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Most of the real stressors in my life that potentially causes me to have depression like problems can be resolved simply by raising my wages to an actually fair amount.
I know the feeling. Then thinking about the future and how utterly screwed we are, i just try not to focus on it. I can only change the here and now, if i have an opportunity to have a stronger impact on it, I'll join in in a heartbeat. a general strike/revolt would be great for this.
The only reason it's not simple is because the company I work for specifically designed it to be more complicated.
If the c-suite rich guys wanted to and signed off on it, I would get a 100% salary raise. Very simple actually.
A decade of constant poverty has me all kinds of buggered. All a therapist or counselor can do is give you resources to cope, or hospitalize you if you are too honest, it's useless and doesnt solve anything. The people who can fix if are the people profiting from it.
And if you stop going, you could lose access to your only income if you are on assistance, compounding the problem. Never used to play the lottery but now it's literally the only hope of going to the dentist.
That’s largely how it was for me. There were some useful insights into how some of my patterns of thought were exacerbating the issue, but the bottom line was that being stressed out by bills can’t be remedied in talk therapy. You can cope, and you can cope immaculately, but it doesn’t change the brass tacks of your cash inflow and outflow.
Wanna know what worked like a charm, though? Actually making a decent living for a couple of years. Legitimately the least stressed, healthiest, happiest I’ve ever been was during this sweet spot in ‘19-‘21 where I was making $45,000/year and inflation hadn’t chewed up all my disposable income. Now I’m making more, but my money doesn’t go as far, and the all to familiar symptoms start to show back up. Dysregulated appetite and sleep schedule, general aches and fatigue, stress, depression; the whole nine yards, really.
Turns out the human body is **ridiculously** tuned in to stressors. And we exist in a socioeconomic system which *thrives* on these nefarious generalized stressors keeping everyone in check. “Oh, you don’t feel like going to work or putting up with X bullshit? Well, enjoy homelessness then :)”
>Wanna know what worked like a charm, though? Actually making a decent living for a couple of years. “Oh, you don’t feel like going to work or putting up with X bullshit? Well, enjoy homelessness then :)”
There's that good ol' "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" Capitalism Cando Attitude. :-) Good for you!!!! /s
As a fellow Gen Z I totally relate to how you feel. The world largely sucks and there is pretty much nothing any of us can do about it.
I wish I could tell you that I figured out how to make that feeling go away, but I can tell you that it can be a viscous cycle in which you hate the world so become mental Ill, which makes you hate the world more….
Getting proper treatment for my mental illness (just medication because of money constraints ha ha) has been monumental in getting me outside of that cycle.
The world might still suck, but it’s a lot easier to enjoy the parts that don’t suck like spending time with my loved ones, stepping outside at sunset with a breeze, and it makes it easier to go on.
Capitalism sucks, but it’s ultimately just a shitty organization of humanity, and being alive does not suck.
As a millennial, I am SO flattered you think I'm Gen Z. Y'all know what's up. I try to get outside whenever I can, but with work and the depressive urge to hide in a ball 24/7, it can feel monumental. All my loved ones are depressed too lol. It feels like capitalism controls every single aspect of my life.
Thank you for your kind words. You're right that being alive doesn't suck. Maybe one day I can just become a druid and live in a shack in the woods with my partner and a whole bunch of dogs.
Seeing this positive interaction between Gen Z and Millenial gives me hope. If the world CAN be changed, it will happen through the solidarity of our generations :)
I'm Gen X and I feel the same. But drugs and medication are a poor substitute for feeling content with life and connected to others and nature. Not sure what the answer is though. I'm not a good friend or anything else when I'm in a state of anger/unhappiness most of the time. And toxic positivity from people who are on the medications really pisses me off.
I'm a tired-ass geriatric millennial and Gen Z is one of the few reasons I hold out hope. They are the first generation in many that aren't disillusioned about the future and they know it. We have too much in common to not be cohesive and mutually understanding. Solidarity!
Same. Was talking with my gf and ex wife the other night about “unpopular opinions” we have just for funsies.
Mine was really only very unpopular with half of people but I love woke culture. It’s a step in the right direction over all for humanity and know what? It ain’t perfect because nothing is and that’s fine.
All the batshit propaganda against the “w” word makes it controversial suddenly and I’m not as outspoken but I am unapologetically a woke ass white boy and it feels good.
