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

by Johann Hari

Once you understand that depression is to a significant degree a collective problem caused by something that’s gone wrong in our culture, it becomes obvious that the solutions have to be—to a significant degree—collective, too. We have to change the culture so that more people are freed up to change their lives. Up to now, we have put the onus for solving depression and anxiety solely on depressed and anxious individuals. We lecture or cajole them by saying they have to do better (or swallow the pills). But if the problem doesn’t originate with them alone, it can’t be solved by them alone. As a group, together, we have to change our culture—to strip out the causes of depression and anxiety that are causing such deep unhappiness. This, then, is the main thing I would want to tell my younger self. You’re not going to be able to deal with this problem alone. It’s not a flaw in you. The hunger for this change is out there all around you, waiting just beneath the surface. Look at the people opposite you on the subway as you read this. Many of them are depressed and anxious. Many more are unnecessarily unhappy, feeling lost in the world we have made. If you stay broken up and isolated, you will likely stay depressed and anxious. But if you band together, you can change your environment.