#MentalHealth #Anxiety #Depression #Wellbeing #Community
Hey everyone! 🌟
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about mental health, especially when it comes to anxiety and depression. It seems like so many people are struggling with these issues nowadays. So, I wanted to ask: What do you think is behind this rise in anxiety and depression among so many people?
Here are a few thoughts I have:
-
Social Media Impact: 📱 With everyone sharing highlight reels of their lives, it’s easy to feel inadequate and compare ourselves to others. This can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression.
-
Increased Stress Levels: 💼 Work-life balance seems tougher than ever. Career pressures, financial worries, and the fast pace of life can create a perfect storm for anxiety.
-
Global Events: 🌍 Let’s not forget how recent global events, from pandemics to political unrest, have shaken us all. It’s completely natural to feel anxious in uncertain times.
- Less Human Connection: 🤝 With everyone being so busy and reliant on technology, genuine human interactions have decreased. Loneliness can significantly contribute to anxiety and depression.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you agree with any of these points? Or maybe you have your own theories on why so many people are experiencing anxiety and depression today?
Feel free to share your experiences or any tips that have helped you or someone you know cope. Let’s create a supportive space where we can learn from each other! 💬
Looking forward to your responses!
Because we’ve gotten better at diagnosing these things, and also more comfortable with accepting our flaws.
Lack of sense of purpose and community and growing income inequality.
A big portion of it is self-diagnosed, faked for online clout/deflection of accountability or confused people that just say they’re drepressed when they feel sad
Loneliness epidemic caused by being online too much, lack of third spaces for people to meet. Insane cost of living crisis around the world, with longer and longer working hours. People hate their jobs they are forced to do but do them and still get paid less than is required to live a decent life.
The ongoing wars, climate crisis, the insane politics, and the not so long ago pandemic.
Long story short, everything.
There’s so much more visibility on things to be anxious or depressed about.
There are a lot of reasons why anxiety and depression are so common now. The pressures of social media, work stress, and always being connected can really weigh us down. Plus, with more awareness and less stigma, people are more open about their struggles. It’s really important to take care of ourselves and support each other through it all.
End stage capitalism.
Look around man, the world has been getting steadily shittier since at least when I was a kid in the 70s, and probably for a lot longer than that. That plus the fact that modern psychology is a fairly new field relatively speaking and diagnostic criteria have only recently been developed and refined to the point that we can even look for such issues. Were people depressed in antiquity? Almost certainly, but we didn’t know what ‘depression’ was, much less that it was a brain-chemistry thing instead of just feeling down, so we couldn’t diagnose or treat it.
More emphasis and time dedicated to taking mental health serious as well as a huge gap in income equality. Social media being accessed nonstop doesn’t help either.
We’ve been turned into zombies and robots. And at the end of the day, no matter how hard we work, we don’t get enough pay and we struggle
*vaguely gestures to everything*
Social media
In household mental health surveys in the 1960s in South East London it was usual to find at least 30% of people reporting depression and anxiety symptoms.This is just off the top of my head but you can search for this online. These were in depth community surveys conducted by an academic unit at the Maudsley Hospital.
So I don’t think its anything new as such, its more that there is much greater awareness and less stigma attached to talking about our mental health, asking for help from therapists, counsellors and medics and an acceptance by some employers and educational establishments that providing support for mental health needs is the right thing to do. Obviously positive attitudes aren’t universal but its moved on a lot from the mid 20 century when people spoke in hushed tones about a family member and their “nerves’.
Whenever I see this question it always reminds me of this quote: It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. We have not created a society which prioritizes the health and well being of our species, or any other species for that matter. The values of modern society are not in line with our social, emotional, or health needs. There are a myriad of reasons for this. I personally see capitalism as the main culprit. Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Profit is valued over human life, the environment, and everything else that is necessary for a fulfilling and sustainable life on this planet. It’s no wonder mental illness is as high as it’s ever been.
Nobody has time, energy, money, connections, motivation, nothing anymore. We are barely living. People are becoming more and more aware that we will be working until we die, and we are working ourselves to death.
The wife of a friend / old boss shows clear signs of anxiety and I dare say even some depression, I even hinted at the possibility a few times when her symptoms became a subject of jokes (her way of diminishing them I guess).
She’s over 40 and he is over 50, different culture, different bubble. They didn’t grow up with mental illnesses being “normal” or treatable illness with several levels and classifications, for them you’re either normal or crazy, and those symptoms are a personality trait.
Life sucks for most people…
*closes the book and turns off the light….
It’s very underreported due to societal deny and stigma. I’d say that it could be 20%-60% the number that various government agencies reference.
Smartphones
I’d blame the news and social media, frankly. Always doom-mongering, fearmongering or warmongering. Quality journalism is dying, and being replaced by sensationalism/yellow journalism.
Other contributing factors include: a lost sense of community, transient lifestyle, instant gratification culture, fast food, and the pressures of living in an urban area (pollution, commute, noise, overcrowding, crime, etc.).
People always have. But in the past, very few could give in to these feelings because you had to work to eat and usually someone else depended on you. It was noble to have courage when you were afraid and to muddle through when you were down. Life is hard and risky and scary. Often, facing those things that are unpleasant help you to get over them. You realize it wasn’t as bad as you’d thought, or it was far worse and you are never doing that again. But you’d tried. And making an effort was good.
There were lots of little inspirational or deriding adages dropped to prod people to get over themselves and get on with life.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself!”
“Worrying never solved anything.”
“No news is good news.”
“Don’t borrow grief from the future.”
“You won’t know unless you try.”
“Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”
“It could be worse.”
“Count your blessings.”
They have it the same amount as in the past. The only difference is social media allows it to be more known. You seriously think a shit ton of people didn’t suffer with anxiety and depression in the past??
One theory is that people have always had anxiety and depression but could not speak up before. Another theory is that the movement to make speaking up about mental illness has gone too far. So far that it has almost become uncool to not have a mental illness. Another theory is that medical professionals and drug companies are pushing therapy and drugs to make money. My theory is that it is a little bit of all of the above.
Social media. All you see is your neighbor’s best friend’s “perfect” life, and then all you can think about is how pathetic your own life is in comparison.
Norm Macdonald : When people commit suicide, no one ever understands. You know what I mean? People commit suicide and people go, “I don’t understand why,” and I go, “You don’t?” “What, do you live in a cotton-candy house or something? What the fuck?” “You don’t know about life?” “How it only disappoints and… gets worse and worse, until it ends in a catastrophe?”
Hot take: Most people have always had anxiety and depression, we just haven’t diagnosed it as much as now
Because shit sucks and you get real tired of it. There’s the depression. Then you realize you have to deal with it anyway and feel hopeless to change things. There’s the anxiety.
I think people talk about it more. I am willing to bet a shit ton of people were depressed during the Great Depression or world war 2.
I don’t think humans are meant to live life on social media, not able to afford housing and food, and spending the majority of their lives working for peanuts.
We were meant to live in villages with a sense of community. Working on the land and hunting/fishing. A strong support system.
The only times I’m brought back to reality is when I’m in nature or having a hard laugh with my family.
Most of the time I’m tired and getting older is more isolating.
I can’t even afford to have kids.