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If One Person Feels Hopeless, It’s Personal. When Millions Do, It’s a System Designed to Fail
The narrative says “It’s on you,” but millions can’t be wrong. There’s a bigger issue at play.
Depression is not only an individual issue, but it is a failure of the whole system. Over and over, I’ve seen people diagnosed with “situational depression,” not because the mind is malfunctioning, but because the system and the world around them is functioning incorrectly.
When one individual is suffering from depression, we see this as an isolated problem. When several people or entire cultures are suffering from the same sense of despair and hopelessness, one must reckon with the possibility of systemic failure.
Situational depression is not an issue of faulty brain chemistry. It is a response to chronic and prolonged levels of stress, hardship or systemic barriers. Clinical depression arises from chemical imbalances in the brain. Situational depression is caused by human suffering that comes from environmental factors like poverty, instability, job loss, excessive debt and social isolation.
Situational depression is not a disorder. It is the way your body knows something is wrong in your environment. However, instead of addressing external pressures…