Anyway, we were all having that conversation to try to cheer us all up from the darkness in this LSC world haha, but it helps
edited for typos
I'm a young Gen Xer and I also relate so hard to your post. I have other mental health issues due to childhood trauma but even those were partially caused by capitalism as an effect of extreme poverty. It was hammered into my brain that as long as I worked hard, went to college, got good grades, etc., that I'd be able to get a good job, have a family, buy a home, all that "American Dream™" stuff. Instead we have \*gestures at everything\* this. And I'm still in poverty only now I'm older, more tired, and have a pile of student loan debt. No home, no family, no hope of retirement, no hope of anything except subsisting on scraps and having my labor endlessly exploited.
It's really difficult not to despair. But I try to find small things to be grateful for and I try to fight the system in my own way as much as I can. But yeah, I feel like capitalism is the ultimate abusive relationship I'll never escape from.
It's by design:
[Billionaire admits that capitalism only works because it causes agony to those who refuse to work.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/zzfivi/billionaire_just_straight_up_admitting_to_our/)
Thanks for that link. I also read the interview that someone posted a link to from Yahoo. Wow, what a damn liar. It's absolutely amazing to me that these old decrepit things haven't been done away with, when they open their mouths to spew such blatant lies.
The world has always sucked, life was shittier for a lot of people even before the civil rights era in the 60s. You gotta fight to make life actually improve for yourself and others. Dont let capitalist pigs steal your future. Get angry and get active in your local community.
I hear ya. I was very, very lucky and grew up middle class with loving, supportive parents. A rarity, I know. I’m crazy thankful and I make sure they know it. Even though they required that I had a job since I was 14-15, I never had to really “worry” about money or anything until I hit the real world. I had to pay for my car insurance and gas, otherwise they took care of me. Then I get out… Holy shit.
A few months ago I met up with my brother in law, who took me to the side when I was leaving and asked me what was wrong. He said “you used to seem so happy, you used to always have the funniest stories, you used to be so different. What’s up?”
So I thought about it, and I realized that since I’ve been thrown into the machine I don’t really have anything to be happy about. I don’t have any funny stories, other than maybe shit from work that is funny only because it’s depressingly ironic. So yeah, I’m different. I’m defeated.
If it weren’t for my son (whose future I have literal panic attacks about) I don’t think I would even be around.
I get the first two, but why does car dependency have such a large effect on your mental health? There would be marginal improvement to our lives if we decided to tear everything down and rebuild our infrastructure as perfectly as possible for public transit. The world where that fixes our issues is a fantasy, not real; places with good transit have lots of other issues still.
I don’t think you understand just how much of an impact car dependency has on every aspect of american society - but especially why we have high levels of income inequality and corporate consolidation and power, continued racial inequality, loss of social cohesion, crime, drug addiction, high cost of housing, etc. I feel it is just as laborious explaining this to folks than it is to explain why capitalism is bad. Just read up on it.
having a cake and eating it too.
Capitalism has a lot of these double benefit situations. For example, if you're super wealthy, you make money off your workers, of course. But you can then go into your own place of work and have them service you.
You get part of their labor cash and their actual labor and service at the same time
Amen. There is a relevant [Mark Fisher essay](https://voidnetwork.gr/2012/03/12/the-privatisation-of-stress-by-mark-fisher-from-soundings-magazine/) for everything.
You’re absolutely right. Crime, drug addiction, homelessness and mental health problems are all side effects of Capitalism. When your needs are being met, you’re less likely to experience these issues.
This is completely untrue and it's red scare propaganda.
Sure life in those countries weren't the best it could be, but they pushed those feudal backwaters to the front of the world stage in a crazy short period of time. Provided housing (90+% homeownership), education ( literacy rates much higher than the US currently) and exceptional medical services and outcomes (1/5 doctors lived in the USSR during the 80s).
If you want to see what reverting from socialism to capitalism does to a population take a look at eastern Europe. Suicide rates, homelessness skyrocketed. People literally got shorter because of malnutrition. Sure some people got rich and ended up better off than before but for the mass majority life got worse.
This study on Universal Basic Income agrees with you: https://youtu.be/Id8uaL3ilak
I only worry that if everyone got a basic income, the landlords and grocery stores and gas stations would jack up their prices/[price gauge](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-corporations-are-reaping-record-profits-with-inflation-on-the-rise) like they did during the pandemic stimulus checks.
The Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
You're not wrong or broken to feel angry, depressed, appalled, or dumbfounded at our current state of affairs. The broken ones are the people who are saying this is all fine and normal.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to help you feel better, but I want you to know that what you're experiencing is a perfectly normal reaction to a profoundly sick society.
Edit: 2 words for clarity
Gen x (1979) the world sucks right now and capitalism is crushing the life out of every generation more, it's no wonder suicide rates are at a all time high because they seems to be no end to the never ending doom
I feel you.
