Have we always had depression or is it a bigger problem today

[prototypian]

Has depression and melancholia always been with us in this world at the levels we have today or is there a higher instance of it today than it was decades ago? Has the larger numbers of people, things, stress and desire made things worse than before? Are we simply fated to just have more and more people in deep depression.

I for one can't recall what it was to be happy and being happy doesn't even mean what it used to mean. I see angry mean people everywhere and most only derive joy from attacking others. It's a vicious circle and it continues to grow.

I have reached a point where I am happier if that's true as a statement, being depressed.

 

[UmbraDweller]

Always been here in some form, but it's probably more of a modern age thing. I can imagine that back in the simplier ages day to day life was slower and overall less stressful. Also, it's not a taboo to talk about mental health anymore, so there's more of attention being brought to it nowadays.

 

[lostinwoe]

I think depression is starting to come to the media a lot more than before in every form of media depression has started to come to light more often esp in like music

also, in tiktok which is like the biggest platform, depression/mental health is a big thing there rn

suicide in general is still more taboo tho and probably won't ever get accepted as it is here

 

[LaughingGoat]

It's not something we're able to quantify well since there was no standard of identifying/classifying it like there is now, similar to how rates of autism exploded once testing became typical. We do have data that shows it's more prevalent in affluent countries, but again is that partly due to mental health resources/testing occurrence or is it a symptom of being higher upper on Maslow's hierarchy of needs and having more psychological concerns once basic needs are no longer a focus of survival.

 

[thealteredmind]

eeeeeeh it appears that depression is scalating a lot.

 

[divinemistress87]

its always been around but more common now and talked about

 

[Rev346]

One of the psychiatrists I saw argued that it's always been a problem. I argued natural selection would have weaned any genes associated with depression out of the gene pool (and that I was willing to do the same). He said my view was harsh...

 

[Hystearical]

My thesis:

I think that though anxiety and depression must have always been around in some form, in certain ways that people nowadays are more susceptible to anxiety and depression than they were, say, 2000 years ago, even though material conditions are much better (to varying degrees around the world, of course).

I have a few reasons for thinking this. For one thing, when so much effort and attention has to be given to eking out a meager physical existence, I feel like there isn't much room for depression (as separate from unhappiness or misery) or anxiety to develop, at least to debilitating degrees. There was terrible inequality, but for the general masses there was more homogeneity. If everything around you has the same difficult living conditions, then you probably won't feel too bad about yours. Quite the opposite nowadays where there is a lot of competition and comparison and all the negative feelings that can stem from those things. People's paths in lifes were more often paved for them from birth. Nowadays people have much more freedom, and with freedom can come depression and anxiety.

Another reason is feel that people's horizons and perspectives were much more restricted. The status quo was much more willingly taken for granted and much less often questioned. The way things were more tended to be seen as the way they should be. Nowadays that is not the case and it is plain to see how the disparity between what is ideal and what actually is in reality can contribute to depression and anxiety. Of course people's world views are much different. As is generally known before they were more constrained by the spiritual and religious beliefs of their society. Now that is not the case at all. People more often nowadays live in an existential nightmare. They can contemplate and face the world and the universe in ways that prove to cause a lot of emotional distress. This is of course hardly a novel insight.

I also feel that senses of belonging and community were much stronger back then. A feeling of isolation and alienation can easily contribute to depression and anxiety.

 

[teajay1]

people have been suicidal dating back hundreds of years. while there are more reasons to be depressed as of late, i would argue that an increase in population also creates a larger sampling size, which could contribute to why there are more suicides in recent history than ever.