A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression • Hacker News Board

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

#301

Post by malandrew » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

cwperkins wrote: post #218

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

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…

I can't say I share the same feelings as you, but it certainly would be great to see young Americans be more excited about the future and I think some big investment in infrastructure could be a way to make that happen. There are many people worse off in other Countries that are happy because they are seeing vast improvements year over year and their own value goes up proportionately to how much effort gets put in. W…

> I think some big investment in infrastructure could be a way to make that happen

I'm curious what infrastructure you think would excite young Americans. With the exception of changing energy generation from fossil fuels to renewables, I can't think of a single thing that I could generalize young Americans caring about, much less be excited about.

Not saying that there aren't people like yourself and others that get excited about infrastructure, but is there anything that would excite more than just a tiny subset of us nerds that care about such things?

> Anecdotally, the largest problem I think we have is that there are vast amounts of people who feel like victims and just about everyone feels like they are under attack or have been violated.

I wholeheartedly agree that many feel this way, but how does getting excited about infrastructure projects address this? The root cause of people feeling this way is because they are constantly being told by the MSM and social media that they should feel this way.

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

#302

Post by UncleOxidant » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:47 PM UTC

cwperkins wrote: post #218

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

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…

I can't say I share the same feelings as you, but it certainly would be great to see young Americans be more excited about the future and I think some big investment in infrastructure could be a way to make that happen. There are many people worse off in other Countries that are happy because they are seeing vast improvements year over year and their own value goes up proportionately to how much effort gets put in. W…

> it certainly would be great to see young Americans be more excited about the future and I think some big investment

I don't think it's the fault of young Americans. It's more the fault of those in charge. We haven't been investing in young Americans like we did in the post WWII era. It's no wonder they're pessimistic given high amounts of student debt and political rulers that are basically trying to milk all the money out of the masses to enrich the themselves and their wealthy friends.

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

#303

Post by ikeyany » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

UncleOxidant wrote: post #299

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

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…

> lack of community To a large extent we already had that in most of America. Suburbia is a very lonely place. See the book Bowling Alone.

Our cities and rural areas aren't exactly in a great state either. I would imagine the average resident of a dense city does not know the names of all of their next door neighbors.

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

#304

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #251

renewiltord wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a response to parent comment, but does anyone know of studies of people that describe their self-assessment? My impression is that most people think they're weirder than they are, i.e. most people fall within a band of what everyone would call normal, but they often self-assess as weird in one way or the other. i.e. for parameter X which typically ranges between x and x' and for which people estimate themselves a…

I think I'm normal, and everyone else tells me I'm weird :)

[deleted]

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

#305

Post by tayo42 » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:52 PM UTC

idoby wrote: post #263

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

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…

As a non-American, why do you care about who is in the white house so much? How does it affect your life concretely? Try watching less talking heads/browsing Twitter less, maybe, and you'll feel better?

My taxes went up significantly because of this administration.

It's sad to see the racist actions they take at borders.

Trump is riling up groups of people with the things he says.

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

#306

Post by vmchale » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:54 PM UTC

idoby wrote: post #263

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

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…

As a non-American, why do you care about who is in the white house so much? How does it affect your life concretely? Try watching less talking heads/browsing Twitter less, maybe, and you'll feel better?

> How does it affect your life concretely?

Right now, he has tanked our country. We could have had a plan for the virus, and instead we are muzzling scientists.

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

#307

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:55 PM UTC

paulddraper wrote: post #152

supercanuck wrote: post #148

I mean how much data and analysis do we really need at this point to realize America is a complete shit show at the moment. Statistics be damned, Inductive Reasoning needs to take center stage here.

Ah, very insightful. Is there a consensus on what makes it bad and how it should be remedied?

[deleted]

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

#308

Post by mydongle » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #210

paulddraper wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States and Denmark are very different countries. The U.S. has nearly 4x as fast population growth, 2x as many immigrants, 10x the incarceration rate, much greater religious and racial diversity, 100x more billionaires, 17% less GDP per capita, and 3x as much debt/GDP. I'll refrain from opining as to what is cause and what is effect, but the differences are many.

> 17% less GDP per capita US GDP per capita was 9% higher than Denmark for 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... > 3x as much debt/GDP Denmark has a dramatically greater household debt to income ratio than the US, and is one of the most indebted countries in the world. They're in horrible debt shape. Their household debt as a percentage of disposable income is 282%, the worst in the wo…

>Denmark's quality of life is coming at the expense of the future, as they load up massively on debt today to fake their standard of living.

It's probably worth it in the end. How much longer do we have to endure low quality of life for the sake of some future? Let's say you endured and now your son becomes an adult. Is that now the time to start improving things and enjoying a better quality of life? Probably not, people will say it isn't time yet and we aren't ready, therefore your son will have to sacrifice his happiness and wellbeing too, for his children.

The average person in Denmark will probably die of natural cause, after a relatively happy and fulfilling life. Doesn't seem like they're getting any worse either for it.

What do we have to show for our sacrifices? Nothing it seems. The powers that be will cry about muh inflation all day and won't bail out people, but they're ready to bend over and print money if the corporations and ultra rich need it though.

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

#309

Post by courtf » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:59 PM UTC

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 sitting around, so preoccupied by the crises of the day that we have become numb to pleasure? That doesn't describe depression, although perhaps anxiety. I would describe depression as the loss of most strong feelings, not only pleasurable ones, and that is why death becomes so alluring: fear of death has been numbed as well.

No, an existential crisis is rooted in the meaning, or lack thereof, we are able to ascribe to our lives. And the pandemic has in many ways restricted our connections to those sources of meaning. Whatever stories we were telling ourselves about our life's purpose, the plotlines we imagined for ourselves, have been disrupted. The student has had their university all but taken from them. They cannot experience it in quite the same tangible way as they once did. The same is true for the worker who derives his meaning from labor. For many, that connection has been damaged, if not severed. It is the loss of meaning that accompanies the dawning realization that our sources of meaning were nothing more than illusions to begin with.

We realize now that life goes on without these guiding influences; that the rituals we perform do not in fact earn us the favor of the Gods. We come upon the idea that perhaps life really is meaningless and that we were in fact only existing previously because of a foolish, irrational faith. It has been thrust upon us, entirely by happenstance (and not because of any rational deduction or brilliance on our parts), that we are fools, rubbing our prayer beads and voluntarily deluding ourselves into thinking that some bit of our finite, meaningless lives could somehow persist alongside the infinite.

"For man to be able to live he must either not see the infinite, or have such an explanation of the meaning of life as will connect the finite with the infinite."

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

#310

Post by malandrew » Wed, May 27, 2020, 11:00 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #231

irrational wrote: post #220

What age? I've noticed way more young people (teenagers and early 20s) exhibiting signs of anxiety and depression than people my own age (mid 40s). I never knew anyone with anxiety or depression growing up. But that probably has a lot more to do with mental illness not being discussed back than it not being around. But, even among me friend group nobody exhibited the signs that I see so clearly prevalent among my own…

[deleted]

I'm in my mid to late 30s and I'm with you on agreeing with Clint Eastwood. I used to joke that I'm 30 going on 60 (with many friends in their 60s and 70s), but these days I've updated the terms so the kids can understand and say that I'm a transboomer.