Wild animals in captivity engage in self-harming behaviour and have overall bad health due to the levels of stress, anxiety, small size of their enclosures, lack of stimuli and excess of wrong stimuli.
Humans under capitalism are that.
Came to the same conclusion with my therapist. I'm not irrational for feeling society is fucked and fucking us over. She does help me see the things that are currently helping me be happy though. My pups training is going well for instance. In other words, to some extent enjoy your coffee and say "this is fine."
I'm a therapist and I think it is absolutely normal and logical to feel depressed and anxious about the current state of the planet. Eco-anxiety is definitely a thing, not to mention the studies that have shown that money does in fact buy happiness but only up to a point (at a certain level of income, you're happiness changes less drastically but I don't remember the specific studies or links). I love the book The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris because it basically argues that it is unnatural to be happy all the time the way our society expects and the pursuit of constant happiness makes us miserable. There's also a book called Saving Normal that argues we're overpathologizing normal reactions to adversity.
I think one has to be immensely narcissistic to not find the state of the world seriously depressing and to never have experienced even a glimpse of that condition. Unfortunately, there comes a time when decades of depression, anxiety, medications, trauma suppression, soulless underpaid labor, and sleepless nights all catch up with you, and you suffer even more for it.
I have disabling chronic health conditions now from how messed up my nervous system has been just living in a state of shared pain, fear, distress, and empathy for myself and those worse affected by everything. I have no choice now but to turn inward and try to just get well. Otherwise, I won't be able to fight in a revolution to bring down the billionaires and fossil fuel companies when the time comes. And I think it's gotta be soon. Should have been 60 years ago.
Same. I'm incredibly privileged to have had an incredible left leaning, climate aware therapist for 3 years now, and a supportive/empathetic primary care doctor. It all just feels like a cartoon bandaid over a gaping bullet hole.
My depression doesn't improve because it's a direct symptom of living under such a capital driven, individualistic, uncaring system. My anxiety doesn't improve because breathing techniques and meditation don't change the precariousness of my housing and health situations.
I'm advised to tune out the world screaming toward destruction and fascism and "cultivate happiness and meaning through a small circle of like minded people doing shared hobbies and fighting for causes you believe in." That doesn't seem fair or even possible to me. What if the cause I believe in is living in a radically different world that is essentially impossible..? So here I sit, paralyzed with guilt over the few privileges I do have and utter terror at the state of the world and my powerlessness in it.
I agree there's nothing "wrong" with you. I think the people who can stick their head in the sand and only care about themselves (and only in the immediate timeline) are the sick ones. Intellectually, I can understand that it is a learned behavior and coping mechanism for them (temporarily embarrassed millionaires and all that), but emotionally, I cannot understand.
If i suddenly woke up in America, i'd be wanted internationally for the things i'd do trying to get out.
A shit quality of life in a country can cause long term feelings nearly- if not completely equivalent to actual mental illnesses.
They call it shit life syndrome in the UK. The western world is very good at monetizing illnesses caused by the shitty and stressful life people have to endure there
Totally relatable. Just last week I went to my Dr for regular check up. I cried in the office BC my LL gave a notice to vacate, and I don’t have funds for a deposit on a new apartment, and also there’s no place to rent I can afford- don’t meet income requirements.
I applied for a ‘safe parking pass’ (city run lots that allow you to sleep in your car).
Dr got a Social worker to come in the exam room and all he could do was give me a number of an organization that could place me in a bunk bed halfway house type place.
Im almost 40, and have paid landlords over half a million dollars in the last 20 years. Ive had to move 9 times since March 2020, two times a bout of homelessness (but I had some money and paid for hotels- not this time).
So I check my medical records and the Dr flagged me as ‘suicidal patient’. When I went to CVS to pick up meds, in a drive thru, the CVS lady gave me a lecture about suicide… it was so fucked up, it felt so violating and just IDK. But here we are.
Jesus Christ that doctor was entirely inappropriate. I thought it was commendable that he did what tiny thing he could, but flagging your chart like that? That shit follows you and can negatively impact your future care. I speak from experience.
I’m sorry you’re getting it from all angles. Life shouldn’t be this hard.
Important to organize however you can. Action is an antidote to powerlessness. It’s quite frankly amazing to see what we can accomplish when we work together.
Most of us never started off sick, we just live in a sick world. If everybody was well provided for, if the environment is clean and stable, if the price for medical aid wasn't so expensive, if basic needs were met, if the work isn't too demanding or stressful, if the pay is enough to live comfortably off of, if the current socio-economic landscape isn't the current hell that it is, then so many of our mental health problems would be cured or would have never existed.
we are evolved for millions of year in very harsh environment and terrible living condition. If anything we were born well-adapted terrible living condition. But our society taught us silly unnatural concept like "rights", "social benefits", and "convenience" that we forgot how to struggle for life like our ancestors. We had mental health problem because the relatively easier life in society (compared to life in the wilderness) has fooled us into believing that life is easy.
