This may be due to the excessive use of antidepressants, which can inadvertently exacerbate depression, transforming a temporary episode of sadness into a long-lasting and severe condition.
U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
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Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#72[flagged]
Statements like this need more of a thesis. There are not enough details in your comment to have any kind of a productive, non-flamebait discussion.
OK, I'll give you a data point.
Six years ago I went to work for a small (~100 employee) startup. Three years ago that startup was acquired by Intel, so for the last three years I've been an Intel employee. Last January Intel cancelled my project and laid me off.
So here I am at 58, seven years from retirement, unemployed, not because I was lazy or bad at my job, but because people I've never laid eyes on, people whose names I don't know, people who don't even know I exist, decided they needed to cut costs. And because I'm 58 and ageism is a real thing in this industry, the odds of anyone else hiring me are very low. 58 is awfully late in life to be forced to start over.
The problem with corporations is that by design they provide a virtually impenetrable barrier between one set of humans (the owners of the corporation) and another set of humans (the employees). This has benefits, of course, but it also has one very serious drawback, which is that it allows the first set of humans to treat the second set like a commodity, no different from wheat or pork bellies, but not the other way around. This asymmetry disempowers employees, robs them of their agency and personhood. And all this happens by design.
It really should come as no surprise to anyone that one of the side effects of this system is a lot of depressed people.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#73I propose we accelerate and amplify current social changes. The only solution is more. /s
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#74In the last few years inflation has hurt the fuck out of all but the richest Americans. Financial stress leads to depression. Add both political parties are constantly telling us the other side is ruining everything and it's just piling it on. A recession is here/coming.
It's not only related to financial conditions. Loneliness has been increasing, and it's a big contributor to depression. Social media are another massive contributor.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#75In the last few years inflation has hurt the fuck out of all but the richest Americans. Financial stress leads to depression. Add both political parties are constantly telling us the other side is ruining everything and it's just piling it on. A recession is here/coming.
Why does the US have higher depression rates than any country in Africa then? Aren't there a lot of people there under financial stress?
My assumption would be that they have something to look forward to. Some parts of Africa have improved a lot over the years, whereas the US, for the most part, had it good and now is seeing it slowly decay in real time.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#76The rates of people diagnosed with depression. Things that were once taboos, had stigma attached to them, or were poorly defined may once have been more often kept under wraps. See ADHD or ASD diagnosis rates, for example.
Suicide rates have been rising rapidly since 2000. They are now the highest they've been since WWII.
Granted, suicide is also under-reported due to stigma, but it's another data point.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#77In the last few years inflation has hurt the fuck out of all but the richest Americans. Financial stress leads to depression. Add both political parties are constantly telling us the other side is ruining everything and it's just piling it on. A recession is here/coming.
I suspect it has less to do with specific parameters of modern society and more with the general experience of living in it. It's a rat race that, for many, lacks any meaning. another point to consider is the psychological difference between being a big fish in a small pond as opposed to being a small fish in a very large one. With the Internet, we now have the means to compare ourselves with everyone else, and our m…
I think it's complex and hard to breakdown. Modern life may have something to do with it, but it certainly isn't more difficult to live today than it was during the great economic depression. Additionally, the internet should tell us that If you live in the US you are way better off than people in places like Ukraine, Mexico, Argentina, Uganda, etc. Now, if they are comparing themselves to the Kardashians or erroneously to pretend-rich Social media personalities, that's on them.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#78[flagged]
Ah, yes, the corporations are not in their place... The world was basically a dystopian hell for the non-elite class and only getting worse from the advent of agriculture until somewhat recently (see the Malthusian Trap)... But today is the worst because you can look back to sometime post-WW2 in the US (and only the US), where - for a few years - things maybe might have been slightly better if and only if you were a…
You are conflating technology improving lives, which it usually does as time advances, with society improving. Society has arguably gotten worse, as things have just become more passively aggressive than outright aggressive as they were in the past.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#79In the last few years inflation has hurt the fuck out of all but the richest Americans. Financial stress leads to depression. Add both political parties are constantly telling us the other side is ruining everything and it's just piling it on. A recession is here/coming.
Why does the US have higher depression rates than any country in Africa then? Aren't there a lot of people there under financial stress?
Just spitballing here, but a culture which focuses more on individualism, less emphasis on family and community. People disown their families over petty things like political differences, don't engage in their communities because they're shut up inside watching TV all day, then find themselves without social support networks to help when they're feeling down.
Re: U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
#80In the last few years inflation has hurt the fuck out of all but the richest Americans. Financial stress leads to depression. Add both political parties are constantly telling us the other side is ruining everything and it's just piling it on. A recession is here/coming.
Why does the US have higher depression rates than any country in Africa then? Aren't there a lot of people there under financial stress?
Usually people are more depressed if they had something and were forced to give it up than if they never had it at all and are working hard to attain it. Same reason that the American Dream is alive and well among immigrants at the same time that the former American middle-class is dying of despair.