Are there any good books on contemporary depression?

I watched that new film about him last night. A true masterpiece. RIP you crazy bastard

Which new film?

And factual films are retarded and you're an idiot for having an opinion of someone based on some condensed, dramatic, entertaining version of their life.

I'm reading the 1,000 page biography of his right now and the more I read the less I like the guy. Sure he was insane or whatever, but he didn't appreciate how much his brother helped him. Also, the Van Gogh name was already famous in the Dutch art world, so the idea of him as an outsider artist is very false. Whenever he needed to crash somewhere he had a rich uncle who was a famous-ish painter who let him stay and use his studio etc. It's quite dissapointing to read about it.

I thought he aspires to be an overlooked and underappreciated painter and gave it his all in poverty, but the real story is different.

muh CLINICAL MEDICAL DEPRESSION, my brain chemistry is jus t fo cuked up need to take the ess ess r i to get MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY back on straight

I agree it is largely to do with the destruction of the family and marriage and also the atomization of the person. Further exaggerated by modern politics and the modern social climate.
My family were poor and happy a generation ago and two generations ago. We are now sad and more well off, in the city too, working office jobs

wow. I'm so overwhelmed by your thoughtful, well put together post, I'm going to go rethink my whole life. thanks, user, for curing me.

Keep upping your Prozac dosage

goof for u bud

Read some Mark Fisher

Keep being a sullen bitch on Veeky Forums who gets confused by science

Seconded. Noonday Demon best book on depression by a clear mile.

I've thought about this topic a lot. The root of the problem is the banking industry and its use of algorithms that are designed to impoverish the middle class down.
We are being robbed by creatures who pretend that manipulating people out of their produce is somehow worthy of anything but a bullet.
I want to be very clear on this. A total war is coming.

Read "The Foundation for Exploration".

you can be as snarky as you want. First of all it's painfully obvious that brain chemistry is the result of thought, not the other way around. Secondly, anyone who takes SSRI's is fucking themselves up for life. Almost any other drug legal or illegal is better for you. I've seen it fuck up friends and it makes me glad I tried amphetamine recreationally instead of going to some braindead MD. Don't stop taking it though if you're on it, since you might up snapping and pulling an Elliot Rodget.

>First of all it's painfully obvious that brain chemistry is the result of thought, not the other way around.
i go basically insane every spring and I have no control over it at all. It's like being on 4 different drugs at once, from the moment I wake until I sleep(which is like 4 hours per night). This lasts for about 2 months.

You're going to tell me that that's due to my thought patterns?

infinite jest lol

I just wanna took a nice looking lady then this will all go away and I will be human again

It's actually because of the systematic white genocide

"You can be anything you want to be" is a boldfaced lie sold to millennials by boomers who knew that it was bullshit so as to keep millennials at home forever to take care of the boomers when they were old and decrepit so they wouldn't have to be put in a home like they did with their parents.

Fuck boomers.

I don't think you realize how much this just sounds like "don't horn in on my action." You're living on easymode, whatever your psychic well-being.

Aside from , there's "An Unquiet Mind."

Houellebeqc

keep telling yourself that

why dont you read the letters of Van Gogh and brother instead of a 1000 page biography?

Veeky Forums dissapointed me in every chance.

Unironically The Pale King by DFW. His life fared much like what you are describing, despite having wild success with IJ. He also has a couple of good short stories outlining this whole modern “pursuit of happiness” delusion — “Good Old Neon” comes to mind.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with all that; I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to depression. But I think it's crazy how some people continue to insist that depression is completely caused by chemical imbalances and that the lifestyle of people in the western world has no effect on their mental health. I'm not saying that there aren't people with severe clinical depression that probably IS caused by just having the wrong brain wiring or something, but how can you seriously think that the recent wave of (seemingly) every second person under the age of 30 being depressed is caused by "chemical imbalances"? Like I said, I think most cases of depression in the west are caused by dozens of factors, like poor diet, very little physical activity, a lack of a real cohesive worldview or value system, as well as having unrealistic expectations about what adult life should be like. Also, it's not like having depression or not having it is just a binary thing. It's probably a spectrum from none at all to severe depression and I think a lot of these factors are pushing people further up on the scale. I think SSRIs are already overperscribed and don't address the root of the issue in >90% of cases. Not sure what the solution is, if there is any at all, but I think the idea that depression is just hard wired and has nothing to do with external factors is incorrect and really harmful. Sorry about the blog post, just wanted to share my thoughts on this.

