[apollopower]

The book "Lost Connections" by Johann Hari (which I discovered through HN) has helped me a lot in understanding so much of the context of what makes so many of us feel depression and anxiety at many points in our lives. A big part of the narrative is that we are too quick to diagnose and provide ourselves with medication without really understanding environmental variables that have impacted our overall well-being.

While I do believe our understanding of how the brain functions still has a long way to go, which includes treatments for mental illness, there is something to be said about acknowledging more the external factors of our modern day lives that fill us with so many problems.

Personally, realizing where I have "disconnected" from people, values, and truly human experiences has been a large step forward in improving my mental health. I hope it's something that others who feel so many emotional challenges can try as well to see if they can make progress with their own mental health.

[thex10]

From TFA:

> There is no evidence to justify the continued promotion of one-dimensional theories such as ‘chemical imbalance’.

The Lost Connections book, which I read a few years ago, really helped hit this home for me. Totally made me reconsider my view of depression and treatment.