Apparently depression and suicide is on the rise

[Karadros]

I'd say it is due to the fact that America is losing its Judeo-Christian values; the very thing this country was founded upon. As this new atheist trend rises, so does depression. These new atheists feel they don't have a point in life due to thinking we were made by sheer chance. They think we are simply animals and not something more important. Fortunately they aren't the majority and will most likely convert when they are older (probably near death).

Right. No. Fuck off with that. I'm depressed because I don't have anything to work towards in my LIFE, not because I'm disconcerted I don't get a reward for a pious life in death.

[starlord]

no. I wouldn't.

from my personal experiences its quite applicable. a person has to have meaning to their life beyond simple survival.
but to each their own.

[Lenonis]

from my personal experiences its quite applicable. a person has to have meaning to their life beyond simple survival.
but to each their own.

I think it's just way too simplistic to try to equate motivation with depression. I'm not saying that one doesn't come along with the other but using a motivational theory to try to describe the causes of depression is not likely something anyone in the field would agree with. (Disclaimer -- I'm not in the field either, however I do teach motivational theories as a part of a class I teach).

[starlord]

I think it's just way too simplistic to try to equate motivation with depression. I'm not saying that one doesn't come along with the other but using a motivational theory to try to describe the causes of depression is not likely something anyone in the field would agree with. (Disclaimer -- I'm not in the field either, however I do teach motivational theories as a part of a class I teach).

hmm well i can find a number of sources that say motivation & depression are intertwined.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/7410560/
https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Mo...and_motivation
https://books.google.com/books?id=UL...ession&f=false

[Revik]

So we need a WW3? Or an alien invasion?

No. It is because we are not a beautiful unique snowflake. We are just realizing this and we are fuck'in pissed off.

[igualitarist]

If people killed themselves because things are rough, third world countries would top the suicide rankings.

[Revik]

Right. No. Fuck off with that. I'm depressed because I don't have anything to work towards in my LIFE, not because I'm disconcerted I don't get a reward for a pious life in death.

You'll be alright. You just need to work on making more soap and blowing up all the financial buildings in the world setting things back to 0.

[Gratlim]

Have to wonder if it's their economy? Like the average wealth is probably very low for those countries. Not to mention a plethora of gods knows what going on there.



That's true, but for some people there's no choice. Like this Uber engineer who killed himself for what the wife believes was the work place. Uber's work ethics aren't the best it seems. America tends to look at workers as a resource where Europe has taken steps to make work not as dreadful. Shorter hours per week plus nation wide mandatory lunch break does wonders for people.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...ide/100938330/

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How do you only have 4h/week of free time when you work 39h/week? Also why does the private sector get away with not paying their overtime pay?

So if you work 70 hours a week, how do you have tons of free time?

For the 4 hours: legal time is 35 but previous legal time was 39. One is often expected to work as much as before most of the time. The consequence is that one can "save" the difference (4 hours a week) to get longer holidays for example.

As for the 70 hours, it's a max during audit Season (jan to june). Rest is mostly 40-50. In Norway you work from 8am to 4pm. I work in a small city 10min from work with a bike. In Paris I used almost 2 hours in public transportation everyday, started around 9 and finished at 8pm almost every day.

Overtime: Big companies get away with it because France have high unemployment and hundred are lining up behind your job. They can threaten you in diverse implicit way as well. It was almost 10 years ago then, but from what I've heard from my friends still working in Paris (most moved to Montreal, Shanghai or London to start their career), not much has changed.

[Nerdgasm]

Why?

No one knows for sure as there's many factors.

But there's one theory called "evolutionary mismatch" many modern tendencies. This paper gives some very good info about it

[Deleted]

People grow up with the wrong expectations of life.

And sitting indoors all day on social media doesn't help make a life fun or interesting either.

[Karadros]

You'll be alright. You just need to work on making more soap and blowing up all the financial buildings in the world setting things back to 0.

Oh, the biting remarks! Oh, the rapier-sharp wit! Oh, I can't be arsed retreading the same old argument about how believing in an invisible sky wizard will or won't automagically make one's life better.

Currently what I'm hating the heck out of is waking up in the morning to attend a security course!
I am not a morning person.

