[lbo-talk] RE: The Economics of Depression

[marc rodrigues]

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>"All of this has led to question mental illness. Not because I don't believe in biological causes for mental illness, but because I believe that there could be social factors that play into it as well. With depression in particular I wonder: Has depression actually been on the rise in the world, or are we just now beginning to understand that these seemingly unrelated symptoms are indicative of an chronic illness, and thus able to diagnose and treat them? Are normal life stressors leading people to believe that they are mentally ill and in need of drugs instead of learning coping mechanisms and life skills? Does the rise in the treatment of depression have more to do with the increase in advertising than the increase in actual cases?"

The best thing I've read that relates to your question is Thomas Szasz's "The Myth of Mental Illness."

I think alienation and stress (the two pillars of post-modern life) play a large part in depression and anxiety. 

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sorry to jump into this conversation so late, but i couldn't pass it up considering i've had some personal experience with the topic, similar to carrol but i think to a lesser degree.  serious bouts with depression and social anxiety basically screwed up my life from the period between the ages of about 16 or 17 to 20 or 21, it got relatively better once i started going to therapy and popping a zoloft every day... i've been off the pills for a little over a year and off the therapy for longer, and after functioning "normally" for a good while i feel as if i'm going into a "relapse," in some respects worse than i ever was before. not quite sure what to do about it as i feel the therapy ran its course and i'm leery about some of the side effects and possible long-term effects of the drugs.

anyway, to the person who recommended the szasz book, i was wondering what you got out of it because it gets pretty much trashed by a couple of reviewers on amazon who say the book argues that there is no such thing as mental illness and all the so-called depressed people should just get out of bed and get a job...

i also agree that "alienation", loosely defined, plays a huge part in depression, but this explanation is problematic because oftentimes it's the depression/anxiety that leads to isolation that leads to alienation, so each feeds on the other. i've always been interested in fanon's discussion of mental illness and its relation to social factors... gotta go re-read 'wretched of the earth.'

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