Lost Connections
I recently finished the book ‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari which dissects depression and anxiety. Hari recognizes that depression does have biological implications but he strives to look at it from a perspective of social and emotional causes as well. He looks at these illnesses as a reaction to our current environment.
The same way the feeling of nausea tells us when we are physically ill, maybe the feelings of depression and anxiety are trying to tell us something as well. Hari postulates that they are responses to the way our society (especially Western society) operates today, and classifies them through the lens of disconnection. He breaks down the potential causes of depression into the following categories:
Disconnection from meaningful work
Disconnection from other people
Disconnection from meaningful values
Disconnection from childhood trauma
Disconnection from status and respect
Disconnection from the natural world
Disconnection from a a hopeful and secure future
Genes and brain changes
He breaks down how all of these contribute to feelings of depression and anxiety and how they create complex relationships inside our brains that makes these mental illnesses much more difficult to classify than simple chemical imbalances.
The one that resonated with me the most was the disconnection from a hopeful and secure future. It’s easy to see how this one contributes to depression. When you don’t view your future as something that will be positive and safe, a feeling of hopelessness can begin to settle in. For example, people living paycheck to paycheck, or in constantly changing circumstances are substantially more likely than others to get depression. But people who can plan on how much money, food, and companionship they will have? Much better off.
Right now, I think this is the one we’re all struggling with the most amidst the pandemic, an uncertain, precarious election cycle, and the absence of many of our normal external hoping mechanisms.
The future good times seem so far away and out of reach, that it’s easy to start to feel like it’s all pretty much pointless. This feeling catches me a lot lately. I get up and do all my reading, writing, and language practice, go to work, workout, and maybe run errands after work, rarely see a friend. But what is it all for? There’s no end in sight for the pandemic in the states, and the election might make things worse.
There were things that used to keep me going. Trips to foreign places, meeting up with friends at restaurants or at small parties, or even interesting work events like a wine tasting or cooking class. The prospect of meeting new people used to give me a good kind of nerves, and now it just completely freaks me out. I’m even constantly on edge whenever I leave my house, just that low level anxiety about people not wearing masks and generally being too close to other people.
Instead of being a sanctuary, my home feels like a very comfortable prison, and my anxiety about spending more time inside during the winter just gets worse with every degree drop.
Logically, I know there will eventually be an end to this. And I know there are still pockets of joy to be found even in the most monotonous of days, but damn it’s hard. Emotionally? Every day there’s still no light at the end of the tunnel…it gets harder.
I highly recommend the book, Hari delves into each of these causes in detail, and then in the second part of the book, he dissects potential ways to address them. It was a very refreshing take on the mental illnesses that plague such a large portion of our society and made me feel a lot better and a lot less alone for sometimes feeling this way.
One thing that would definitely lift my spirits? Biden winning the election. VOTE.
In Michigan, trying to reconnect with the outside; PC: Kiki Moussetis