[Spectral]

While the causes are obviously multifactorial, I think a lot of people have hit on a bunch of basically accurate assessments. We live in a culture that deals with sad, sedentary people by pumping them full of drugs and then we act shocked that these sad, sedentary people are still pretty suicidal and just have a numbed out state of mind that isn't quite as depressed.

[Deleted]

We have made life "easier", but in doing so we've also caged ourselves. Not all wild animals handle such an environment.

More or less yes. We created a society that is more ordered, but lacks freedom.

That's what a good zombie should do. It would not be a zombie if he just does whatever he wants now that he is immortal and does not need to eat or do anything to keep alive. All we great necromancers do is adjust their hunger to greater levels.

Well, it's working less and less for some. You should be careful, bad zombies regain their soul and become wraiths, ghouls or liches. And then they become a threat to the necromancers.

Wow sounds like your life really sucks. I have met very few people like the person you describe here. In the US, you don't need to go to an expensive university to get a great paying job. That is the lie fed to you by your teachers and society. Sorry if you rang up so much debt that you are now miserable.

This might be a you problem as opposed to a problem with society.

I actually don't live in the USA, and, unfortunately, around me many have lives like this. Especially those younger than me, who are trained especially to work more for less.

It bothers me a lot that I only get one life and I'm spending a gigantic chunk of it just "working".

And no, it's not even just "doing your fair share" for most people. Most people do far more than "their share", it's just that all of the profits from that go to someone else and they barely scrape by.

My wife and I keep kicking around the idea of just moving mostly off-grid somewhere and trying to life a different life together. I dunno. We might give it a shot some time. I don't mind "work" at all, I gladly chop trees and do all the maintenance work for our four acres, take care of animals, maintain the house, and so on. That feels satisfying to me, because it's for us, for my family.

No one is lying on their deathbed saying, "Gosh I wish I had done more TPS reports."

You know, I have a few friends saying the same. Either that they want to move to the country or start doing something of their own (like handmade stuff) to live by and all that. And they never do. You see, they, and I, and maybe even you (though I could be wrong about you) are too complacent and apathic. And we have gotten used to these lives and fear starting new ones, because despite being a dream of ours, we also fear the unknown. So we never do.
My advice to you, as the advice I have kept giving my friends in this situation, is "start doing something for you. made by you. for your future, something you like, something you get all or most of the laurels/money for. don't sit and wallow and just be unhappy. do something".
I actually have started learning graphics design myself. I want to be able to build sites and models and one day live off that. It might still take a few more years, but I'll get there. Find what you like and do it.

That's how I feel. Americans particularly work 40+ hours per week to have little or no time for themselves. This is why I admire France's 35 hour work week, as it helps deter companies from keeping their employee's from overstaying. Those with the shortest work week, tend to be happier.

Indeed, they actually are happier, they get more time for themselves and their loved ones. They don't spend as much time working for someone that gives them little and does not care about them (like most companies) with people they might even dislike (and some they like too, but still, in normal life we ignore the people we dislike, in a work situation we can't).

doesnt change the fact things have got became easier. every generation is better off than the one before it by a large margin. one could say we baby our children more now than ever and they get fewer chances to overcome adversity and learn the lessons from that but on the other hand a lot of those experiences are traumatic and can cause mental disorders that manifest later in life. im a true believer in there is less rape, murder, drug use, and crime in general than there was in the 80s and things have got a whole lot better so i dont know why those numbers would be higher other than we are better at recognizing and diagnosing these problems.

also try to imagine living 1000-2000years ago and realizing you are on the hamster wheel. talk about a horrible life with nothing to do. eating alone took working hours a day. be thankful for what you have and what others before went thru for you to have it. yes life sucks when you look at it the wrong way so fucking stop looking at it that way.

Oh yes, we are living better than 1000-2000 years ago. However... that farmer that worked his ass off for his crops... got the most of his gains. Nowadays you work for someone else's gains. You don't work for yourself.

