Depression Caused by Lack of Emotional Satisfaction

The depression statistics are depressing me! But seriously, this topic isn't theoretical for me. After losing two sisters in the same year, I had a bit of a breakdown and was medicated for a few years. It's not the kind of depression you're born with - it creeps up on you as a result of overwhelming circumstances. Whenever I meet someone dealing with these issues I always say, "take yourself to the beach." Because that gives you perspective. No matter how bad I was feeling, looking out to the sea reminds us that we are a tiny part of something really big. I also tell them to exercise to get those endorphins flowing. But these days our egos are growing, and the growing waves of anxiety and depression washing over society are affecting all of us.

The other day I talked about the source of stress in our world, but this is about why all the standard treatments won't help. Companies are hoping that throwing money at this problem will solve it, but it will only delay things - not make people actually feel fulfilled.

Clinical depression has become one of America's most costly illnesses. Left untreated, depression is as costly as heart disease or AIDS to the US economy, costing over $51 billion in absenteeism from work and lost productivity and $26 billion in direct treatment costs. Depression tends to affect people in their prime working years and may last a lifetime if untreated.? (Mental Health America)

Antidepressants Don't Help

We would expect people with depression to feel better if they took antidepressants. But a huge study that examined 17.5 million adults diagnosed with depression each year between 2005-2016 concluded that they don’t. According to the study, “The real-world effect of using antidepressant medications does not continue to improve patients’ Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) over time.” The study concluded that “Future studies should not only focus on the short-term effect of pharmacotherapy [treatment by medications], it should rather investigate the long-term impact of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions on these patients’ HRQoL.” Clearly, depression cannot be cured with drugs. The only solution to it is to deal with the root cause of depression; nothing else will help.

Drugs Numb The Pain - They Don't Fix Us

Drugs are chemicals that can affect our feelings. However, emotional satisfaction is far more than a temporary feeling that fades when the concentration of a drug in the blood drops. Emotional satisfaction, the lack of which causes depression, is the result of looking beyond ourselves a the bigger picture, and learning to appreciate everything around us. Just as we do not feel the oxygen in the air, but immediately feel when its concentration declines, we do not appreciate the good, because we're too focused on the empty half cup. Our empty half cup.

When we become too concentrated on ourselves, we lose contact with others, our human and social connections break down, and our most valuable channel for connection with the that vital force, becomes blocked.

Whenever I used to feel bad I'd take myself to the sea, which instantly connects us to something much bigger than ourselves. Suddenly we feel connected to that great vital force that generates and sustains everything around us. When we are disconnected from it, we feel disoriented, insecure, and aimless. Imagine being out in space with nothing all around you, not even stars or planets to show you where you are. You can breathe, but nothing you do has any effect. When we are on Earth, tremendous pressures operate on our bodies from the air, gravity pulls our bodies downwards, the changing weather and hours of the day dictate what we do, and the people around us force us to act and think in ways we would not otherwise choose to act and think were it not for social pressures. Yet it's precisely these pressures and counter pressures we create from within make us feel alive and vital. They give us direction, spur our actions, and enable us to evaluate our lives.

When we become too concentrated on ourselves, we lose contact with others, our human and social connections break down, and our most valuable channel for connection with the that vital force, becomes blocked. This is why people without healthy social ties do not feel vitalized although there is nothing physically wrong with them.

The more we develop, the more we need emotional satisfaction.

The more we develop, the more we need emotional satisfaction. If previously, we needed social connections primarily in order to satisfy our survival needs, such as food and work, modernization has made securing our physical well-being relatively easy. As a result, our social ties have changed their purpose, and instead of securing our survival, they provide us with a reason to survive. Instead of diminishing their meaning, they have become the very meaning of our lives.

It has been shown in countless studies that a person with good social ties is far happier and far less prone to depression than a more introverted person. Again, it is the interaction of pressure and counter-pressure that makes us feel alive and gives us a sense of purpose and direction. This is why the cure for depression is not drugs, which have no effect on our social connections, but in building meaningful social connections that will give us emotional satisfaction.

The cure for depression is not drugs, which have no effect on our social connections, but in building meaningful social connections that will give us emotional satisfaction.

This does not mean that we should all have many friends or that we should not be alone. Our natural disposition to sociability or privacy should remain. However, every person, however private, needs social connections. Our purpose is to make the ties we do have meaningful.

Our social connections should be such that we support each other and encourage each other to realize our potential.

Diversity Helps Attain Emotional Satisfaction

We need to learn to see the differences between us not as causes for separation, but as perspectives that enrich us with views we would not come to by ourselves. Just as the night gives meaning to the day, an opposite opinion to mine gives meaning to my own opinion.

The only way to improve our quality of life is by having as many views as possible within the same organization, and maintain its cohesion while keeping all those different views expressed. This will keep us connected to that vital force of life, to the contradictions that give life direction and meaning, and that provide us with emotional satisfaction.?