One other thing that might cause this, discussed a bit by Singal and Hertzog, is that there is a glorification of being sad or depressed. Depression is seen as evidence of deepness. The destigmatization of mental illness has, perhaps, gone too far to the point of valorization.
Seems that this comes in forms that are both non-political (as you describe it) and political (as the other commenter describes it.)
It's not obvious to me how much the non-political version has increased -- it seems the glorification of the deep but troubled mind has been around for centuries.
I have also noticed there is a big portrayal of depression as "realism". Usually the depressed person's response to someone pointing out the reality, that life isn't as bad as they are making it out to be, is to basically reject that reality and accuse the other person of minimizing issues.
So if I say "global warming is bad, but thankfully we seem to be controlling our emissions enough where we will avoid the worst of it so that's good" their response will be usually to deny that, or try to "correct" my optimism by pointing out that global warming is bad, and therefore I NEED to be depressed about global warming or I'm just not taking it seriously.
In this way depression becomes a kind of moral duty, that even if I am able to look away from a problem that is not within my power to control, I not only must look at it, but I must worry about it. Basically the opposite of stoicism, a kind of activist emotional chaos.
I think there needs to be studies forthat control for what people follow/watch/read on social media. Have a group that follows news accounts and a group that follows meme accounts and family/friends and compare their happiness afterwards.
Wokeness confers status on self determined victimhood, the believers who collect the biggest intersection of oppressions are the most revered, and since being a victim is not concomitant with being happy, it’s not surprising that wokies feel sadder than people who reject that cult.
The connection between sex and trait neuroticism, which you mentioned, is important. I'd bet the early wave of increasingly depressed, anxious girls were largely represented by a subset of women who, at the time, were the least psychologically resilient and/or were in precarious positions in life (men in similar positions have their own problems but it often manifests differently). They were the most susceptible to the harms of social media, compounding whatever problems were already going on, like loneliness, fewer eligible and appealing men on the dating scene, etc.
They were like canaries in the coal mine—the more vulnerable subset of a group telling us something bigger and deeper is wrong. I still see this kind of thing in my practice today.
One other thing that might cause this, discussed a bit by Singal and Hertzog, is that there is a glorification of being sad or depressed. Depression is seen as evidence of deepness. The destigmatization of mental illness has, perhaps, gone too far to the point of valorization.
Yeah, valid point.
Seems that this comes in forms that are both non-political (as you describe it) and political (as the other commenter describes it.)
It's not obvious to me how much the non-political version has increased -- it seems the glorification of the deep but troubled mind has been around for centuries.
I have also noticed there is a big portrayal of depression as "realism". Usually the depressed person's response to someone pointing out the reality, that life isn't as bad as they are making it out to be, is to basically reject that reality and accuse the other person of minimizing issues.
So if I say "global warming is bad, but thankfully we seem to be controlling our emissions enough where we will avoid the worst of it so that's good" their response will be usually to deny that, or try to "correct" my optimism by pointing out that global warming is bad, and therefore I NEED to be depressed about global warming or I'm just not taking it seriously.
In this way depression becomes a kind of moral duty, that even if I am able to look away from a problem that is not within my power to control, I not only must look at it, but I must worry about it. Basically the opposite of stoicism, a kind of activist emotional chaos.
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
I think there needs to be studies forthat control for what people follow/watch/read on social media. Have a group that follows news accounts and a group that follows meme accounts and family/friends and compare their happiness afterwards.
I think this is right.
Wokeness confers status on self determined victimhood, the believers who collect the biggest intersection of oppressions are the most revered, and since being a victim is not concomitant with being happy, it’s not surprising that wokies feel sadder than people who reject that cult.
Also a good point.
The connection between sex and trait neuroticism, which you mentioned, is important. I'd bet the early wave of increasingly depressed, anxious girls were largely represented by a subset of women who, at the time, were the least psychologically resilient and/or were in precarious positions in life (men in similar positions have their own problems but it often manifests differently). They were the most susceptible to the harms of social media, compounding whatever problems were already going on, like loneliness, fewer eligible and appealing men on the dating scene, etc.
They were like canaries in the coal mine—the more vulnerable subset of a group telling us something bigger and deeper is wrong. I still see this kind of thing in my practice today.