6 Ways The Modern World Manufactures Depression & Anxiety

By Heather Harper, Wisdom Pills

“Consciousness has plagued us and we cannot shake it; though we think we’re in control… questions that besiege us in life are testament of our helplessness.” ~ Bad Religion, No Control

When you think about your grandparents and their ancestors, your memories may not reflect the hardships they endured; hardships that people today are not subjected to. Human memories only contain the information available to the brain at the time.

If you were a child staying with grandma and grandpa, you are more likely to remember the treats and games more than the laundry and dishes they washed during your visit.

That is normal – you were just a kid. However, if you think back carefully, you probably do not recall them discussing bouts of anxiety or depression, either.

This is likely due to the fact that their experiences were very different from those of modern society. According to an article on Psychology Today, Dr. Peter Gray writes:

“Today, by at least some estimates, five to eight times as many high school and college students meet the criteria for diagnosis of major depression and/or anxiety disorder as was true half a century or more ago.”

The question here is why that is – were people hardier a century ago? Did they simply not have the mental health issues that people do now? Or is the occurrence of these symptoms related to new technology, diet, and general goals in life? As it turns out, it is a combination of factors.

1) Survival Trumps Emotion

If you go back in history, to the time when our evolutionary forefathers and mothers lived in hunter-gatherer mode, there was little time for contemplating the meaning of life. During that period, our only purpose was to survive and procreate. This explains why a break-up can sometimes feel like the end of the world; back then, the end of a relationship could mean impending death for a person left alone without the tools for survival.

Fast-forward to the Great Depression Era, a period seemingly more pertinent to current lifestyles. Shortly after the market crash rendered the United States financially incapacitated, a drought encompassing the Great Plains area now known as the Dust Bowl, reduced hundreds of miles of land to actual dust. Crops were non-existent in this massive area. The combination of high unemployment and reduced access to food forced people to live on very little means. Facing such dire straits was not a cause for anxiety and depression for most people; they were much more concerned with feeding their families than worrying about emotional distress.

2) External v. Internal Goals

A research study published in 2010 by Dr. Jean Twenge et. al reports there has been a major shift in values of young people from internal to external. In the past, people were generally more inclined to find purpose from within, focusing more on developing themselves as human beings rather than pursuing wealth and reputation. Dr. Gray notes of Twenge’s findings, “We have much less personal control over achievement of extrinsic goals than intrinsic goals.”

If we believe we must rely on outside forces rather than finding happiness from within, we are left with a sense of powerlessness. For example, if your belief that getting the perfect job is going to be the only way you can find happiness, you are setting yourself up for failure for two reasons.

First, if you don’t get the job, it is likely you will lose confidence in your ability to find other work, and possibly become depressed, thus perpetuating a negative cycle of behavior.

Secondly, if you do land the job, you may soon find that you are no longer satisfied, and perhaps begin seeking a promotion or raise. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to progress; it is human nature to want more once a goal has been achieved. The problem is when you begin to base your happiness on outside forces over which you have no control.

Toni Bernhard discusses this concept in her book, How to Wake Up. The idea that everything must go your way in order for you to be happy will ultimately lead to dukkha. The word dukkha – known as the third mark of experience in Buddhist philosophy – is roughly translated as suffering. Dukkha is caused by tanha, which translates to desire of wanting or not wanting something in our lives. If our suffering is caused by desire, then logically we must rid ourselves of the desire to have everything go our way in order to feel good. Sometimes things just don’t – and that’s okay. Bernhard notes, “if we try to control all of life’s circumstances, we’ll be rife with dissatisfaction.”

3) Helicopter Parenting

Helicopter parenting is not simply due to the overbearing mother who wants little Suzie to get accepted to grad school before she is out of diapers. Surely, that is one aspect of the problem, but there’s more. The helicopter parent arose out of the soccer mom cause in the 90’s, which emerged after the “Self Esteem” movement of the 70’s. This parenting style is also a result of much stricter penalties being handed down to parents who leave their children unattended.

20 years ago, kids roamed the neighborhoods with no parental supervision and no one batted an eye. Today, people are (rightfully) frightened of being charged with neglect and losing their children for allowing them to play at the park alone. The result? Children are now forced to stay inside to accommodate busy parental schedules, spending more time in front of the television and computer than riding bicycles.

As for the helicopter parents who want Johnny to be successful, they drag him from each planned activity to the next, preparing him for the mundane life he will face in the future. If that is all young people have to look forward to, it is no wonder they are depressed. In 2008, George Carlin said, “[Kids are being] pressured to succeed for the sake of the parents. Isn’t this just a sophisticated form of child abuse?”

Not only does parenting this way cause depression from the lack of control children have over their lives, it adds to the anxiety of living up to everyone else’s expectations. Even worse, this type of parenting gives children little confidence to make their own decisions when they become adults. Evidence of this inability to cope is seen across college campuses nationwide, which are becoming “helicopter institutions“. Again, the feeling of being powerless due to external circumstances (in this case, parental and school expectations) adds to depression and anxiety.