Johann Hari - Depression: The Real Causes (& Unexpected Solutions)

I was a psychotherapist for 32 years. The field in late 80s shifted from psychotherapy to chemical therapy. No, drugs was not an add- on, drugs replaced psychotherapy. There is no brain chemical imbalance as the root cause. No study supports this manufactured explanation. He's absolutely right. But good luck finding a therapist that has the desire, the skill or talent to treat the actual cause.

Absolutely. My mom made it horrible. My son's father made it horrible. Living in a moldy low-income apartment in the ghetto made it horrible. Own my own place now and no depression on lowest dose of two antidepressants. Was 50% situational.

I like doing my own thing, this makes me happy. Not adapting to suit others , no desire to be in contact with superficial people who just fit in.

Walking... making myself walk outside (even though I am often resistant) for 40-50 minutes ALWAYS makes me feel better. Today I listened to this talk on my phone and it is totally uplifting and validating. Thank you for all your wonderful work and research. Feeling more hopeful. Would like your email or website if you have one. Blessings to you.

So right on. I’m sending this to many others. I can relate to the information on environment and friends and family. So much of my depression occurs when I am lonely or not feeling needed. I am 71 retired and miss work. I have to make myself go to the park, stop and smell the roses ect. It helps every time. Thank you for this video.🙏❤️

I only feel depressed, when I am bored..as soon as I keep busy, that feeling goes away...changing the way we think ,...just keep busy..

I lived in my house with various dogs, cats, rabbits and fish, running my own business from home, for 27 years and I was very happy. Before that I had a job I loved for about 20 years. My employer decided to move to another country and I had to regroup and carry on by myself. We still worked together on projects remotely, so that helped. Towards the end of the 27 years I had a health crisis and decided to move to another city to be with a longtime friend, so that I would no longer be living alone and have a back up person and he would have me as a back up person and we could have fun together, since he was retired and had the time. The year I decided to do this COVID hit and I was in a strange city, isolated from everybody I used to see all the time, stores and restaurants I visited all the time, and I could no longer just go somewhere and do what I wanted, when I wanted to. I don't drive and catching a bus in this city would mean I'd have to walk to, or get a ride to a bus stop first. The worry about catching COVID made me stay in my new home even more. Gradually I hated where I Iived, not only the city but also my new dwelling and I hated being dependent on another person who was not into helping me, unreliable, set in his ways and negative towards me at least once a day and always late for everything. The first week after I moved into my new space, across from his house, I wanted to leave because I was so unhappy. It has been more than two years now and all I do is work from home, buy food, walk my dog, not in the woods like I used to, and wait for this friend to take me to stores and back, which is the only time we go anywhere together. In all the time I've been here I've been to three Malls and have seen nothing of the city, except two parks while walking my dog. These walks are not relaxing, or restoring of my calm, like they used to be, because I am accompanied by my friend who talks about the cost of gas, the state of the world, foreigners being the problem, how it's only going to get worse, the idiot who bought the company he worked for and ruined it, etc., all negative topics he always talks about and certainly at every walk, and on the ride to the park and on the ride back, so all I want to do is get away from him. He is down on everything I like doing, my plant collection, drawing, aquariums, working for my company, crafts, finishing furniture, US politics, British shows, cooking, decorating, tile work, antiques, gardening, he has no interest in what I do and is really the only person I speak to on a daily basis and he has very little to say. He has still not looked at my second book, which I recently had published, when it arrived in the mail four months ago. He has an aversion to being happy for anyone who has accomplished something and adverse to paying compliments. These days I avoid him whenever possible because every word out of his mouth is to blame me for something petty, like a stain on his driveway, or bring up something I did wrong ten years ago, call me names, asking me if I'm weird because I'm doing something he wouldn't bother with, and not understanding any of my concerns, or why I am unhappy living on his property and listen to him bitch about mundane things every day all day. I am spending a lot of time now trying to find somewhere else to live. Depression can come just from something a simple as being around a person who makes your life a misery. For me being alone and in charge of my life, my days, and what I did with those days, was totally right for me. I thought I should be around people more, and that may still be true, but being around the wrong person will mess you up. Being alone and happy is a thousand times better than being around a negative, depressing person just because we should be, or need to be with other people.

Thanks for this great presentation. My depression is partly hereditary and mostly childhood abuse. My favorite "medicine" is volunteering. Find something you love to do and look for someplace that needs your help doing it.