Why is everyone raging at OP? He might not be right about everything but I think it is true our standards as millenials are sky high. I remember being in elementary school and they would always tell us "go to college" You'll make big money if you just go to college. We all got suckered into this scheme through conditioning from youth. Reality is you might make big money but still nothing compared to the fortunate ones out there or the ones who are doing things like playing video games and making millions. And many will not make it anywhere with their degree. So I can see why many would become depressed about this, its like a shattered dream and then you see all these other young people making music, being hot and popular on instagram, playing video games, etc. and in comparison their lives are pretty much boring and frustrating. It's like being financially cucked.

this but unironically

One of those good old thread where OP doesn't understand what they're talking about.

For someone who was apparently indoctrinated into this sense of dreaming, you are actually made cynical by the propoganda you are too limited to notice.

How to travel light: My memories of madness and melancholia by Shreevatsa Nevatia

Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto

Depression is not a new thing. I am of the X generation and our suicide rate is very high. I have heard that suicide rates among millennia's are also rising. You can blame it on anything you like but blaming your parents or society is not going to solve it. The only thing to do is to learn to suffer. And not to flee from your anxiety. Good luck.

I agree.

The unfortunate thing for me is that I didn't really take the message of TPK to heart despite, hold on a minute - sorry I have a poor tummy, despite really enjoying the book and reading it around the age of 21 / 22. I work a full-time job now and I've often thought of quitting but that book is one of the reason I haven't. It's a very neat book about valuing the people in society who aren't out there looking for attention.

Here's a good recent article on the issue desu:

theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/gratitude-for-invisible-systems/526344/

The worst thing about the college meme is that it:

A) It was often a case of "study anything, just go to college" as if it was the gateway to paradise

B) The only alternative offered, in my case at least, was the life of a tradesman which nobody respected any more and where you'd be competing against Vlad the Chad for jobs.

Also, with more women than ever attending college many men feel pressured to attend simply to stay in the game in terms of dating.

Where you getting this "algorithm" stuff from? I recall hearing something about banks having an avenue to create money from borrowing, which would inherently give them an advantage

Maybe you do have an organic illness but most ppl on ssris imo don't. Nb. ~10% of Americans are (last 12mo)

Your attention is no longer your own
companies
with an extreme expertise in capturing your attention
by any means necessary
controls your attention
and don't really care about the decision you make
other than buying their shit

like the military: they good a good advertising and marketing department. running threads on all the online forums talking about how awesome it is to join.
yet when they are done with you they give you a gi Bill and send you on your way.
They don't give a fuck about what happens after you get out, or are done with your tour of duty.

Depression comes from "self-realization". Not nessicarily a truthful one. But truthful to you.
These realizations" are hard to cope with, so the individual has to numb themself against the rest of the world, and wait till they can find an effective coping strategy.
After so long they may loose hope and kill themselves.

put these two things together:
your attention being controlled by other "magicians" and depression being an attention toward self.

The "magicans" controlling your attention basically amounts to giving you ADHD

Then you realize true horror and PTSD when you can get a breather and look at yourself.

Of course the magicians already know that you focus on yourself, so market all sorts of solutions to you to buy.
and bombard you with the messages.
And tell society that you need help and treatment and effectively stigmatize you if you aren't on medications or have a diagnosis but are acting "not normal".
You are constantly trying to give yourself some attention while the magicians want you to look away while they pick your pocket.
Can be very stressful, and often many people don't find a solution until they gain "an extreme, detached awareness"
that coincidentally might appear to be depression to some people.

Feeling depressed is a pretty natural reaction to life on planet Earth. All in all it's pretty shit.

I agree completey
t. ex “”””depressed””””

If you mantain the right mentality through your teens (being resilient) it goes away.. carry on kids

"White males accounted for 7 of 10 suicides in 2016. The rate of suicide is highest in middle age — white men in particular."
afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

Why are Americans incapable of blaming society or the system? If someone shoots up a school or is depressed, it's apparently their own fault and a 100% isolated incident not related to the environment in any way. Instead they should have "Learnt to deal with life :)" or "Pulled themselves up by the bootstraps :)"

I would kill for this life

I don't think this type of thinking is exclusive to americlaps. People in general have an insanely 'optimistic' outlook on life to the point where everything is blamed on the individual to the exclusion of everything else. There's no room for genetics, upbringing, life events, societal context etc.
Everything is always your fault and any claim to the contrary is brushed off as being defeatist. 'Just win the lottery, bro. You're not going to win? How could you know without even trying? See, this is your problem, you don't even try!'