Yes, we can do so many more things today. In the end, that peasant from hundreads of years ago couldn't access many of the hobbies we have today. But unfortunately, even with so many things we might like, we lack the time and money to do them. You see, that peasant lacked knowledge of all the hobbies that exist. We do not. But we know we can't do most of them. Which creates a sort of lack we feel, a lack of time for us.

And yes, we are also getting better at diagnosting these problems. I won't deny that. But I doubt Japan and South Korea, for example, have such high rates of suicides because we're better at diagnosting the illnesses.

[Deleted]

Why? We live in the best of times, welfare, free healthcare for everyone, little if any big wars, Karl Gustaf and clean drinkable water straight out of the tap.

I don't get it.

Reminds me of this

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/ji...sion/82525597/

[dcschess05]

It is because our generation has had no Great Depression, no Great War. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.

I agree. The US has lived in great excess for the better part of a half decade. Now a days people don't know what it's like to be forced to drop out of school because your family couldn't afford to clothe you. Excess is the expectation. It's made these depressed folks lose appreciation for the things/opportunities they have. Depression is a part of life, but when it becomes your life it's time to re-evaluate what you want out of it. Maybe it's not really as bad as they think it is...

[Radaney]

Because 95% of the western population simply wake up, work and sleep so the other 5% can go do things the other 95% want to do.

Oh and they'll be doing this til they're 80 until they 'retire' and get put in a home with no money and pension to die with depression and dementia.

Oh and most young adults won't be able to afford their own home, they'll have to be sucked dry and flush their money down the drain renting out a single room.

Corruption at the highest levels of our governments is so hilariously transparant that it makes everyone think why the fuck they should bother when taxpayer money is so hopelessly wasted or simply abused by the gluttony at the top.

There's a lot of social, economic and political reasons to be depressed nowadays.

[Torto]

I blame feminism.

It has left a very large number of females alone, discontent and depressed. It has also left a lot of men alone, confused and suicidal. It is also the reason that if by some miracle a man and woman do get married, it will almost certainly end in an acrimonious divorce. Leaving both parties alone, depressed and suicidal.

[schwarzkopf]

Why?

Well for me, it is because there is no content left in my life ... and no money to get treatment to allow me to have content in my life.

Sort of like would you keep playing WoW if there no more expansions, well - no more expansions coming in my life.

[Deleted]

Because we work. We wake up, eat, and go to work. While some enjoy their time there, not that many do. As years pass, more and more is expected of us at work as machines come from behind and do things better. This creates stress. You finish working and go home. You may get 1-2 hours of something, if you're lucky, then go to sleep. That is, unless, of course, you work overtime or work 2 jobs, case in which you come home and sleep.

Then comes the weekend. You're so tired from the week that on the first day you mostly sleep. On the second one you do things around the house, cleaning, buying groceries for next week, some time with loved ones if you have any. And if you have a few hours left, you have some "you" time. This, of course, happens if you don't work in weekends too, case in which there's no break at all.
Then you repeat. Every week. Every month. Every year. Until you're too old to work anymore, but you're also too old to travel and do what you like anymore.
You may want to start doing something you like... but hold on... you need time for that, so you'd need to cut from overtime or fully cut second job. But if you do that, you won't have money for your side project that you might like. So, whatever you do, you lack something, time or money.

Again, this does not apply to anyone. But the middle class is shrinking in many countries in favour of the poor class. The distance between the rich and the poor is increasing.

Why would people be happy when they're just hamsters on wheels? At first it's new and interesting, but once you realize that's most of what it is and that you'll spend your entire life there... life itself loses meaning. If we focus on USA or some countries with high university/healthcare cost, it's even worse for you actually can't quit your job unless you want to end up in the streets, as the banks will take everything. For other countries, mostly EU ones, this doesn't apply, but the other problems still do.

6 week paid vacation?
thats when you can travel

[Fiddlewick]

Well for me, it is because there is no content left in my life ... and no money to get treatment to allow me to have content in my life.

Sort of like would you keep playing WoW if there no more expansions, well - no more expansions coming in my life.

Yes, you should keep on playing mate!
Sure, the expansion won't come out, and the content drought is getting tiresome, take a break from raiding.
Do pet battles, level a new char, farm for that mount, meet up with old friends and experience it together!