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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Aug 13, 2014 - 01:47pm PT
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Some people pray, some people puff.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Aug 13, 2014 - 02:23pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Aug 13, 2014 - 02:32pm PT
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Peter, that map is messed up - no way are the Norwegians more depressed than
the Swedes! And it shows the Swiss and the Dutch being really torqued! WTF?
But maybe it's correct cause the Polaks are happy!
Bubbles, I hope you felt guilty and chagrined as well as depressed.
That was naughty!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Aug 13, 2014 - 03:15pm PT
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That map says diagnosed depression. By whom? And how much of it is influenced by the presence of free medical care? I suspect Americans have less diagnosed depression because they can't afford it and given our self reliant tradition, wouldn't seek professional help if they did.
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WBraun
climber
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Aug 13, 2014 - 03:18pm PT
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Just see all these Supertopo depressed people.
No wonder no one wants to come to this forum and everyone that was here left ......
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Aug 13, 2014 - 03:25pm PT
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is depression a first world problem?
is depression a world problem?
There. Fixed that for you.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Aug 13, 2014 - 04:13pm PT
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"Personally, I think one of the most stressful and depressing situations is to be a citizen of a country like the United States which has the potential to be one of the most caring and comfortable but does not live up to that potential. A society that pits individual against individual, and destroys all the supportive institutions of the past (family, church, community, upward mobility) in the absence of social support systems similar to the happiest societies (free education, health care, maternity leave and generous pensions), puts us in the situation of having neither the supports of other advanced countries in the world or of close knit third world societies. In many ways, I think we have it the worst."
Very well put.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Aug 13, 2014 - 04:17pm PT
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Depression is a human problem....probably prevalent in the other great apes as well. Environmental factors likely affect the severity of the disease.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Aug 13, 2014 - 04:57pm PT
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That's some pro grade fakir action right there, boyo.
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Visage
climber
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Aug 14, 2014 - 05:20am PT
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"modern day depression caused by first world issues" was my search... Brought me here... I understand the initial question, and am a little overwhelmed at the kind of responses you have had to the post.
<"Personally, I think one of the most stressful and depressing situations is to be a citizen of a country like the United States which has the potential to be one of the most caring and comfortable but does not live up to that potential. A society that pits individual against individual, and destroys all the supportive institutions of the past (family, church, community, upward mobility) in the absence of social support systems similar to the happiest societies (free education, health care, maternity leave and generous pensions), puts us in the situation of having neither the supports of other advanced countries in the world or of close knit third world societies. In many ways, I think we have it the worst."
Very well put. >
This is the best response I have seen, could the author please cite the original author?
M xx
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Aug 14, 2014 - 08:41am PT
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The original author was myself, Janice Sacherer.
Here's the full quote.
"Having lived in rural Nepal, I can say that some forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia, seem to be inherited, and a certain percentage of women will totally lose it around the time of menopause absent the availability of hormones. Other than that, there seemed to be remarkably few problems, and those that happened were dealt with by shamans who are in my estimation, the world's best psychologists. They also had the advantage of knowing the afflicted, their families and their communities and involved them in solving temporary mental crises brought on by poverty, polygyny etc. Therefore I agree that for happiness humans need real survival related problems to overcome and they need community. Another helpful factor was the idea that the person suffering was not at fault but being afflicted by malevolent spirits. Taking the guilt factor away does wonders for the patient.
As for the first world, part of the happiness of Scandinavia, Canada and New Zealand is their satisfaction at being better survival problem solvers than more raucus societies like the U.S., Italy, Greece, Australia. Even so, a certain percentage of people in the happiest countries will engage in dangerous extreme sports that take the place of survival challenges in the past.
Personally, I think one of the most stressful and depressing situations is to be a citizen of a country like the United States which has the potential to be one of the most caring and comfortable but does not live up to that potential. A society that pits individual against individual, and destroys all the supportive institutions of the past (family, church, community, upward mobility) in the absence of social support systems similar to the happiest societies (free education, health care, maternity leave and generous pensions), puts us in the situation of having neither the supports of other advanced countries in the world or of close knit third world societies. In many ways, I think we have it the worst."
In addition to the U.S. and Nepal I have also lived in seven countries of western Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, and have traveled extensively in India.My comments are based on that.
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Oct 23, 2014 - 09:46am PT
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Serotonin, anyone?
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Oct 23, 2014 - 11:44am PT
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Nice pyramid, NA.
Another possibility might be when a more fundamental strata is undermined?
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Oct 23, 2014 - 01:47pm PT
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My experience and observations lead me to believe that the human animal needs to be in survival situations, needs to learn to cope with adversity, and needs to solve problems regularly to have a healthy mind.
I agree with this. Actually the point made by Warbler is 180 ° divergent from the points made by a few of the other posters who insist on attributing suicidal depression to the 'sink-or-swim' ethos inherent in individualistic capitalist nations like the U.S..
Suicide is not less prevalent in societies that pursue socialist welfarism--- but wide scale prescribing of anti-depressant medications IS much more prevalent. It does not automatically follow that merely because a government seems to "care" about its citizenry through the mechanisms of a cradle-to-grave welfare system that suicidal people will consequently feel loved enough and therefore hold off on doing themselves in.
Before the 1990s, when antidepressants became widely available, the suicide rates in socialist utopias like Sweden and Switzerland we're higher than in the U.S..Therefore on the face of it this seems to vindicate Warbler's assertion.
I am not trying to advocate the use of these drugs but simply pointing out the fallacy implicitly put forward earlier in this thread that bureaucratically-run cradle-to-grave collectivism somehow results in a lower suicide rate by creating a magic environment of loving and care.
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Oct 23, 2014 - 05:36pm PT
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the depressed people are people who should otherwise be happy
I think that nails it supafly! I think we become depressed because we form a belief in our heads that doesn't match reality. It's like believing that a dead free soloist is a climber who should otherwise have been able to fly. It's hard for us to face not knowing exactly how we work, how our beliefs work, so we believe that we do, if we're healthy. Some people in poverty are beaten down by it, and some not.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Oct 23, 2014 - 09:20pm PT
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Agree with you, Warbler.
Dave Kos, I love your sense of humor!!!!!:)
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Oct 24, 2014 - 01:14pm PT
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So yesterday I went to a doctor
That I have a doctor for nothing a free yearly check
Up my U know what they sadly said they had to look
That was done back in the first week of July..So
the doc he says, "are you depressed? “I am getting older and Lipitor
Has wrecked my vocabulary spellchecker but- NO- the doc looked crushed
The next thing I know he is asking wife" Is it still hard enough In bed "?
Say what, and why, and just a golly goshdarn minute doc!!
The only questions that Peter (that is his name)
Asked
Was would you like the Pink pill
Or
For your peter the Viagra blue
So yes the idolatry of happy happy hump hump
Is a wealthy nations obssesion
I do not need and took neither
We, wife and I, left Peter scratching head.
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
Technically...the spawning grounds of Yosemite
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Oct 24, 2014 - 06:03pm PT
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GAH! Are GENETICS a first world problem?
Having suffered from chronic depression for 41 long years, and lived (quite to my surprise) for 3 years without suffering (thanks to a change in DIET), and having identified the gene mutations that CAUSE the disease that caused my nearly unbearable misery, it completely freaking baffles me that people still think that someone suffering from depression is somehow in control of her state of mind.
Can we please, please, PLEASE STOP talking about depression like it is something character-based, or something self-inflicted, or something otherwise through sufficient willpower, controllable...the stigma needs to GO.
Absent the disappearance of the stigma, people we know and love will continue to suffer in silence. Alone.
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