Also religious freedom, while it had the positive effect of controlling the (a lot of times) abusive church power, it has also had the tremendous impact of now, every individual, has to find a spriritual system of its own, which puts a lot of anxiety and pressure over oneself.

The alternative to that optimistic thinking is pretty depressing and can be life shattering though so I see why people want to believe the optimistic "everything I do is because of my skill" version.

I agree. I'm still optimistic and think we can improve our situations somehow. Not self-improvement, that word yet again blames the victim in classic americlap fashion. But a lot is cause and effect, and we're part of a society and a network, and can influence our situation somewhat through our environment.

In our culture it seems the unemployed, losers, depressed people et cetera are all ashamed and guilty because of their sitution, because "Everything is always your fault" as you say and you need to "take responsibility". I don't think it's helpful.

>young white people in the West
boohoo won't someone think of the white people? ;((((

It's exactly the opposite. Americans think that every issue is political and can be solved by the state. Like how everybody was screaming about "gun culture" and "mental health" after the recent school shooting.

It's a parody of Americlaps. Poor people are poor because they are lazy and so on is the American ethos.

Because we're taught from a young age that America is the single greatest country ever to exist and that our culture and values are superior to all others. I was literally told that other western nations didn't have as much """freedom""" as us so I better be thankful. Even though most educated people realize this isn't true it's still ingrained at a subconscious level and manifests as a total inability to think critically about society.

>Are there any good books on contemporary depression?

Putting this sentence at the beginning of your thread doesn't make it on-topic for Veeky Forums. Are there any good books on contemporary depression?

The Book of Disquiet literally talks about this exclusively.

Admittedly, this kind of sociologic discussion probably fits better here than on Veeky Forums, which is almost entirely history. I'd love a /hum/ - Humanities board though.

>some braindead md
I'm really glad someone spelled it out for me. I have always distrusted people who study medicine, and am comforted by your shared opinion that they are nothing more than snake oil salesmen. Stay woke, brother. Btw, which Herbalife products do you recommend for a fellow anxious-depressive?

>It's like being financially cucked.
Not just financially. Like you said, we as children get fed a glimpse of the various professions as if they were all fun and games, and you can choose to be anything you want! You can be an astronaut, an astronomer, a marine biologist, a musician, painter, historian, anything! And then you grow up and realize that most jobs are boring, or only available to the lucky few, or you can't make a living doing it, and the disillusion sets in.

>There's nothing wrong with the world, so don't bother trying to fix it. Just fix yourself! :^)

I have two depressive friends. Poor diet and exercise aren't necessarily causes of depression so much as symptoms. And improving them doesnt make depression go away, just postpones it for a minute.

crazy like us- watters
saving normal- frances

>I have always distrusted people who study medicine

>I have always been a retarded "don't trust le experts!!" conservative

the credibility of 'experts' is due entirely the incredible successes of the hard sciences, which cannot be conflated even slightly with the 'social sciences' or 'life sciences' including almost everything in medicine.

Most academics are nothing but priests with updated scripture

At first I thought you were really out of touch but then I realized you're just a bad writer and bad at verbalizing thought.

Literally Descartes

There's a difference between trusting a doctor on a lyme disease diagnosis or on your concussion, heart disease, gall stones, etc. and trusting them on psychoactive drugs.

MD's are the ultimate conformers, they had to be to get to medical school. You'd know that if you ever went to a good undergrad and actually dealt with them growing up. They've rarely experimented with drugs beyond binge drinking and the occasional xanax. They have no idea of the qualitative effects of the substances they prescribe

Bro, only conservacucks push the mentally ill mass shooter narrative. Turn off FOX for a second and realize that this phenomenon was bound to happen in a nation with laughably easy access to firearms, no background checks at gunshows, an unregulated uppers/lowers online market, etc. Remember that the Swiss keep their assault rifles separate from their ammo.

whoosh

What about Kant?

