Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression ? and the Unexpected Solutions
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Self-Help
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Self-Help
Book Type: Hardcover
In spite of sub-title, no real, practical solutions offered here. Good book at explaining why depression (or loneliness as other people studying this refer to it as) is so rampant today; very good points about how our materialistic hypercapitalist, shrinking-middle-class society is leading to human disconnection. (Altho Laura Pappano wrote a better book on this subject, The Connection Gap, back in 2001; highly recommended.) But as is the case with all of these books like this (with the exception of the above-mentioned The Connection Gap), no real practical solutions are offered on how to have more connections; we're just told we'd all be better off with them.
And that may be because there really is no way to have more social connections with the way our society is now; I know I and many I've talked to have tried making connections & we keep finding ourselves saying, "Why don't people want to socialize anymore?" There is in fact a high rate of burnout among social activities directors--1 of which is an in-law of mine--espec. those for seniors; they keep having people tell them they'd rather do their "socializing" online since that way they "don't even have to get dressed and leave the house." And even when you've got them all in one place--for instance, at a seniors' center or living facility--the seniors seems to find the "socializing" forced & artificial, feeling like kids do when they're forced to have a playdate with other kids they don't even like but the parents think it's a good idea. As Hari does point out in his book, we spent thousands of years in hunter/gatherer tribes where you were literally born into the community you were going to spend the rest of your life with usually; so I guess evolution selected for people that are going to find any kind of organized socializing forced & artificial. So I think that anti-depressants can be a literal lifesaver for people such as the lonely elderly who either literally have no access to socializing or find the little that is on offer unsatisfactory. As Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert comic) says, "â¦[D]octors [should] prescribe recreational drugs for old people to make their final years enjoyable. What do they have to lose?" I just think that if a medication has a chance of stopping someone from committing suicide, it should be made available & not frowned upon.
Something that I'd like to have seen Hari address in his book was the effect that being on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum has on connecting with other people. Being on the A/A spectrum is a real condition of the brain that makes it literally physically hard for some that have it to interact with others & they therefore actually become more depressed the more they interact with others. And as our world has become more industrialized, more technologized, more & more people on the spectrum are being born. Not because of vaccines, IMO, but rather because before the industrial revolution occurred, being on the spectrum made it harder to connect and therefore mate & produce as many offspring as those not on the spectrum. Then seems like espec. since WW2, people on the spectrum can more often get high-enuff paying jobs to attract a mate & have kids. So it would be interesting if someone would study the effect that the spectrum is having on our society's lack of connections. I mean, we're talking about people who get more depressed around people & who, as 1 person on the spectrum told me, feel their happiest when they haven't left their home for days & only interacted online.
And that may be because there really is no way to have more social connections with the way our society is now; I know I and many I've talked to have tried making connections & we keep finding ourselves saying, "Why don't people want to socialize anymore?" There is in fact a high rate of burnout among social activities directors--1 of which is an in-law of mine--espec. those for seniors; they keep having people tell them they'd rather do their "socializing" online since that way they "don't even have to get dressed and leave the house." And even when you've got them all in one place--for instance, at a seniors' center or living facility--the seniors seems to find the "socializing" forced & artificial, feeling like kids do when they're forced to have a playdate with other kids they don't even like but the parents think it's a good idea. As Hari does point out in his book, we spent thousands of years in hunter/gatherer tribes where you were literally born into the community you were going to spend the rest of your life with usually; so I guess evolution selected for people that are going to find any kind of organized socializing forced & artificial. So I think that anti-depressants can be a literal lifesaver for people such as the lonely elderly who either literally have no access to socializing or find the little that is on offer unsatisfactory. As Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert comic) says, "â¦[D]octors [should] prescribe recreational drugs for old people to make their final years enjoyable. What do they have to lose?" I just think that if a medication has a chance of stopping someone from committing suicide, it should be made available & not frowned upon.
Something that I'd like to have seen Hari address in his book was the effect that being on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum has on connecting with other people. Being on the A/A spectrum is a real condition of the brain that makes it literally physically hard for some that have it to interact with others & they therefore actually become more depressed the more they interact with others. And as our world has become more industrialized, more technologized, more & more people on the spectrum are being born. Not because of vaccines, IMO, but rather because before the industrial revolution occurred, being on the spectrum made it harder to connect and therefore mate & produce as many offspring as those not on the spectrum. Then seems like espec. since WW2, people on the spectrum can more often get high-enuff paying jobs to attract a mate & have kids. So it would be interesting if someone would study the effect that the spectrum is having on our society's lack of connections. I mean, we're talking about people who get more depressed around people & who, as 1 person on the spectrum told me, feel their happiest when they haven't left their home for days & only interacted online.
