Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions

by Johann Hari

Everything that causes an increase in depression also causes an increase in anxiety, and the other way around. They rise and fall together.

“clinical depression is an understandable response to adversity.”

We all lose some hope when we’re subjected to severe stress, or when something horrible happens to us, but if the stress or the bad events are sustained over a long period, what you get is “the generalization of hopelessness,”

“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a sick society.”

He says he has learned, especially with depression and anxiety, to shift from asking “What’s the matter with you?” to “What matters to you?” If you want to find a solution, you need to listen to what’s missing in the depressed or anxious person’s life—and help them to find a way to resolving this, the underlying problem.