The other day ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elf had a post about (more or less) the fact that society sucks for almost everybody due to structural inequality and capitalism and that being depressed and anxious about that is a perfectly natural response.
I've seen posts going around Tumblr about how capitalism and society being terrible cause depression. And I recently found and read some essays by a psychologist who essentially argues just that. But when I tried to find anything about that guy again I utterly failed at searching, even though I'd thought that I saved the material somewhere?!
It's easy to find articles, studies, and opinion pieces which assert or support this view of depression and anxiety in one way or another. Far more of them focus on more concrete psychological needs, like social integration, feeling that one's work has meaning, having enough to live on, and being in good health, than point the finger at structural inequalities.
Obviously there's an inescapable logical link between structural inequality and the more specific and concrete negative circumstances which affect people. But there are comparatively few search results that address the big picture eg:
It’s Not Just You: Inequality in Society Causes Depression by Zac Painting | Compassionative
Oppression leads to Depression - World Health Day 2017 | PSI
Aself pointed out, the wider societal context is basically completely absent from all the little blurbs, listicles, and introductory texts on things like "depression", "stress", and "anxiety" out there. This could be the result of a medical establishment reluctant to touch the issue, or a time delay between research findings and diffusion of new information into journalism and pop psychology. But perhaps it's more a paradigm issue: focusing on the minutiae of symptoms and available counter-measures rather than putting things in a broad public health context (which is the relevant scale if the structure of society itself is the culprit). More than once since 2016's election, a mental health professional has listened sympathetically to me talking about my anxiety about world politics and then gently tried to suggest ways to avoid thinking about it so much. I don't mean to criticize them exactly - it isn't wrong to focus on the things you can do; it's just that it feels silly and disingenuous to say something like "So things have been fine for the last month" when the month's list of breaking news stories about terrible things happening in America wouldn't fit on a letter-sized sheet of paper with single spacing.
ETA: I found it! It was the late British psychologist David Smail.
And then there are those studies about eating yogurt and having diverse intestinal microflora being inversely linked to depression as well, but these are prooooooobably two separate factors...
elf had a post about (more or less) the fact that society sucks for almost everybody due to structural inequality and capitalism and that being depressed and anxious about that is a perfectly natural response. I've seen posts going around Tumblr about how capitalism and society being terrible cause depression. And I recently found and read some essays by a psychologist who essentially argues just that. But when I tried to find anything about that guy again I utterly failed at searching, even though I'd thought that I saved the material somewhere?!
It's easy to find articles, studies, and opinion pieces which assert or support this view of depression and anxiety in one way or another. Far more of them focus on more concrete psychological needs, like social integration, feeling that one's work has meaning, having enough to live on, and being in good health, than point the finger at structural inequalities.
Obviously there's an inescapable logical link between structural inequality and the more specific and concrete negative circumstances which affect people. But there are comparatively few search results that address the big picture eg:
It’s Not Just You: Inequality in Society Causes Depression by Zac Painting | Compassionative
Oppression leads to Depression - World Health Day 2017 | PSI
A more humane society is based on conscious policy choices that are inclusive and supportive of people and their communities, not returning to a “survival of the fittest” in a competition for decent jobs and access to benefits. Austerity policies have a debilitating impact on the health services provided to those who need them most, penalizing workers that suffer from long-term illnesses thus further exacerbating their plight and that of their families.
As
elf pointed out, the wider societal context is basically completely absent from all the little blurbs, listicles, and introductory texts on things like "depression", "stress", and "anxiety" out there. This could be the result of a medical establishment reluctant to touch the issue, or a time delay between research findings and diffusion of new information into journalism and pop psychology. But perhaps it's more a paradigm issue: focusing on the minutiae of symptoms and available counter-measures rather than putting things in a broad public health context (which is the relevant scale if the structure of society itself is the culprit). More than once since 2016's election, a mental health professional has listened sympathetically to me talking about my anxiety about world politics and then gently tried to suggest ways to avoid thinking about it so much. I don't mean to criticize them exactly - it isn't wrong to focus on the things you can do; it's just that it feels silly and disingenuous to say something like "So things have been fine for the last month" when the month's list of breaking news stories about terrible things happening in America wouldn't fit on a letter-sized sheet of paper with single spacing.ETA: I found it! It was the late British psychologist David Smail.
And then there are those studies about eating yogurt and having diverse intestinal microflora being inversely linked to depression as well, but these are prooooooobably two separate factors...