My happiest moments in life that changed my depression were: my brother moving out of home. Me moving out of home. Moving interstate lol. Moving back to my original state. Living alone (having unfettered control over my environment), meeting my ex, leaving my ex, meeting a new family pet. It's sad that none of these happiest moments involve family. My family are strong in some ways but we don't touch, they don't ask me questions about my life or my thoughts on issues. I envy families who seem to want connection. My family are loners, we don't get involved in communities. Hence I find it hard to relate to communities. I'll get there one day.

I’ve had severe depression since age 13. I’m 41 now. There are a TON of known AND unknown factors involving depression & anxiety. Everything from your climate (CT dweller here sadly), your income, your nutrition, your physical fitness, your genetics, your living condition, and your support system or lack thereof. I was improving MASSIVELY after having ketamine infusions in Feb of this year! However, my beloved senior pup is on the brink of death. He’s literally my best friend & my constant workout buddy. I’m beyond devastated and my depression is back in full force now. I think now that I had a taste of being depression free-I’m almost worse off now that I am re-experiencing it. Anyway, take care everyone.

Thank you so much for your words! I've been severly depressed for more than 6 years and went straight to the 51st level, twice, and I've been the last 22 years awakening and healing all the inner traumas and trying to keep my self "safe" from the "normal society", and the best antidepressant has been doing holistic practices, like Yoga, and that is my profession right now, where I try to help people with depression and anxiety, building the most wonderfull community! And i must say that the thing that triggered my "so called depression" was to question who was I, what was i doing here, what was my purpose, I was then diagnosed with bipolarity, personality disorder, severe depression, OCB and so on... I was just trying to figure out the meaning of life, alone!

Brilliant and great book also - 'Lost connections'. Cleary this man is the kind of person we need more of. Huge respect to you Johann - Thank You and a giant hug my friend

I've suffered with depression for most of my 22 years of existence. I've also suffered from manic depressive episodes, severe mood swings, even anxiety. Then I decided to try something new and a little out there, I began to fast every once and a while, it indeed did help. But I knew in the long term I wasn't going to be able to fix whatever was broken within. Then I heard about a strict way of eating called carnivore, I did a deep dive into science for quite a while, and found that most nutrition science is just epidemiology (And not very convening ones for that matter) A field of study that can't prove causation. So I looked for answers on YouTube and found a whole sort of anecdotes and supposed benefits. Which somewhat disappointed me because I'm the type who searches for answers . Eventually, my perseverance paid off, I found fellows who've had experience in the medical field and are advocates of a carnivorous diet, Bart Kay, Dr. Ken Berry and Paul Mason. And they themselves offered good advice on how to get started on the diet, as well as Bart going so far as to give examples of Comparative anatomy and evolution. I decided to do my own research with anatomy and human evolution, and found his arguments rather compelling, and next thing I knew I was on board. And after a year and a half (Maybe two years at most) of self experimentation, I am proud to say that ever looming cloud of depression was gone, along with mood swings, anxiety, manic episodes, and hell! I'll even go so far as to say I feel as though my autism is slowly receding (That's not to say I don't need something stimulatory from time to time, just not at nearly the degree I once needed). All of this combined with the fact I'm not longer fat, I've become more of a morning person, I have more energy and I'm just all around in a better state of mind. All in all, I'm glad I turned down prescription drugs and started to decide what's best for me, in spite of the condescension I've gotten from everyone else. If you take away anything from reading this. Just remember that it's okay to go out on a limb and try new things, and sometimes all that needs to change to feel great, is diet and sleep.

Makes SO MUCH sense! We all need more gratifying connections with people, jobs we feel gratification with, and to belong to like-minded tribes! Nice presentation!

Gardening and nature have been my saviour I’m now 75 and I’m starting to feel anxious as I can’t get so much into the garden due to a wet summer and now a wet winter with torrential rain here in Australia and due to covid which has cause so much upheaval and anxiety 👍🌺

Married to a man who can’t love or affirm has no ability to be demonstrative. Up until the last week when I got sick I could cope. Now I am just hanging on with a new antidepressant and a better understanding from your video

Excellent Video and true. My depression was gone when I started drinking Magnesium and Vitamin D3. I never went to a shrink.

I enjoy being alone. I don't have to deal with other people negativity. I found inner peace being alone.

This makes Perfect Sense to me. I’ve got good reasons to feel depressed! I need to change my situation to change my depression! May not apply for everyone but it does for me.

The 'chemical imbalance' in the brain is a symptom, not the cause. I always knew this, even 20 years ago when all doctors believed the lie that it was the cause. My depression is caused by life circumstances.