Depression is a disease of despair, and all these treatments are really just treating the symptoms.
In other words, people experience despair because of some underlying situation - examples: death of child, lonely, broken home. “Normal” things, and we try to treat it with pharmaceuticals. It would be like treating depression with cocaine or marijuana (they actually did and still do this btw) - might make you feel good temporarily; but it’ll never stop the despair.
The question is really how to address the despair. People often visit a therapist; I can see that helping some. But to many, they can’t seem to find the cause.
It reminds me of the post the other day about how people live over 100 [1]. It’s all about community:
> Belong. All but 5 of the 263 centenarians interviewed belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination does not seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services 4 times per month will add 4 to 14 years of life expectancy.
> Loved ones first. Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (it lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love. (They’ll be more likely to care for aging parents when the time comes.)
> Right tribe. The world’s longest lived people chose—or were born into—social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created moais—groups of 5 friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors.
Yes some people have real hormone or other biological issues. But 99% of people likely need to address the root cause. I’d put money depression is on the rise as our communities are collapsing due to the industrial / technological nature of our world.