What is the reason behind the increased rate of clinical depression in recent years? I understand that this is a world-wide trend, and was happening long before the recent terrorist attacks and the economic downturn.
What is the cause?
Thanks.
Most likely, it’s a rise in the reporting of depression, as well as an improvement in pharmaceutical science allowing for the treatment of same. In generations past, the tools to diagnose depression (as well as the treatments for it) were rare and largely ineffective. A shot of then-legal cocaine might have lifted your spririts, temporarily, but as we gain more understanding of how brain chemistry works, fewer people will have to suffer.
Now, the corrolary to this is while more diagnoses are being made, the chance of false positives increases dramatically. Minor doldrums might be misdiagnosed as depression, and in seeking quick relief, a patient wth a bit of sadness may reach for the meds without actually needing them.
Still, it’s an improvement on blaming all mental illness on demonic possession.
My theory is that there is an increase in depression because people spend more time indoors and get less exposure to sunlight. We know that this can be a cause of depression (called Seasonal Affecitve Disorder). I have no real evidence that this is true - it’s just an idea. The main reason is probably the one cited by Bryan.
I can’t imagine the terrorist attacks being a factor. Events that are just as traumatic happen frequently around the world and do not trigger outbreaks of depression.
I know tons of people who are perfectly happy and who veg a lot. In fact the happiest person I know spends most of his time playing video games. I dont think terrorism is a factor at all.
My reasoning
There has been a significant (though not historically unprecendented) decline in societal structures. Families are highly unorthodox these days. Divorce rates are high, parents and, even worse, children are placed under a lot more stress than they would have been in times of high socialization. Our current generation is not as regimented a generation as once was.
An interesting tid bit-
There has been a consistent link with the failure of socialization and suicide (I dont know about depression though). Suicide is often thought of as a deviant act, something you do against society (like stealing, and murder). People kill themselves, theorize some, because they want to spite a society (through family, everything else) that hurt them. They others to feel pain much like they feel pain has been inflicted on them.
I read somewhere not too long ago that “lack of socialization” was the major reason cited for so many emigrant Midwest farmers committing suicide back in the 1800s. It would make sense – recently arrived immigrant who came from a close-knit family/village, alone on the prarie, not knowing the local language nor having any close neighbors…
It would’ve been interesting if there had been any records of depression/suicide in their own families before coming here. Unfortunately, from what I read, there is none.
Lots of good, logical speculation here. But surely the literature has addressed this question – can we get some cites?
Well, I haven’t found a study yet, but I did find an article in EdWeek that said this:
Oops, sorry manhattan! :eek:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Campground/2037/wdt.html
– this site gives the background of the real story plus the film from whence it was made.
The book title is Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesey.
I Google’d the title, and, wow – there’s a lot of stuff out there about it!
That might make sense. I’ve been looking for an old archived article I’ve been looking for, which talked about several studies in which researchers studying people living in the third world found people there are less likely to become clinically depressed. Originally it was simply thougfht to be under-reported. The researchers concluded it was because of the socialization factor. Our communities are more fragmented, we are more likely to live in isolation, our circles of friends are smaller. If I find the article, I’ll post more details.
there are other factors, too, I guess. I’ve been twice diagnosed as “clinically depressed,” and, assuming I was not a victim of over-diagnosis, then the one common factor was an existential crisis – I felt my life was meaningless and that I was powerlessness. This seems to be a pretty common sentiment, at least I’ve heard it often expressed among my friends (hardly a representitive sample).
The world is a more depressing place to live in than it used to be.
Well I had to write a paper on suicide last year, so Ive done a bit of research on it. Here’s some things I recall on the causes of depression (which is unknown):
(Theories:)
- Depression through understimulation, yielding lowered arousal. People with little to do, little to challenge them, little interaction, basicly people doing nothing of much consequence causing depression.
Except from my paper. I relied heavily on one source for better or for worse.
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“Learned Helplessness” is a similar concept in behaviorism. Researchers exposed dogs to “inescapable electric shock”. When the dogs were encouraged to leave the subject area, they remained cowering in fear. The dog’s, and purportedly human’s, experience with the world has been such that fear and mistrust are the rule rather than the exception. Human beings, argues this school of thought, become depressed when one once experienced psychological pain and was unable to escape and from thereon. The depressed individual made a generalization that situation was hopeless and inescapable, and from thereon had a belief in ‘hopelessness.’ (Lester 25-26)
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Social Deviancy (suicide not depression): Research shows them to be more often diagnosed as psychopathic or with a personality disorder, to be more often unemployed, to more often have a criminal record and to be more likely to be alcohol abusers. They seem to have a chronic maladaptive life-style and to be generally socially deviant. (Lester, 35)
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On the complete opposite of the psychological spectrum, opposing the theory of Learned Helplessness is the theory of “Inadequate Reinforcement.” As Behaviorists supporting “Inadequate reinforcement” contend:
…depression is caused by a lack of reinforcement. For example, responses that were rewarded in the past are no longer rewarded because the source of the rewards is no longer present. (Lester, 25)
“Supporters of this theory found that when depressed individuals are placed in rewarding situations, their mood tends to improve.” (Lester, 25)
- An interesting conundrum to this theory is the case in which despair and suicide become a rewarded behavior. The suicidal individual ‘gambles’ his/her life for the rewards of attention and manipulation. The individual, if rewarded with attention and pity, may continue his/her actions, expecting similar reinforcement. Some may learn to use suicidal threats and/or actions as a means of control. For instance if a lover is about to leave one might regain affection by threatening harm to one’s self. Psychologists go as far as to use the term “Machiavellianism.”
So hopefully this will give some starting point for searching for current causes for depression.
>> Rate Of Depression Rising
God, this news is depressing! 
I suspect that a lot of this is because more people are no longer suffering in silence but are going to doctors to get relief, having found that the once awful stigma of mental illness has relaxed a lot in the area of depression. People are talking and writing about depression and telling others what it was/is like and how they got help so the mystery surrounding the disease is fading and more people are coming out for cures.