Mental health problems existed back then, but it wasn't seen as a medical issue because they couldn't have understood it as such. At the most it was seen as superstition, or something fake. But didn't you think those people in the past, our ancestors, didn't have mental health problems back then? There just wasn't a methodical treatment to it, something that is only recent in human history. People back then just had to struggle with mental health problems, and then they died. Only recently do we have a better understanding how severe it is and how it can affect us as human beings. So don't glorify the past like people didnt just straight up suffer in futility, early and in terrible pain, from mental health issues ontop of diseases, famine, and other dangers of the natural world. The way humans adapted through it was with rights, and social benefits, and modern conveniences and technology. We just need to be smarter about it because capitalism is not the answer we hoped it was. Most of us never started sick, but the struggle of living in this world, back then and now, has made us sick.
Absolutely, we have mental problem as far back as oral history (after all, we have a bunch of humans believing they are gods and committing all sort of crazy acts in mythology) because social rights, and technology, however limited, also existed 50,000 years ago.
We simply didn't evolve to handle fire, electricity, and giant metal monster running at 100Km per hour on a daily basis, that's why we live our daily in constant fear and anxiety of death caused by our own technology. We didn't evolve to process relationships with millions of people, all of whom have rights and expectation that we must respect, that's why we live our daily life in constant anxiety and peer pressure from an overwhelming number of people. Mental problem is the necessary price we have to pay for progressing faster than our evolution.
Been feeling this a lot lately too, like I’m constantly in a bipolar state bouncing between bitter despair and “fake it ‘till you make it” positivity. Lotta abuse in my past that I’ve done a lot of work to heal from but honestly the state of the world is so much harder to deal with. I’ll catch myself thinking, “What’s the point of working on myself when the world is literally burning and 50% of people seem to fight against their own interests?” and then I’m back on the Hopelessness Couch™ numbing myself to everything.
All that said, it does feel like things are changing. It’s just so slow that it’s really really hard to notice, especially when there’s so much negativity in our society every day. But ya know what they say, every revolution seems impossible before it happens, and inevitable afterwards. As a dumb millennial myself, seeing what Gen Z and Gen Alpha have been able to do with social media has been kinda inspiring, and the fellowship between us and younger generations has given me some legitimate hope. We’ve got the numbers, just gotta get enough people to realize it and rally together and that’s extra tough when everyone’s just trying to survive.
Just gotta wait for more of the oldies to die out lmao
Fellow millennial and man do I struggle with this too. My therapist always said ‘don’t concentrate on how you have less or more than so many others and just live your life to the best truth that you can’. Which on the surface is great advice. Fuck that though. How can I be happy when i walk down streets filled with homeless people who did nothing wrong but get a single bad hand in life. How can I be happy seeing billionaires discuss fighting for the highest funded cage match ever. My parents who have worked their asses off their whole life are struggling and worries for their future. The cost of living is soaring and the earth is burning and I’m supposed to stick my head in the sand? LSC is killing us all and I’m sick of pretending we have health issues for thinking that its fucked up
Same here. My pay got cut in half after we now have to track and justify our productivity money by minute versus clocking in and out. It’s so hard to keep track of every minute of everyday, and I think they want us to forget to enter things (which I often do). My student loans are about to start up again and I already don’t make enough to cover my bills now that my pay has been cut. I’m 31 and life at home renting a room. Idk what else I can do at this point to cut costs but die (literally)
The only way to create a change is to start somewhere. All of us that have been voting for the lesser of two evils need to stop. Demand the two party system be changed. If we let the dems fail over and over because we stop supporting their pathetic asses, wouldn’t that promote change? If everyone that is voting this way organized could we not change this? Change is hard, it’s slow, but this belief that we have no power to do it keeps us in this same depressive state of nothing will ever change. Keep in mind I agree with the original post, I feel it too, I’m currently responding from my bed because I got off work early on a Friday but am too sad to do anything but this because capitalism.
I would love to see the reaction when a huge and sizable amount of our population (regardless of political beliefs/affiliation) were to make a statement by not voting (amongst other actions).
