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A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

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Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe the negativity of social media and the popularity of sad music isn't the cause, but the effect? People listen to sad music because they're sad. The news is negative, because the world is going to shit. People "glorify" depression, because they're depressed. A meme about depression might seem like glorification, but it's probably just be a way for depressed people to connect. What you call glorification, coul…

Never considered that. However, the question still remains: how did we get here and what caused this trend?

i think we can confidently say it’s certainly not because of a “generation of pussies”

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find your comment to be even more mind boggling - I'm not exaggerating. The shutdown has been short but it has completely wrecked with education and entry-level jobs, which define a young person's development. 1) Anyone in school has had their education upended. Schools will be closed March through June. That is 3 months of a child or teen's educational/social/psychological development. I'm not even talking about c…

> it has completely wrecked with education and entry-level jobs Humans have recovered and prospered from far more dire circumstances, including many immigrants to the US and Europe.

Sure, and the dinosaurs perished. What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#333
post #288
post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not too happy with the govt in my country either, but I realize 90% of my situation would have been the same under most possible govts. We are literally in the polar opposite government than we were from 2008-2016. I don't think we'd be at 100k dead today if our government was different and responded properly. Is this what we're debating? Why did Hong Kong only have 4 deaths the last I looked a few days ago? Th…

Sorry to read that, mate. FWIW I don't think your government had a course of action that would have made a lot of difference. It caught everybody on the planet off guard and exhausted already-provisioned healthcare resources pretty fast.

> I don't think your government had a course of action that would have made a lot of difference.

The obvious counter-argument to this are China and India. Significantly larger populations, living in far greater densities, possessing fewer healthcare resources, yet far fewer overall deaths. Even if China had 10x the deaths they're reporting (which would be hard to cover up, but you never know), it's still lower than the US. Their lockdown wasn't for as long. Schools in Wuhan reopened this month.

> It caught everybody on the planet off guard.

It caught China, and maybe Italy and Iran off guard. Surely after learning that a Chinese province of 20 million people had been put on house arrest, the rest of the planet should have cottoned on.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#334

As a person with a history of depression and social anxiety I really do feel calmer since the crisis started, as if my state of mind was made for this kind of life. Less people on the streets, it's quieter, no one breathing down my neck in the supermarket, home office, no expectations on how to pick my clothes, how to behave, no trying to hide the weird stuff I eat (carnivore, high meat, raw, cooked and aged whatever…

Did you seek out carnivore/animal-centric nutrition in response to gut issues, mental health or something else? I keep stumbling upon anecdotes of significantly improved states of mind since going keto/carnivore. Have you found any discussions putting forward a proposed mechanism behind these reportings?

There was an article recently in New Scientist about appetite, it was actually the leader as well. 23 May 2020, no 3283. (Subscriber content): https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632831-400-you-have...

The point of the article is that we have five appetites, not one: protein, carbs, fats, sodium and calcium.

Then:

"The thing about ultra-processed foods is that they tend to be low in protein – which is expensive – and high in cheap carbs and fats. It is these foods that have largely been responsible for the dilution of protein in Western diets since the 1960s. And the more ultra-processed foods people eat, the more calories they need to consume to get the target intake of protein, with disastrous consequences."

So, get your protein (nuts,meat, fish, dairy, etc, etc) in and the rest should follow naturally. Once you fix up your protein intake, you may find that you fix other diet related snags as well. This is another telling quote:

"Intriguingly, in our experiments with people, we found that most of the extra calories eaten by those on a low-protein diet came from savoury snacks, especially those that tasted of umami, the signature flavour of protein. Protein-deprived subjects were craving things that tasted like protein, even though they were made of carbs. Our food environment is awash with such umami-flavoured carbs and fats, which we call “protein decoys”: crisps, instant noodles, crackers and so on."

I don't think I have overdone it on the quotes but the message is quite clear. You may need this to join the dots:

"Ultra-processed foods make us fat, but not because we have strong appetites for the fats and carbs they contain, as is often thought to be the case. Rather, it is because our appetite for protein is stronger than our ability to limit fat and carb intake."

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#335
post #309

I believe the existential crisis so many are experiencing has been caused by the pandemic, but perhaps not in the way one might expect when approaching the problem rationally. Yes, we are more isolated, and perhaps concerned for the safety of ourselves or our loved ones, or even for some abstract concept of community or society, but depression is characterized by anhedonia: the inability to feel pleasure. Are we all…

fine points up to the third paragraph. you said yourself that the pathways of meaning have been blocked - of course then things would feel meaningless! there’s doesn’t need to be a M eaning to life for life to have meaning

I agree, the meaning of life is just that simple: to be alive. No greater meaning exists, and that's fine. We can live life without so much meta-analysis.

