Clinical depression and its impact on today’s society

Many aspects of today's societal lifestyle facilitate the onset of depression.

Clinical depression is well known to be one of the most frequent psychological disorders in the most industrialized or Western-culture countries. in the most industrialized or Western-cultured countries.

However, this does not mean that human beings have more Biological predispositions to "get sad" just like that. In fact, if this alteration of mood has become so widespread in the more industrialized countries, it is because our way of life, although it is capable of providing us with a great deal of well-being and a better capacity to avoid death for many years, also exposes us to certain situations that make us vulnerable to depression.

The major depression: a phenomenon linked to the current way of life

The fact that depressive disorder is linked to the way societies live is nothing new, nor is it something that occurs only with mood disorders. Virtually all psychological problems can be promoted or weakened by how we are accustomed to interacting with our environment and with ourselves, which depends and with ourselves, which depends as much on the culture in which we grow up and learn as on the material reality of the countries we live in.

The differences between living in 21st century Spain and living in Ancient Greece are not only reflected in our way of thinking and interpreting reality; they also have an effect on the predisposition to develop one or another psychological disorder. And in our case, it seems that we are particularly exposed to clinical depression simply because we live in "today's society".

A disorder linked to a sedentary lifestyle

It is believed that if there are currently many people who will develop clinical depression during their lifetime, this is partly because we simply reach older ages and have our basic needs covered (or, at least, more covered than several centuries ago).

Thus, depression would be a typical disorder of societies in which not having autonomy and not being able to fend for oneself does not imply dying in a short period of time.This is because behind each individual there are health institutions and social support networks that provide the necessary resources to continue living. Thus, clinical depression is defined as a disorder of those who limit themselves to surviving, despite encountering serious problems to justify their existence as individuals.

This means that the typical symptoms of clinical depression are associated with passivity and sedentary habits. Those who suffer from this psychological phenomenon are not able to feel excited about almost anything, and do not get involved in hobbies or projects that at another time in their lives they would have loved. In addition, on many occasions their capacity to experience pleasure is diminished, something known as anhedonia.

It is true that we know of ancient and even prehistoric societies in which it was not uncommon to care for people with chronic disorders throughout their lives, but it is hard to imagine an archaic model of social organization in which it would be possible to sustain for months or years the majority of people with depression, who in many countries today make up around 7% of adults.

But beyond the simple fact that life expectancy in contemporary societies has risen significantly, it is also there are other cultural factors prevalent in the West that appear to facilitate the onset of clinical depression.. Let's see how they do so.

Factors of daily life that reinforce the depressive disorder.

These are different habits and routines that feed clinical depression and that our current way of life favors.

1. Rumination

Our lifestyle fills us with opportunities to spend a good part of the day thinking over and over again about things that worry us. This vicious circle of unpleasant and intrusive thoughts is called psychological rumination.and it is one of the factors that sustains depression (which is why, in psychotherapy, we place so much importance on helping patients to combat it).

Rumination is not only fueled by free time in which we have no plans and let our mind wander through a series of negative thoughts; in addition, tools such as the Internet can cause us to constantly expose ourselves to content that feeds our worry and hopelessness. Let's think for a moment about the teenage girl who feels bad about her body and stares for hours at pictures of models, on the one hand, and blog or social media posts from other young women who share their most pessimistic thoughts or even their desires to end their life at some point.

2. Social isolation

Nowadays it is perfectly possible to spend several weeks without talking to practically anyone, or even without leaving the house. This type of extreme social isolation reinforces the likelihood that depression will emerge and be sustained.The reasons for this are several: deterioration of physical health, lack of references on how to deal with sadness or melancholy, lack of reasons to think that someone cares about us, etc.

3. Lack of sleep

Sleep deprivation is also surprisingly common nowadays, and is another phenomenon that increases the risk of clinical depression. The unstructured work schedules typical of self-employed life, overwork, or loneliness or lack of plans, for example, increase the possibility that we do not sleep enough hours or enough sleep. that we do not sleep enough hours or at the right time..

4. Competitiveness

The competitive mentality taken to the extreme, so typical of today's job market, means that we tend to constantly compare ourselves to others, tends to lead us to constantly compare ourselves with others.. This creates many opportunities for us to feel bad about our way of life and to become frustrated by not reaching unreasonable goals, even though we objectively have our physiological needs met.

Are you looking for help to generate new habits?

If you believe that your way of living is leading you to wear down your psychological wellbeing, the best thing you can do is to turn to your doctor, the best thing you can do is to go to psychotherapy.. Psychologists are professionals with experience in helping to generate new daily habits that allow us to aspire to greater happiness.

To see the contact details of the Centro de Psicología Begoña Fernández, the place where I work in Madrid, click here.

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth Edition, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington. D.C.
• Viegas, J. (2010). Earliest traces of disabled, aged human found. NBC News.