Can I get a couple (You)s?

Yeah most doctors aren't clinically depressed you dip ass. No wonder they don't take SSRIs. Even if they did "experiment" with antidepressants, they're not depressed in the first place so the results would be inapplicable. What a stupid post you've made, founded on nothing but umfounded, pseudo-street smart "personal experience" claims. Did a doctor offend you or your son?

sure

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I love that painting-Coloso de Goya.

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oh...

Gee, it's almost like long-term patterns of thought and behavior ("lifestyle") can affect the chemical balance of your brain

i would gladly kill you for this life

I am going to kill you

Okay dude calm down

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it's because older people who already found a productive place in society realized they wanted more from life and started searching for a "meaning" or "passion", forgetting that they had already worked to a place of comfort. When younger people asked them for advice they imparted this newfound change of perspective to them as the real answer to happiness. This sort of introspection is detrimental to young people since society judges you based on what you are able to produce not if you've figured out how to go from sad to happy or some form of "meaning".

It's would be better if young people were trained to be ambitious and mass-men until they reach social maturity and find the freedom to be introspective without the judgement of society.

Are you really gonna pretend like it's not piss easy to get dangerous drugs like Xanax, SSRIs and opiates (maybe not so much anymore) whether you "need" them or not and that this has nothing to do with fucking doctors?

There are specific of that which can help. Don't just strawman people telling you ways to cure depression, some may be genuinely trying to help.

>SSRIs
>dangerous
Either take a intro level psychology class or stop browsing /pol/

Dude, every January and February I recluse, not being able to maintaintain a job, and get severely depressed. I'm 23 and can't hold a fucking job because this literally happens every year. I don't go to doctors, so I've never been diagnosed with any "mood disorders", but that's interesting we have similair experiences. I don't start my years until March, just now trying to find another job

"Dangerous" maybe not, but is long term use a good idea? And I think the Xanax situation speaks for itself, benzos are shit-tier. Never been to /pol/ in my life but I know enough people that pop pills, myself included for a long time.

thats why my goal now is too move to some place thats hot year round either arizona or maybe liousiana, i hate the winter because i can't run outside and i lose motivation and get out of shape and then i feel like shit, i need to be able to go for a run at 5am year round not 6 months out of the year, fucking sick of this freezing cold shit, i love being smug about living in the north east but fuck it i cant deal with this bullshit anymore

Rooting for you user
Lel, thiss
Hey /x/, I was just over there

I think it's fairly simple. The further back you go, the more difficult, generally, it was to meet your basic needs and move on to more complex needs. In the middle ages and earlier, most of our energy and attention was needed to feed, clothe, and shelter our families, and so we had but little energy dedicated towards the existential struggles of coping with existence.

As things improve generally, we have the same amount of energy and attention, but a fraction of it is dedicated to the physical necessities, a bit more is needed for sexual and romantic pursuits, and the procreation of the species, so we therefore have a lot more energy and attention committed towards the existential problems. I don't think a universal solution to these problems exist, so people are becoming discouraged and overwhelmed with nihilism and existential angst. Their difficult physical and mental pursuits are no longer intrinsically linked to their survival. Exercising and finding a place to live takes so little effort that we find ourselves without day-to-day purpose and goals. And so, suddenly everyone between the ages of 12 and 40 suffers from "depression and anxiety" because they have a serious lack of truly important things to deal with every day.

I don't think it's a lie. You can pursue and become anything you truly want to. But it turns out that most things aren't as desirable as they once seemed once one realizes how much work and sacrifice is required to achieve it. So we abandon grand and noble pursuits for easy ones.

I'm beginning to believe that a majority of depression in young men is caused by poor nutrition, lack of exercise and unnatural sleeping habits
a strong body is indicative of a vital mind

It's mostly true, though no replacement for racial belonging, a luxury being sapped from western Europeans anyway
a man in America is free to own and more importantly use weapons for self defence and conduct his business and home with minimal state interference, this is the essence of American freedom. The domination of corporations and indebted populace is another story

Good night punpun by Inio Asano. It's a manga and one of the best at capturing the general sense of hopelessness of the youth

Why are ssri's meant to be so bad again?

We've already spent enough energy concentrating on your unsolvable brown people problems