When chatting with a consellor in January about some bouts of low mood and mental fatigue, I described one symptom as a strange sense of disconnection. And while the recent lockdowns during the pandemic were obvious contributors to that, they didn’t feel like the full story.
Reassuringly it seems I’m far from alone in feeling this way, since one of her suggestions was to read Johann Hari’s bestselling book Lost Connections: why you’re depressed and how to find hope.
Hari argues that the primary factors causing depression and anxiety are environmental and societal – not the “chemical imbalance” nor the pill-based solution story we’ve been sold for so long.
Hari frames depression and anxiety as natural reactions to and signifiers of an imbalance caused by unmet human psychological needs. The modern world can be lonely and runs on dubious values. We need community, meaningful values, interaction with the natural world, a sense of worth and being respected, a secure future, and release from any shame resulting from previous mistreatment.
On the whole I really enjoyed this book – well, as much as you can enjoy a book about depression!