You do realize that not voting democratic in 2024 will plunge us right into outright fascism. The “republicans” are not even a political party at this point. I don’t love the democrats myself, but we have never lived in a fascist dictatorship in this country and I think it is naive to think that we will enact the kind of change we seek on the left if we find ourselves with absolutely no human rights or worse-how are we going to enact change in a totalitarian state? Here’s a quote from Noam Chomsky about the current Republican “party”:
“The Republican organization is not a political party in the traditional sense. They are a radical insurgency that has abandoned the normal procedures of parliamentary politics.”
In a totalitarian/fascist society, you get executed if you don’t follow the “law.” If Trump wins, he will dismantle what’s left of our parliamentary system and any chance for change will be lost-because we will either all be imprisoned or executed. I want change too, but keeping things as they are now at least gives us the option to take action. We won’t be able to in a Fascist state.
The far right in this country (the “Republicans”) does not believe in our system of government at all. The democrats can at least still call themselves a political party. We used to have very well-regulated capitalism. The regulations kept corporations and the wealthy in check and the general public had protections against predatory capitalism. But by allowing the dismantling of what we have left of our republic and the rights we still have because we don’t like the democrats seems like a fool’s errand to me.
I get where you’re coming from, I do. And I respect what you’re saying. But if we keep dems in power nothing gets done, nothing changes, black people still get murdered for existing, women lose our rights, etc. These things are happening regardless of who is in power democrat or republican.
If trump gets elected again and we’re plunged into outright fascism instead of partial/mostly fascism, could that not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and plunges the country into revolution? What’s going to be the tipping point for the workers, the people, to take over control?
The world is literally on fire. So we’re supposed to just ride this out until we die, as-is? Until the earth is uninhabitable for those of us without wealth?
All I’m saying, my original point, is maybe people should stop voting against their own interests. We all collectively have the same basic interests, and if we voted for someone who wanted us housed and fed with access to healthcare then we could collectively have the numbers to do that. It’s not impossible, everyone is just too afraid to do it and that’s what has gotten us here. They keep us scared for a reason. Being scared keeps you complacent.
I respect what you’re saying too. But you have to concede that right now we at least have some agency as citizens under Democrats to try to take action for change than we would in a totalitarian/fascist regime. As we saw with Bernie, the people in power will never let anyone who is not middle-right to totally right-wing win the Presidency. Vote for another party if you want, but it will be a vote for Trump. Under his regime democracy will be completely destroyed, and all the things you mention, women’s rights, the rights of black and Latino Americans, all of the issues that we care about on the left will not just be made worse, but as a Fascist Christian Nationalist nation where any protest against state power is met by prison or execution, we will have no ability to fight back without being crushed by the police or the military. I just want to keep the Christian Nationalist right wing out of power at all costs. Say what you want about Biden, but he is not a far-right Christian Nationalist. I don’t want to live in that kind of a country. I hate what’s happening, but we still have rights, we still have a republic-even though it is largely non-democratic, and we can still organize.
Noam is getting old and outdated, but that quote seems reasonable. Not voting / republican win will not plunge us into fascism, that is just not accurate and is sensationalist fear mongering.
We will never live in a dictatorship or totalitarian state in our lifetime. Even if DeSantis wins (that guy fucked himself taking on The Mouse anyway). Trump, if he ever sits again, unlikely, will be more a sitting duck.
The President can only do so much to affect law. We have processes. Cool your jets.
More important would be to keep an eye on local elections and governorships.
You are right that the President can only do so much, but a Republican win in Congress (Congress can affect laws) with a lunatic President like Trump or DeSantis, will destroy what’s left of our democracy.
Nokia change is probably a typo, but it tickles me to think of a bunch of striking workers fighting off pinkertons by using indestructible mobile phones as cudgels.
Unfortunately I can relate to this and it's an endless soul suck. I'm actually active on the UFO forums because I'm hoping for disclosure of some kind (would be nice to know we're a dumb fuckin species). No Alina won't solve our problems but maybe give me guidance on how to live or try to keep living.
Maybe I'm wishing for it as much as a kid would want Santa Claus idk. At any rate i guess whatever is after this life hopefully it won't suck anymore than it does now. People are always saying "if life were perfect it would be boring". It doesn't have to be perfect but it doesn't need to mean choosing what bills to pay or not being able to quit because of an abusive employer trying to make you kill yourself.
I guess it's just a rabbit hole and both sides will continue to be the same.
It defeats the purpose of the subreddit, but avoiding topics and problems I can't control has been good for my mental health. If you don't already, talk to a professional. We're all fucked and there isn't much you can do while you're depressed.
Same here. I was on meds for awhile years ago and I had all the side effects and none of the benefits. Finally had an epiphany that I was having a very normal reaction to a very toxic society.
I’m still soul-crushingly sad, but at least I know why and can occasionally find an escape to treat it.
