We all love a good book, don’t we?
I first read ‘Lost Connections’ by Johann Hari shortly after it was published in 2018. I’ve revisited it a few time since.
The subtitle reads: “Uncovering the real causes of depression – and the unexpected solutions”. It was the latter part that first caught my attention. I was curious about the ‘unexpected solutions’.
The book charts Hari’s own quest for a better way to deal with his own lifelong struggle with depression. He challenges the idea that depression is simply an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that need treatment with drugs.
His research takes him around the world to a wide variety of people and situations and his conclusion is that depression is caused by disconnection. Specifically, there are nine causes or depression and anxiety:
- Disconnection from meaningful work
- Disconnection from other people
- Disconnection from meaningful values
- Disconnection from childhood trauma
- Disconnection from status and respect
- Disconnection from the natural world
- Disconnection from a hopeful or secure future
- Genetic factors
- Brain changes
Having identified the lost connections, Hari goes on to explore effective means of reconnecting and regaining mental health. It’s a fascinating book and I found it quite uplifting – the realisation that we can treat depression with social solutions as opposed to pharmacological ones has got to be good news, right?
