Many of people fear the “inevitable doom of the world,” whether it is climate change, economic collapse, or social unrest. However, it is not inevitable. Humans throughout history have dealt with these issues and projected the inevitable doom of humanity, but humanity is still alive. Instead of asking how to live with dread over the inevitable doom, ask what you are going to do about the inevitable doom? What is your dharma to the world?
The purpose of our community is to help the world become a better place and doing your part in helping the world will help with your depression as well. Behavioral Activation, taking action, and changing your behavior, an evidence-based treatment for depression. And maybe what you do tips the balance to help the world turn from a doomsday scenario to survival.
Feeling stuck and disillusioned, the people before our generation told us that there was a particular road for success. The road of “go to college, get a job, and everything will be okay.” But that is not the case because the circumstances that people lived back then are different from what we live in currently. And because the world is a different place than what it was before, the world requires different solutions to solve its problems.
For example, mental health is not working because despite the overwhelming demand for a therapist, the strategy for therapists is to diagnose their patients with depression and prescribe medication rather than talking about their feelings because it makes more money.
So something has to change to actually solve this issue of mental health. Again there is no blame nor shame to feeling depressed about the world’s problems, but the only way to come out the other end is to do something about the problems.
Many people have a defeatist mentality, especially those in their early 20s. They need to be patient with themselves because things take time.
For example, Dr. Kanojia took 8 years to get from academic probation to starting med school. Then he took another 10 years to get to where he is now.
Growing from emotional neglect takes time and you can't fully recover from it by yourself. The real solution is engaging in relationships and getting love because people need it. Not necessarily just romantic relationships, but all kinds of relationships such as friendships, family, pets, or mentors.
The problem is that, when emotionally neglected, you will exhibit certain behaviors and certain cognitive biases that make it hard for you to engage in a successful and healthy relationship. To deal with this problem you need to understand yourself, go to therapy, learn to meditate, do yoga, and notice the patterns of your self sabotaging.
Finally, unlearn those patterns. Relationships will come after all of this. Give yourself the time and space for this to work on this.