To arrive there though, we often need to see other personal sources of meaning exposed as illusory, or at least I did. I am trying to describe that process in the third paragraph.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#336

As an American it's not surprising at all. Six figures of student loan debt, job insecurity, healthcare insecurity, rampant poverty / homelessness, the most despicable president to disgrace the white house (who didn't even win the popular vote), stay-at-home orders because the U.S. couldn't manage the crisis, lack of community (doesn't help that 99% of the country is sprawl), rampant obesity, and general lack of hope…

Don't forget the internet and the constant FOMO and comparisons to people at their best points in life, or the fact that the social dynamics of dating have gotten crazy. Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored. America is in the worst shape in the West, but these trends are getting worse here in Cana…

Don't date online? It's not surprising that an image-based communication medium will favor physically attractive people. You don't have to play that game if you would actually make a good partner.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#337
post #188

As a person with a history of depression and social anxiety I really do feel calmer since the crisis started, as if my state of mind was made for this kind of life. Less people on the streets, it's quieter, no one breathing down my neck in the supermarket, home office, no expectations on how to pick my clothes, how to behave, no trying to hide the weird stuff I eat (carnivore, high meat, raw, cooked and aged whatever…

Do you live in a city? It sounds like you might enjoy living in a small town much more. Many small towns are very similar to what you just described all the time.

I don't know... big cities leave you alone, small towns get up in your business.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also relate to this. My hope for cultural change post pandemic is that the shift towards remote work will persist after it's over. I love being an engineer but I can't stand working in an open office or commuting 2 1/2 hours a day.

For a while I wondered if I'm the outlier since I feel substantially better now than I did before going into isolation. Then some of my close friends who were on anti-depression or anti-anxiety medication told me the same. They actually stopped taking the medication for months with no signs that the symptoms are coming back. It's anecdotal and I have no idea how widespread this is or why it happens, at least to peopl…

I think it’s even deeper than that. Human society has changed a lot really quickly, it would be unreasonable to expect a seamless transition. Similar to how wild animals in captivity suffer from tremendous stress due to their environment, the pressures from living in our society are massive.

Compared to say living in 1000 AD. Family units are smaller, life is more fast paced and it’s way more complicated with all the credit cards, the often difficult legal system, and ever present “connection” to one another through messaging and social media. During this pandemic I’ve deleted all my social media accounts and even though I’m less “connected” now, I feel much better than before and the world even feels more real to me.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#339
post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The carnivore diet stuff is just straight up garbage fad dieting except it sounds cool or whatever so it appeals to insecure dudes. No real substance to it, and everyone I’ve ever seen promote just spits out the same bullshit claims as every other fad diet testimonial (“no more brain fog”) Unless you’ve been instructed to by an actual doctor, switching to a meme internet diet promoted by morons like Jordan Peter…

I never understood why people get so worked up about what others eat. Like how does this affect you in any way? If it works for people so what? Personally, I would never go that far but it seems like most people aren't getting enough protein and could use a bump.

> Like how does this affect you in any way?

You can see people you care about getting sick by buying into that absurd diet.

Or you care about society in general, as you are part of it.

It's also possible to care about strangers in general - it's empathy.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#340
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Attractive, fit, intelligent men By and large these are results of choices people make, not accidents. A guy with visible abs didn't just wake up one day and have abs. He put in the work. Same goes for attractive or intelligent. Taking time to find clothes that fit, discovering a flattering hair style, and generally not being a slob can put an average man into the "attractive" group. By intelligent, I mean "witty"…

I didn't feel right about putting it in my original comment, since it didn't seem relevant and honestly it feels weird to type this out on HN, but I'm attractive. Before Tinder and Bumble I didn't have trouble dating but now it's crazy. It's effortless to get dates with attractive, successful women. Things didn't used to be this imbalanced and I don't think it is completely fair to say to someone with a less attracti…

Adding: 90% of health and fitness is momentum and environment. If you live in a food desert, you're screwed. If you have a history of bad gym experiences, you're screwed. If you have a job that makes gym-time difficult, you're screwed. If your housing costs preclude a gym membership and the necessary quantities of healthy food, you're screwed. If you can't cook or afford healthy takeout, you're screwed. If you have sleep apnea and can't get it treated you're screwed. The list goes on and on. And getting back on the wagon is harder than staying on it.

If you provided a robust right to housing (low waiting lists, high choice) and expanded the armed forces' commissary program to build and stock stores in places where it would be unprofitable or undesirable for a private entity to operate, obesity (or, at least, morbid illness) rates would plummet. (This would also completely reshape our economy, so I understand any reticence to implement.)

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