Posted by laima on December 6, 2006, at 16:24:06 [reposted on December 7, 2006, at 23:47:23 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Why your medicine may not help, posted by bulldog2 on December 6, 2006, at 13:55:07
Well, the old Soviet Union had super high rates of depression and alcoholism-a lot of people lacked basic supplies and services, there were shortages constantly, and you had to beware of what you said where. And members of so called "primitive" cultures often faced all sorts of wars, diseases, famines, and lopsided nutrition. For example, I doubt the Medieval Europeans who subsisted on nothing but potatoes while dodging whatever plague remnants and wars that were going around were all feeling super. (Maybe many turned to religion for relief instead of "medicine"?) That all sounds pretty stressful. Of course, a packaged-up "Depression" as a medical condition may be a new epidemic, but I suspect that the syndrome itself has been around at varying levels for a long time. Beware the "noble savage".
> Personally I think this epidemic of depression is largely due to a society that stresses out and alienates individuals. There is a perception that material goods and wealth are the key to happiness. People chase wealth and can't understand why their unhappy when the family and all the major institutions that once sustained us have been severely damaged in recent years. I wonder how much depression there is in primitive societies in which people still live in harmony with nature and have strong family and societal networks. I guess it's easier to try and drug into believing we're happy than fixing the root causes of the problem.
poster:laima
thread:711348
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061123/msgs/711348.html