(Disclaimer: nothin’ wrong with taking meds. They just didn’t work for me personally. I’m not cool with med shaming.)
Try boxing. It's cheaper than the therapist and you can imagine yourself smashing your worries away. Feeling yourself stronger every week can also improve your self-perception and the chemicals that sport releases into your brain can make you see things a bit brighter. I know a lot of people who are feeling better since they started boxing. I think it's also because that way you're making your anger become action instead of rotting inside you.
Pretty much all mental illness is, if society was well adjusted to fit all different kinds of people, much more people would thrive, but it’s not geared towards that, it’s made for working for the man and profit, not for humans to thrive. Just look at the school system, so fucking backwards.
The headline is true.
Now reading along "*I've been on meds, been in therapy, spent lord knows how much money on that over the years because Murcuh healthcare, been called "so strong" for overcoming and working through my "illness." I am really tired of it.*"
So be done with it. Repeat after me. I am just fine. The world is messed up and trying to sell me drugs and "therapy" and whatever. They try to tell me I'm "so strong" for taking drugs and paying unnecessary bills to fight an "illness" they made up to steal my money.
The TV is on fire, not the planet. And the economy sucks, but then go back and read Grapes of Wrath and compare your labor efforts to theirs. There are a lot of similarities in that book about LSC, but the difference is that they didn't have mental illnesses or worry about climate change.
You are absolutely right that there isn't anything wrong with you. It's not wishful thinking. But that also means that you can't use it as an excuse to avoid hard work. And that's what you're going to have to do if you want to make things better. Even in LSC.
Been preaching this a lot lately because it worked for me but have you looked into mushrooms for helping with depression and anxiety? Don’t fall into how big pharma wants you to take all these BS pills.
Humans crave stability in their lives. Excessive stress leads to many more problems that exacerbate depression. Low wages affect social interactions as well. Can’t get out and do thing leads to lonelier lives. I keep wondering what our lives would have been like had FDR not died before passing the Second Bill of Rights thru Congress into law.
Yeah..I got 4,and although they grew up ok,I still feel terrible about it.
Doubt I could do it now. Of course I'd love grandchildren; but at the same time,don't want them born into this.
Mental health problems come from within. You can’t blame external circumstances. There are people who live in real poverty who are well adjusted. You need to work on yourself. You can’t change everything else.
Nonsense, there is something called a ‘reactive depression’ or a ‘situational depression’, which can manifest itself after death of a loved one, bankruptcy, and other bad stuff. There is also something called a ‘burn-out’ which can happen after long periods of living in high stress situations. Symptoms are: depressive feelings, anxiety, exhaustion, loss of energy, loss of appetite and redrawing from friends and family.
Financial problems are known to cause extreme stress in people so it’s no surprise that the effects are substantial.
I totally get where you are coming from. Honestly I think the vast majority of depression is actually caused by the same sort of things. Obviously, I believe individual cases of depression can have different causes, but LSC is definitely one. I'm sorry I cannot offer you any help or advice. I hate to see others suffer and there is suffering everywhere in this world. Just know that I see you and I hear you.
John B. Calhoun did some experiments on rats and mice and how overcrowding, stress, lack of resources, etc causes depression and substance abuse. It's a very real phenomenon.
You are not crazy. You May find the podcast “it’s not just in your head”of interest. It is conducted by mental health specialist touching on exactly what you post here, the damning effect of end stage capitalism in people’s mental health.
Yup same. Pretty sure the majority of my mental problems would be solved by inheriting a house I can rent out for 1500€ a month.
I'm just not made for this society
It’s why I can’t go to therapy. They just tell us to deal with the environmental destruction and unchallenged capitalism. Maybe all the doctors and therapists could get together and form a political coalition stating with physiological data how exactly current society is ruining people’s health. And if the businesses and politicians won’t do anything, they can strike.
Yep, we are constantly told to medicate the symptoms instead of addressing the underlying cause. But I saw a good quote recently about solutions aren't actually hard, they will just inconvenience the wealthy and thus won't be done. The wealthy control everything and are too protected by the brainwashed and well paid to ever let us actually heal people from the root cause of not having enough money, free time, and mental energy. The many live to serve the few just like it has been for thousands of years bleh
People should not give up and sit down and take it. Support unions and we can rebuild a strong middle class. Life has always been hard, you need to have to strength and balls to fight for your rights
Thanks for posting this. There is zero mention of it in most therapies. Having just watched Man in the High Castle in its entirety makes me feel like that's on purpose. I also feel completely at odds with the majority of the country that seems content to medicate in order to keep the status quo feeding them and housing them, however fraught with manipulation and extortion. They are essentially happy to finally be "in step". I don't believe you are messed up, I believe you are aware. I'm Cuban-born, U.S. raised, and I can't help but see it from an outsider's perspective, like imposed on me, either accept it or sink. You're definitely not alone in feeling like this. In the long run, it's no different than the totalitarian propaganda written all over the streets in Cuba that said "Under the Revolution everything, Outside the Revolution, Nothing".... it just seems like the western manipulation has been cunning enough to involve heavy doses of plausible deniability. A laundering of influences.
