Unbeliever's Undefined Depression Thread

[Unbeliever]

Ok, so my first thread hit a hiccup.

People were asking me questions, and I was trying to answer them, but by answering them I had to discuss things that were "outside" of the main thread topic and it was causing problems.

I'm not the kind of person that likes to ignore people engaging with me, and continue on as if they were not there. But I was unable to think of a way around it (which for me is a novel experience... albiet a slightly frustrating one).

Hence as you can see by the title I have created a thread that is undefined and therefore not bound or restricted in any way for people to discuss anything and everything their little hearts desire and enables me to respond without having to worry about derailing the topic.

* Note that of course standard BB forum rules still apply... no swearing, insulting other contributers etc etc

I added the word "depression" as the discussion should still basically revolve around the subject of depression/sadness/negative feelings and experiences etc.

However, thoughts, perspectives, alternative POV's, theories, abstract ideas etc on depression are not only welcome... but EXTREMELY encouraged.

And because I put my name on there, I think that should allow people to ask me whatever personal questions and I should be able to respond. So I'll do my best to answer any question directed at me.

It is a bit of an experiment... let's see how it goes.

[Unbeliever]

Ok, as to your first point I agree. It may well be that in recent times a range of previous mental conditions has simply been grouped together under a single "depression umbrella" while before they were considered to be completely unrelated disorders. It's an interesting point.

The world is definitely more populated than it was before. I turned 40 just recently, and the world is only a few more years away from literally doubling in size from the day I was born... only in my lifetime so fa (which quite honestly does make me feel a bit depressed).

However, (genetic argument aside for the moment) I don't think that simply population density alone correlates with increased depression. Otherwise it would be relatively easy to map that countries with higher populations levels had higher rates of depression. Places like China, India and Africa would be at the top of the list for depression, gradually working down to countries like Australia which is very large but with only a 24 million person population. But depression statistics don't appear to follow population levels this way at all when you look at them.

Also, depression statistics don't just follow "overall numbers" but percentages per "head of population". And the former show large increases in depression per every 100 people regardless of how many in total there are.

"Information overload" might well be one of the reasons for rises in depression as you said. There is no doubt that we have more access to information than previous generations had (although we also have more access to false information spoken as fact as well). Potentially a possible factor.

The "what we eat" thing also might be an influence. Although, since at least 50% of the population eat equally as badly, then statistically at least 50% of people would be depressed as a result. Which is not the case. A factor pehaps, but alone unlikely.

The advertising thing also is an interesting point and has definitely increased. But we have a bad habit of thinking that this is mainly a "modern problem".

When you look at old photos and newpapers from even 100 years ago I think most people would be surprised at just how much propoganda average people were exposed to on a daily basis back then, especially during war times. There might not have been "pop ups", but amount of people knocking on your door each day, approaching you in the street, newspapers ad, shop and street signage, radio announcements was much more than people today would assume.