Fragments Of Paradise
Depression, Anxiety and Suicidal Thoughts are nothing new for my generation. Everyone struggles with them.
“An estimated 3.8% of the population experience depression, including 5% of adults (4% among men and 6% among women), and 5.7% of adults older than 60 years. Approximately 280 million people in the world have depression. More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15–29-year-olds.” this is taken from the WHO.
So yeah why is everyone depressed, why is everyone anxious and on the verge of suicide. Now we can rant a lot about this but I will try to sum up the idea in simple blocks.
1. Society
Societal norms and expectations can lead one to be depressed and suicidal. Not acting the way you are expected to act or not achieving the results which are expected from you can lead to depression which may lead one to suicidal thoughts. I am not arguing that societal norms are a bad thing and should be cropped out of the image because its essential in building a strong community. What I am trying to point out is that as well as the benefits of societal norms some of the burdens could be bad. If things do not turn out as should be the burdens on the individual should not be a mentally draining. And the big part of the role here is played out by other members of the society and not making the individual feel isolated, lost cause or even a failure.
2. Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in motivation, pleasure, and movement. Low levels of dopamine have been linked to depression. This is because dopamine is involved in the brain’s reward system, which is responsible for processing pleasurable experiences. When dopamine levels are low, people may have difficulty experiencing pleasure, which can lead to symptoms of depression such as anhedonia (loss of interest in activities), fatigue, and apathy. That’s as far as Wikipedia and healthmd. So as far my research went here is a brief list of points on how dopamine can cause depression.
- Dopamine is released when we experience something pleasurable, such as eating a delicious food, listening to music, or spending time with loved ones. This release of dopamine reinforces the behavior, making us more likely to do it again in the future.
- When dopamine levels are low, we may not experience pleasure from these activities as much, which can lead to a decrease in motivation and interest in life.
- Low dopamine levels can also lead to changes in brain structure and function, which can further contribute to depression.
And what better way to mess with your dopamine graph levels than social media and doom scrolling the internet.
3. Tomorrow
Sometimes the thought of not figuring it out and not being able to comprehend what will happen tomorrow can be a major factor for depression and stress. People just feel overwhelmed. So my reply to this would be the future is not going to sneak up and catch you one day. There’s only today and after today. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re going to do a week from now, a year from now or an hour from now. Just focus on what you can do today to prepare yourself for tomorrow. One day you’ll be far past this day and you’ll wonder why you were ever worried. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed take a break once in a while. Take it one step at a time
Now there might be a lot more reasons one could be depressed and suicidal but in my opinion I think this are the main reasons for gen-z being depressed. Me I’m more of an old soul boomer type of guy but now my solution to this would be to take a break once and notice the little things in life, the fragments of paradise in life the people in your life, your health, your relationships, the unusual laughter’s and smiles with your friends. The new bits of knowledge’s and experiences you gather. There is beauty in the mundane and ordinary things around us and I think noticing that might help. And on a side note you can hit the gym and start journaling that too does wonders