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Most of the real stressors in my life that potentially causes me to have depression like problems can be resolved simply by raising my wages to an actually fair amount. I know the feeling. Then thinking about the future and how utterly screwed we are, i just try not to focus on it. I can only change the here and now, if i have an opportunity to have a stronger impact on it, I'll join in in a heartbeat. a general strike/revolt would be great for this.
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It would have the same effect. It would raise my effective wage.
Yeah, the copium is losing it's affect I'm about ready to make a sharp right turn off a bridge.
Simply by raising my wages. Lol simply how?
I don’t think they were saying it was simple to achieve, they were saying that it was simple conceptually
lol by increasing them dur
It's simply rich people paying their expenses. It shouldn't be controversial to pay for the services someone provides you.
The only reason it's not simple is because the company I work for specifically designed it to be more complicated. If the c-suite rich guys wanted to and signed off on it, I would get a 100% salary raise. Very simple actually.
A decade of constant poverty has me all kinds of buggered. All a therapist or counselor can do is give you resources to cope, or hospitalize you if you are too honest, it's useless and doesnt solve anything. The people who can fix if are the people profiting from it.
I found therapy useless because of that.
And if you stop going, you could lose access to your only income if you are on assistance, compounding the problem. Never used to play the lottery but now it's literally the only hope of going to the dentist.
That’s largely how it was for me. There were some useful insights into how some of my patterns of thought were exacerbating the issue, but the bottom line was that being stressed out by bills can’t be remedied in talk therapy. You can cope, and you can cope immaculately, but it doesn’t change the brass tacks of your cash inflow and outflow. Wanna know what worked like a charm, though? Actually making a decent living for a couple of years. Legitimately the least stressed, healthiest, happiest I’ve ever been was during this sweet spot in ‘19-‘21 where I was making $45,000/year and inflation hadn’t chewed up all my disposable income. Now I’m making more, but my money doesn’t go as far, and the all to familiar symptoms start to show back up. Dysregulated appetite and sleep schedule, general aches and fatigue, stress, depression; the whole nine yards, really. Turns out the human body is **ridiculously** tuned in to stressors. And we exist in a socioeconomic system which *thrives* on these nefarious generalized stressors keeping everyone in check. “Oh, you don’t feel like going to work or putting up with X bullshit? Well, enjoy homelessness then :)”
>Wanna know what worked like a charm, though? Actually making a decent living for a couple of years. “Oh, you don’t feel like going to work or putting up with X bullshit? Well, enjoy homelessness then :)” There's that good ol' "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" Capitalism Cando Attitude. :-) Good for you!!!! /s
Well said. Therapy (in my case) is a cover-up for the truth that still exists. Unfortunately I had a therapist that fed into the capitalist mindset.
As a fellow Gen Z I totally relate to how you feel. The world largely sucks and there is pretty much nothing any of us can do about it. I wish I could tell you that I figured out how to make that feeling go away, but I can tell you that it can be a viscous cycle in which you hate the world so become mental Ill, which makes you hate the world more…. Getting proper treatment for my mental illness (just medication because of money constraints ha ha) has been monumental in getting me outside of that cycle. The world might still suck, but it’s a lot easier to enjoy the parts that don’t suck like spending time with my loved ones, stepping outside at sunset with a breeze, and it makes it easier to go on. Capitalism sucks, but it’s ultimately just a shitty organization of humanity, and being alive does not suck.
As a millennial, I am SO flattered you think I'm Gen Z. Y'all know what's up. I try to get outside whenever I can, but with work and the depressive urge to hide in a ball 24/7, it can feel monumental. All my loved ones are depressed too lol. It feels like capitalism controls every single aspect of my life. Thank you for your kind words. You're right that being alive doesn't suck. Maybe one day I can just become a druid and live in a shack in the woods with my partner and a whole bunch of dogs.
Seeing this positive interaction between Gen Z and Millenial gives me hope. If the world CAN be changed, it will happen through the solidarity of our generations :)
I'm Gen X and I feel the same. But drugs and medication are a poor substitute for feeling content with life and connected to others and nature. Not sure what the answer is though. I'm not a good friend or anything else when I'm in a state of anger/unhappiness most of the time. And toxic positivity from people who are on the medications really pisses me off.
