😶#26: Lost Connections: Why You're Depressed and How To Find Hope | Part 2 | by Johann Hari - Book Summary & Key Takeaways

Hello courageous people! 👋 Welcome to Edition 26.

This week, we are reading 📚 Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How To Find Hope | Part 2 | 🖋 by Johann Hari.

This week we have the second half of this amaaaaazing book!!!!! If you missed last week’s edition here’s the link.

We are talking all about Nature, Status and Respect, a Hopeful and Secure Future and the role of our Genes and our Brains!

So let’s jump in! All text in italics are quotes taken directly from the book.

🏆5️⃣ Disconnection from Status and Respect

This particular observation ultimately led Robert Sapolsky—leading professor of biology and neurology at Stanford—to a fascinating discovery while studying our closest animal relatives.

He was living with a colony of baboons when clear patterns started emerging on who was (and who wasn’t) the alpha male of the colony. The alpha got to have sex with whoever he wanted, got to have first dibs on the food and got to shove others out of the prime shady spot on a hot day to take it for himself. Robert nicknamed the alpha baboon Solomon.

At the other end of the pecking order was a scrawny, feeble creature who he called Job. He was pushed, shoved and scratched. His hair would fall out and he would continuously tremble.

Part of Robert’s job as a researcher was to figure out who was the most stressed in the colony - unsurprisingly, it was Job.

These insights turned out to correlate directly to human society as well:

The research showed that in societies that are largely equal, like Norway, there were much lower levels of mental distress. Compare this to the USA where there is a huge disparity between classes and this correlated to much higher levels of distress.

The disparity causes us to have to think about our status a lot:

The antidote to this particular type of disconnection is unfortunately not an easy one. We must work to dismantle hierarchies and create a place where all people can feel safe and comfortable.

But all these factors continue to make more and more sense when we put the picture together, don’t they?

🌳6️⃣ Disconnection from the Natural World

Said Johann to his mountain guide Isabel Behnecke in the Canadian mountain town of Banff. Isabel is also a researcher at Oxford and was taking the opportunity to lead Johann on a hike while telling him of her work.

Specifically, she had found that animals across the board become extremely depressed when they live outside of their natural habitat. So naturally, she asked:

Isabel holds strongly to the belief that we as humans are still just animals, with many of the same needs and requirements. Just because we have built these urban environments doesn’t mean they are necessarily good for us.

Case in point:

A study conducted at the University of Essex studied five thousand households in two groups. One that moved from a green, rural area to the city, and the other group who did the opposite.

The results were stark.

They even did follow up studies to check if other factors were at play, like crime, pollution and community engagement in these more rural communities. But the results came back the same when these were screened out - it’s the green space.

Humans have a natural sense of what is called “biophilia”.

This point was proven again (and almost entirely by accident) in a State Prison in Southern Michigan in the 1970’s:

In any other setting, finding a treatment which had such a great effect would be monumental. And here, with nature we have one which:

• has no side effects

• isn’t expensive

• does not require a professional to prescribe it

• excellent efficacy and evidence

One of the most compelling answers to our depression and anxiety has been right in front of us all along. 😌🌳

🏠7️⃣ Disconnection from a Hopeful or Secure Future

In Canada, the government treated First Nations people as if they were children, appointing themselves as the parental control over their lives. Some communities had been successful in regaining control from the government, while others hadn’t been.

There had been an increasing rate of suicide among First Nations people—the worst happening in 2016 when eleven First Nations people in a single reservation attempted suicide on one night—and a researcher by the name of Michael Chandler wanted to understand why:

The groups that had control over their land, their languages, schools, health services, police and governance were far better off, which leads us to the overall point for this section - Disconnection from a Hopeful or Secure Future.

Something happens when we are depressed in which our sense of having a future disappears. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg?

The answer is the former. When we lose hope of having a future, this causes us to feel depressed. Here’s an example.

Johann had a friend at university called Angela. She got her masters’ degree but after finishing university she couldn’t find a job in which she could use her qualifications.

To make ends meet, she took a job at a call centre where the pressure was extremely high to make a certain number of calls per day and get through the script in its entirety for the call to be considered a “success”. If you didn’t do your job properly, you simply weren’t scheduled on again the next week.

Then Angela’s boyfriend became unwell and he couldn’t work, increasing the pressure on her shoulders even more. She would tremble and shake on the way to work every day.

In order to overcome depression and anxiety—again, unfortunately not a quick or easy fix—we must re-secure a hopeful future.

🧠8️⃣ The Real Role of Brain Changes

And while we have discovered through the course of this book many of the social and environmental causes of depression, there are still biological causes that are very real. That is what this final section is about - our genes and brain changes and the effects that they have on us.

The truth is, the brain scans of people who are anxious or depressed do look different. But a scan is also only a single snapshot. It doesn’t tell us what has happened before or what will happen next.

Our brains are constantly remodelling (in a process called neuroplasticity) in response to the things that are happening in our lives. So the seven social and psychological factors we have been working through do all legitimately change our brains - for better and for worse.

If we tell people that their depression is simply caused by their brains is to hand them completely incorrect and misguided information. A map which won’t help them find their way back.

🧬9️⃣ The Real Role of Our Genes

How much, if any, of depression can be carried in our genes?

Scientists haven’t found a specific gene or set of genes that cause depression and anxiety, but there is a genetic factor.

But here’s the twist, although it is inheritable, these genes have to be switched on or off by our environments. That is,

For example:

Interesting, huh?

Another week (well, two weeks) and another book down!!! I truly hope that this has helped shed some light on the nature of anxiety and depression, and the things we can do—and can’t do perhaps 🤷‍♀️—to change it.

Until next week my friends,Eleanor ❤️🙏

🧠 Resources & Links

🤝 Human Rights list of Mental Health Support Services

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📕 Next week’s book

Coming out next Friday 29th July 2022 is #27:📚 Atomic Habits🖋 by James Clear

“No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.”