Sapolsky is an evolutionary biologist, but I’m putting this under humanism because there are tidbits of how we deal with depression by recognizing the humanity in our brethren, by reducing the stress on those around us, by protecting our children from harm, and more.
In the first half or so, he talks about variations in what depression is, and how it differs from common use of the word, as in, “I’m depressed because my sportsball team lost.” In it, he uses humor, and keeps saying that when depression is bad you can’t just tell someone to get over it.
Later, near the end, he brings up something called “learned helplessness”. He talks about kids who lose a parent before the age of 10, and how they can get stuck on the idea that they are helpless, that the world will deal blows to them and there’s nothing they can do. He makes the connection from stresses of living to the biology of depression.
In my non-scientific research on conspiracy theories, I see this “learned helplessness” in action. It can manifest in the teen years as you should be taking on an adult view of the world, one where you can’t control everything, but there’s a lot you can do, so, get out of bed, put your big-kid clothes and do it. Not everyone makes that transition. They might appear to, until later, when the world really throws a mess at them, like a hurricane, and they can’t deal with it. I see conspiracy theories as a coping mechanism.
Enough with theories. The solution doesn’t require science. We’ve learned this since becoming a smart social species; reduce the stress, nurture the young, accept that your friends will wig out now and then and you can listen to their craziness until they get better, realize every stranger has a story you don’t know. The powerful manipulators of the world know all this also, but do the opposite and claim that shaming and yelling and force are the better way to go, but that benefits them disproportionately.
Now, what am I saying? Am I saying we are doomed to be a bunch of babies? Am I saying we can’t toughen up to handle something like corporate greed that is destroying the planet? No. I’m recognizing that we are products of billions of years of evolution, that we have a mindscape that abstracts all of this, that our bodies hold this history and we should listen to them, and that all of this knowledge needs to be taken in so we get it at a visceral level. I’m saying when we try to tell others about this, the same words and information will hit each of them differently and we need to see others as more than mechanisms that we send inputs to and expect certain outputs.
