Why are so many people depressed?

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PhilMc

But these skinny jean wearing 'Emo'-y people however that listen to trash I cannot show any sympathy for. Do we still have this 'phase' or has it worn out. Don't know.

erm.. fashion and music taste have NOTHING to do with mental health.. someone who listens to emo is just as likely to suffer from clinical depression as anyone else.

Reply 81

tulip19

As someone who was diagnosed a few months ago (although it's been a problem for several years), I've got a couple of suggestions:

Break down of society i.e. loss/change of nuclear family, living in towns instead of village communities
Loss of childhood i.e. pressurised school environment, over sexualisation of everything
Introspective, self-analysing, "me" culture
Not enough fresh air and green spaces
And whoever said "too much free time" is dead on, imho

I think people who've suggested that depression is over-diagnosed because of attention seeking are being a bit harsh and rather cynical. Maybe it is over-diagnosed but that would be because it is pushed down our throats that depression is so very, very common that if you've been feeling unusually down recently, it's probably clinical depression. I don't think that's true.

Reply 82

PhilMc

SoundDevastation

erm.. fashion and music taste have NOTHING to do with mental health.. someone who listens to emo is just as likely to suffer from clinical depression as anyone else.

How many chav's post up their depression problems?

I'm no chav, but on the 'scale' I'd be far away from the Emo side. I mean I drive a car with a white stripe slap bang down it and listen to proper Dance, not 'Dj Rankin' etc. So disagree all you want but I hate this emo-culture.

Reply 83

tired yet?

a lot more people are claiming to be depressed. People don't understand what it actually means, it's an awful disease that's been discredited by idiots.

Reply 84

Coco.

PhilMc

They are not problems though, just another aspect of the trend. Unless of course someone who is an 'emo' does have depression.

Reply 85

Sabertooth

Self diagnosis and being emo.

The actual number of cases has probably stayed pretty constant.

Who gave me neg for this, want to explain why?

Reply 86

Laurie_Wilko

tulip19:

Break down of society i.e. loss/change of nuclear family, living in towns instead of village communities
Loss of childhood i.e. pressurised school environment, over sexualisation of everything
Introspective, self-analysing, "me" culture
Not enough fresh air and green spaces
And whoever said "too much free time" is dead on, imho

Saffie:

the disintegration of society!!

-kids arent allowed to play out anymore
-no-one knows their neighbours
-everyones suspicious of others.
-people now have fun by playing computer games,watching TV or just getting drunk. -there's much less sports and just making your own fun.
-more broken families
-families live further from each other as transport is so good
-greater expectations than ever-more people go to uni and we're told the world is our oyster
-nothing is exciting anymore. 30 years ago eating a foreign meal would've been incredible!

and so on.....

Society's changed but we haven't evolved to be satisfied by it.

Very much agree with these points. I think that society as a whole are less happy than they used to be. Most people live in large urban areas or 'super tribes' as this book I'm reading ('Nature of Happiness' by Desmond Morris) put it where they are more isolated with a loss of happiness derived from small communities. People have jobs that do not allow them to satisfy their primeval hunter/gatherer instincts and sources of happiness now come from less substantial forms such as TV, shopping and drinking. So although people are more comfortable, there has been a loss of purpose in their lives and an adoption of an unnatural lifestyle that is both damaging to them and the environment.

Reply 87

Anonymous #5

I'm far too introspective. I analyse everything I do an say because I fear coming across in a way I don't want to (rude, gay, arrogant, obnoxious - I've been accused of all of these before).

I'm just too self-conscious and want to be liked. I have a real complex about people not liking me, which probably isn't too true, but I become a 'people pleaser' far too much and it backfires more than it works. My jokes are too forced that they're not funny, and attempts to make small talk often end in failure.

Sometimes I just hate myself because of all this!

Reply 88

Ashes_to_Ashes

The thought that others are happier than ourselves, for some.

Reply 89

sammyrj

Laurie_Wilko

I'm also reading a book called Happiness: Lessons from a New Science by Richard Layard, and he talks a lot about the fact that TV has really raised our expectations of happiness. We're shown all these exciting TV shows where people live wonderfully glamorous and dramatic lives, and have adverts shoved down our throats telling us that what we have at the moment isn't good enough. The 'looking up' comparison does our happiness levels no favours!

Reply 90

Mantha

I suffer with anxiety and depression (although i have higher levels of anxiety than depression - thus this is a cause of my depression - if that makes sense).

I often feel guilty for feeling this way. People are starving, people are on the streets, in abusive relationships. I have everything i need to potentially have a great life. This disorder ruins it all, everything is a struggle. it's hell :frown:

Reply 91

SoundDevastation

Original post by &#8721

If only there were more people like us. I feel the same way. :smile:

so glad im not the only one..

Reply 92

undercover agent

for about 4 or even 5 months of the year the UK is a very depressing place, you can't underestimate the effect permanant greyness and dark by 4pm has on peoples mood, it sounds trivial but it makes more difference than you'd think...id be willing to bet good money the rate of depression is significantly lower in say, Australia, than it is here...

Reply 93

SoundDevastation

undercover agent

agreed.. especially for those who work full days.. I work underground.. its dark when i go in, and dark when i go out.. dec/jan time i often go 4/5 days without seeing daylight :frown:

Reply 94

Krysia

Causes? Chemical inbalance in the brain.

Why so many diagnosies these days? Well, in the past we had 'evil spirits', 'possessed' people and exorcisms, then later institutions for the 'mad' to be conveniantly shut away. Nowadays we have modern medical science, psychiatrists, counsellors, the Samaritans and SSRIs. I know which time period I prefer...

Reply 95

Hedger

GodspeedGehenna

Over-diagnosis.

Aye.

Gullible as well, actually. They hear the word and suddenly they start trying to analyse themselves, looking for something to be wrong with them.

Reply 96

faber niger

Life's a bitch. :biggrin:

Reply 97

trance addict

loadmalz

Aye.

Gullible as well, actually. They hear the word and suddenly they start trying to analyse themselves, looking for something to be wrong with them.

more you read into something, the more you thin kyou have it

Because life sucks.

Life's just harder and lonelier for me than it used to be. No real friends at uni, the only person alive that truely understands me at all lives miles away and we've never met, not in a course I particularly like and that is very very very hard. Those are the main things, though not the only things.
It's mainly having no-one I feel close to at uni, no-one I feel truly comfortable around, not fitting in and feeling exactly the same when I go back home. I'm lonely wherever I go I therefore, I don't like uni and I don't like home either. It's not that I don't try to make friends, I have a lost of friends they just can't relate to me.