Do a lack of connections make us depressed?

The book ‘Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression-and the Unexpected Solutions’ narrates the personal adventure of the British-Swiss journalist, Johann Hari, who from an early age had to deal with severe depressive. What he was experiencing was not a passing sadness, his emotional despondency was persistent and severe. After 13 years of failed treatments, Hari made the decision to undertake a thorough investigation into the true origin of the depressive experience.

By traveling to unexpected places and conducting more than 200 interviews with renowned doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, the author uncovers some rather disturbing findings regarding the information officially shared about this disorder. For decades, the Western medical system has explained that depression is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. The prevailing discourse mainly suggests that there is a spontaneous and significant failure in serotonin levels and, for this reason, antidepressants must be prescribed.

However, after sifting through hundreds of studies and academic documents, as well as consulting with noted specialists, Hari finds himself facing a huge cultural rift: the hypothesis that depression is caused exclusively by low serotonin levels lacks sufficient scientific evidence to support it. Experts in this field say that this idea is nothing more than an accident of history, a tentative interpretation that the pharmaceutical industry has been able to exploit.

The monopoly of the pharmaceutical industry

Hari denounces major pharmaceutical companies for bias and for hiding results that do not favor their commercial interests.

For example, it is worth mentioning a study conducted on the drug Prozac. For this study, the medication was administered to 245 subjects. The results, without any filtering, showed that only 27 patients responded positively to the treatment. Nevertheless, the manufacturing company had no qualms about presenting a partial publication containing only the success stories.

In order to find out the effectiveness of pharmaceutical treatments, Hari approaches leading scientists, who are responsible for revealing and reliable clinical trials. In this regard, the book highlights the following findings:

• Many of the popular antidepressants are no more effective than placebos;
• Medications for depression may generate side effects, such as sweating, weight gain, deterioration of sex life, among others;
• It is estimated that between 65% and 80% of individuals taking antidepressants continue to suffer from their original disorder;
• According to the Hamilton Scale (invented to measure the level of depression), pharmaceutical treatments generate a barely appreciable effect of action (1.8 points);
• There is a minority of patients who experience a positive effect with the prescribed drugs.

Disconnection can affect mental health

After three years of research, Hari diagnoses that modern people have become disconnected from themselves and, as a consequence, have also become disconnected from others and the world around them. His argument, carefully documented, is that the main causes of depression and anxiety are essentially to be found in the culture and way of life of today’s society.

Among the social and psychological causes proposed by the writer are:

1. Disconnection from meaningful work

Hari’s research suggests that, in general, people want their jobs to be meaningful, useful, stimulating, and nurturing experiences. However, there is strong evidence that more than 80% of employees worldwide are neither engaged, nor satisfied with their jobs.

On the disconnection within work, Hari concludes the following:

• People who feel dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety;
• Workers who have less control and authority feel more vulnerable in organizations;
• The imbalance between work efforts and rewards is considerably detrimental;
• According to Gallup Company, only 13% of workers worldwide treasure their jobs and are emotionally connected to what they do.

2. Disconnection from others

Hari also argues that modern culture is deeply individualistic and, as a result, human beings feel disconnected from each other.

In this regard, sociologists have noted that over the years that important collective structures that were key to giving people a sense of belonging and community have been dismantled. It is not surprising that the further away we are from our social nature, the more loneliness becomes more acute as a public health problem.

Crucial findings include:

• Loneliness has a significant influence on the current feeling of depression;
• Those who actively belong to a community are less vulnerable to the disorder;
• Feeling very isolated increases the risk of death;
• Loneliness can be compared to suffering a physical attack;
• Social networks are not a substitute for human connections.

3. Disconnect from meaningful values

In his exploration, Hari found that most people have disconnected from meaningful values and, instead, have clung to an extremely materialistic worldview. People have a strong belief that by acquiring and displaying things they will experience joy, well-being, and satisfaction. Nonetheless, scientific data reveal that materialistic and extrinsically motivated individuals tend to show elevated levels of depression and anxiety.

The journalist also confirmed that:

• A materialistic lifestyle negatively affects interpersonal relationships;
• People who prioritize meaningful values ​​over material possessions manage to live more fully;
• If someone who is materialistic achieves extrinsic goals (money, promotions, cars, luxuries), they do not experience any increase in their daily happiness;
• Those who cultivate social connections, show kindness, help others, appreciate and feel appreciated experience more satisfaction and happiness.

4. Childhood trauma

There is strong evidence that traumatic childhoods dramatically increase the chances of depressive disorder. It has been confirmed that children raised in conditions of emotional abuse, neglect, psychological cruelty, physical violence, exploitation, or sexual abuse often become anxious and depressed adults.

5. Disconnect from nature

Another cause of depression that Hari identified is being disconnected from nature. It should be noted that science has clearly proven that being close to natural landscapes is beneficial for mental health.

Among the most curious facts in this chapter are:

• Most humans have an innate love for the natural life around them (biophilia);
• People who live in greener areas feel less stressed;
• Contact with nature reduces obsessive thoughts and benefits concentration.

6. Disconnect from a secure and hopeful future

Many depressive patients lose their perception of the future; they simply cannot imagine a tomorrow. This inability to see beyond is tremendously dangerous.

So far, a sense of hopelessness about the future has been shown to precipitate suicide rates.

Reconnect to heal

‘Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions’, is a book that invites you to explore the lesser-known aspects of this disorder. Journalist Johann Hari brings together scientific findings, sociological analysis, and concrete evidence to prove that beyond the brain failure hypothesis, depression is intimately linked to different forms of human disconnection.

The text, in the form of a journalistic chronicle, is full of important testimonies, revealing data, curiosities, personal anecdotes, and amusing occurrences. Knowing that there are currently more than 300 million people suffering from this disorder, the book is a pertinent and timely recommendation.

To conclude, I share one of the most significant reflections of the author:

“You aren’t a machine with broken parts. You are an animal whose needs are not being met. You need to have a community. You need to have meaningful values, not the junk values you’ve been pumped full of all your life, telling you happiness comes through money and buying objects. You need to have meaningful work. You need the natural world. You need to feel you are respected. You need a secure future. You need connections to all these things”.

Perhaps the key, as Johann Hari suggests, is to give yourself the opportunity to reconnect.

Image credit: Stacey_Jayyy