nicole bahr
Nov 2 · 4 min read

Can you hear me now? Lost connections in a hyper-connected world

The modern world is experiencing an unprecedented epidemic of loneliness, despite email and social media’s reach across the globe. The massive spread of loneliness in the western world has coincided with an epidemic of prescription medication usage, much of it an attempt to relieve pain and depression. As Johann Hari explains in Lost Connections, medication alone isn’t enough to address what ails modern society.

First, statistics around antidepressants show the drugs haven’t been very successful as long-term solutions for depression (although the drug companies have made quite a bit of money). The research is sobering:

- Chemical imbalances, frequently cited as the primary cause for depression, have never been scientifically proven. In clinical trials, both reducing and increasing serotonin or norepinephrine seem to have positive effects, which doesn’t make sense if a lack of a chemical triggers mental illness.

- 67% of patients initially feel better with antidepressants, and yet within a year, half the patients were fully depressed again. Only 1 in 3 found lasting recovery, which might have happened naturally anyway. (Star-D Trial).

- On the Hamilton scale of depression, where 0 is happiness and 51 is suicidal, a 6 point increase can be attributed to improved sleeping patterns. Only 1.8 points improvement could be attributed to the antidepressants.

- When looking at full FDA drug trials and not curated results, 25% of the benefits of antidepressants were attributed to natural recovery, 50% due to the “story” told, and only 25% to the actual chemicals.

If the current narrative of antidepressants isn’t supported by actual research, are there other modern developments we can point to as the causal underpinnings for the spread of loneliness and depression in the modern world?

Hari identifies nine contributors to depression that prove to have a stronger causal relationship to depression than chemical imbalances:

1) Disconnect from Meaningful Work

· 87% of people are not engaged or actively disengaged with work (Gallup 2012)

2) Disconnect from Other People

· On a loneliness scale of 0–100, shifting from a loneliness measure of 50 to 65 increases your chance of developing depression by eight times.

3) Disconnect from Meaningful Values

· Junk values of materialism (money, appearances) statistically can be correlated with less robust health, more anger, shorter relationships.

4) Disconnect from Childhood Trauma

· High childhood adversity scores (ACEs) have been linked to all kinds of mental health issues.

5) Disconnect from Status and Respect

· Apes at the bottom of the social hierarchy studied experienced greater measured stress levels, would eventually abandon the troop altogether.

6) Disconnect from the Natural World

· Depressed people who take a walk in nature experience 5x the improvement in mood than other people.

7) Disconnect from Hopeful or Secure Future

· Individuals lacking access to a social safety net feel helpless in the face of health or family challenges.

8) Genes

· 30–40% likelihood of anxiety/depression is inheritable, which, while significant, is no means a guarantee of depression. By comparison, height is based 90% on genes.

· Trauma can activate depression genes (epigenetics)

9) Brain Changes

· The plasticity of the brain means that our ruminating thought patterns do result in new neural paths which can reinforce positive or negative thinking patterns.

At a fundamental level, the modern world is a petri dish for building an ecosystem of lost connections. But we don’t have to accept the isolating norms which exist in our world today. Instead I encourage you to make time for family and friends, and think about taking the following actions:

- Slow down

- Talk to your neighbors on the sidewalk

- Volunteer for causes that you care about

- Seek to value people as humans, and not for their status or looks

- Invite neighbors to dinner

- Join a book club

- Play on a rec sports team

- Go to church or house of worship

- Meditate and practice pausing in your daily life

- Practice gratitude for the positive things in your life

- Listen without an agenda to people talking to you

We got ourselves into this mess believing in shortcuts. We believed in shortcuts to happiness and good health, shortcuts to the lives we dreamed of. But the reality is that there are no shortcuts to building relationships, not with ourselves, not with each other. Building relationships and connections still requires time and commitment. It’s recognizing that the annoyances and frustrations of real relationships cause us to grow in our ability to love and care for each other, as we become core building blocks for a connected community built on respect and kindness. We will get ourselves out of this mess when we replace shortcuts with a commitment to journey more slowly alongside the people that we love.

nicole bahr

Written by

Librarian, Book Aficionado, and eternally curious student of the world

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