Let’s first consider thoughts from Johann Hari’s book: Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression- and the Unexpected Solutions. The book suggests that in all these causes, our current society has been driving us into greater disconnection. The author suggests that the solution is not always found in depression medications, as often as we have been led to believe, as Johann cites study after study casting doubt on the efficacy of depression medications and the “serotonin” story. According to the book there are 9 causes of depression and anxiety.

“We aren’t broken; our society is broken”.

Those 9 causes are:

1. Disconnection from meaningful work
2. Disconnection from other people
3. Disconnection from meaningful values
4.  Disconnection from childhood trauma
5. Disconnection from status & respect
6.  Disconnection from the natural world
7. Disconnection from a hopeful or secure future
8. The role of genes
9. The role of brain changes

Disconnection from meaningful work

Consider Joe, who works in a paint shop. He has no chance of moving up and he does the same thing day in and day out. “Nobody ever noticed whether Joe did it well or badly. The only thing his boss ever commented on was if he was late, and then he’d get bawled out.” (p61) In the 1970’s a study in the United Kingdom examined the effect of pay scales and responsibility on physical and mental health. Consider this predicted outcome by one researcher: “At this time, most people thought they already knew the answer, and so this study was pointless. Picture a man running a big government department, and a guy whose job (eleven steps down the pay scale) is to file his papers and type up his notes. Who’s more likely to have a heart attack? Who’s more likely to be overwhelmed? Who’s more likely to become depressed? Almost everyone believed the answer was clear: it was the boss. He has a more stressful job. He has to take really tough decisions, with big consequences. The guy doing his filing has a lot less responsibility; it will weigh on him less; his life will be easier.” (p67) However, and in complete contrast to the predicted conclusion, the people at the top were less likely to be depressed. Why? “The worst stress for people isn’t having to do with a lot of responsibility. [It is having to endure] work that is monotonous, soul destroying; [where people] die a little when they come to work each day, because their work touches no part of them that is them.” (p69) “Think about your own life…Just examine your own feelings. Where you feel worst about jobs – and probably life – is when you feel out of control.” (p68) 

Disconnection from other people

Various experiments have demonstrated that the more friends and social connections a person has (real friends, not digital friends), the less likely a person is to become depressed.

Disconnection from meaningful values

Consider this quote from Nancy Shalek: “Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you’re a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that…. you open up emotional vulnerabilities, and it’s very easy to do with kids because they’re the most emotionally vulnerable. (p101)” Consider the consequences of losing one’s perspective or moral anchors. Our current culture radiates the message that you can be happy with money, status and possession. One person called these “junk’ values.

Disconnection from childhood trauma

In this case disconnection from childhood trauma seems to be necessary. Consider this quote: “a person who thinks they deserved to be injured as a child isn’t going to think they deserve much as an adult either.” (p114) It is suggested that trauma, even if it is not as severe as childhood violence, still affects you, but it isn’t a malfunction of your brain it just psychological distress! “When people have these kinds of problems, it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with them and time to start asking what happened to them.” (p115)

Disconnection from status & respect

When societies have huge gaps in income and status it creates a feeling that some people are very important and other people have no importance: “We’re extraordinarily sensitive to these things, when the status gap is too big, it creates a sense of defeat that you can’t escape from.” (p121) 

Disconnection from the natural world

This is perhaps the most obvious section: Go outside! Disconnection from a hopeful or secure future. The example used here comes from the American Indian tribe of the Crow. Chief Plenty Coups would share plentiful stories of him “county coup” when he was a teenager, but his stories would always stop after that point. Come to find out, when Chief Plenty Coups was finishing his teenage years the Europeans came, they killed the wild buffalo, they killed the Crow, and the survivors they penned into reservations. The rest of Chief Plenty Coups life contained no stories, in fact he would just say “After this, nothing happened.” (p133) Another Crow member explained: “I am trying to live a life I do not understand.” (p142) Imagine how a young man may feel in an LDS community who has had a lifetime addiction to pornography, what kind of a hopeful or secure future does he feel he has if all that is encountered is reminders of falling short of the temple or marriage?

The role of genes and the role of brain changes

Perhaps most disturbing is the suggestion that the story of serotonin as the cause of depression is not supported well by scientific evidence (H.G. Ruhe et al., 2007 Mood is indirectly related to serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine levels in humans: a metanalysis of monoamine depletion studies. Mol Psychiatry; also see the book: The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth, 2011 by Irving Kirsch). Still, if you look at brain scans of highly depressed or anxious people, they will look different than non-depressed people. This most likely deals with the plasticity of the brain, in other words, if a weight trainer were to train just one part of their arm, it would look different. Thus, your brain is constantly changing and modifying to meet the demands that are placed on it. Depression is not a tumor; it is not an inherited mess: “It’s not like that. The distress is caused by the outside world, and then changes inside the brain –“come together.” (p145). 

In summary, in terms of depression, “The old story says our distress is fundamentally irrational, caused by faulty apparatus in our head. The new story says our distress is – however painful – is in fact rational and sane…… You’re not crazy to feel so distressed. You’re not broken. You’re not defective.” (p155).