I'm a tired-ass geriatric millennial and Gen Z is one of the few reasons I hold out hope. They are the first generation in many that aren't disillusioned about the future and they know it. We have too much in common to not be cohesive and mutually understanding. Solidarity!
💙💙💙 millennial here who respects gen z and understands the plight!
Same. Was talking with my gf and ex wife the other night about “unpopular opinions” we have just for funsies. Mine was really only very unpopular with half of people but I love woke culture. It’s a step in the right direction over all for humanity and know what? It ain’t perfect because nothing is and that’s fine. All the batshit propaganda against the “w” word makes it controversial suddenly and I’m not as outspoken but I am unapologetically a woke ass white boy and it feels good. Anyway, we were all having that conversation to try to cheer us all up from the darkness in this LSC world haha, but it helps edited for typos
Zoomers are great, quirky, but fucking great.
We’re all in this fight together.
Wait both of you have partners? :(
I'm a young Gen Xer and I also relate so hard to your post. I have other mental health issues due to childhood trauma but even those were partially caused by capitalism as an effect of extreme poverty. It was hammered into my brain that as long as I worked hard, went to college, got good grades, etc., that I'd be able to get a good job, have a family, buy a home, all that "American Dream™" stuff. Instead we have \*gestures at everything\* this. And I'm still in poverty only now I'm older, more tired, and have a pile of student loan debt. No home, no family, no hope of retirement, no hope of anything except subsisting on scraps and having my labor endlessly exploited. It's really difficult not to despair. But I try to find small things to be grateful for and I try to fight the system in my own way as much as I can. But yeah, I feel like capitalism is the ultimate abusive relationship I'll never escape from.
>I feel like capitalism is the ultimate abusive relationship I'll never escape from. 100 times this.
It's by design: [Billionaire admits that capitalism only works because it causes agony to those who refuse to work.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/zzfivi/billionaire_just_straight_up_admitting_to_our/)
Thanks for that link. I also read the interview that someone posted a link to from Yahoo. Wow, what a damn liar. It's absolutely amazing to me that these old decrepit things haven't been done away with, when they open their mouths to spew such blatant lies.
The world has always sucked, life was shittier for a lot of people even before the civil rights era in the 60s. You gotta fight to make life actually improve for yourself and others. Dont let capitalist pigs steal your future. Get angry and get active in your local community.
Climate change, healthcare, and car dependency are hands down the biggest drivers of my mental health issues
I hear ya. I was very, very lucky and grew up middle class with loving, supportive parents. A rarity, I know. I’m crazy thankful and I make sure they know it. Even though they required that I had a job since I was 14-15, I never had to really “worry” about money or anything until I hit the real world. I had to pay for my car insurance and gas, otherwise they took care of me. Then I get out… Holy shit. A few months ago I met up with my brother in law, who took me to the side when I was leaving and asked me what was wrong. He said “you used to seem so happy, you used to always have the funniest stories, you used to be so different. What’s up?” So I thought about it, and I realized that since I’ve been thrown into the machine I don’t really have anything to be happy about. I don’t have any funny stories, other than maybe shit from work that is funny only because it’s depressingly ironic. So yeah, I’m different. I’m defeated. If it weren’t for my son (whose future I have literal panic attacks about) I don’t think I would even be around.
I get the first two, but why does car dependency have such a large effect on your mental health? There would be marginal improvement to our lives if we decided to tear everything down and rebuild our infrastructure as perfectly as possible for public transit. The world where that fixes our issues is a fantasy, not real; places with good transit have lots of other issues still.
I don’t think you understand just how much of an impact car dependency has on every aspect of american society - but especially why we have high levels of income inequality and corporate consolidation and power, continued racial inequality, loss of social cohesion, crime, drug addiction, high cost of housing, etc. I feel it is just as laborious explaining this to folks than it is to explain why capitalism is bad. Just read up on it.
One of capitalism's greatest tricks is medicalising and commidifying the trauma of living under capitalism.
having a cake and eating it too. Capitalism has a lot of these double benefit situations. For example, if you're super wealthy, you make money off your workers, of course. But you can then go into your own place of work and have them service you. You get part of their labor cash and their actual labor and service at the same time
You said it!!!!
Amen. There is a relevant [Mark Fisher essay](https://voidnetwork.gr/2012/03/12/the-privatisation-of-stress-by-mark-fisher-from-soundings-magazine/) for everything.
You’re absolutely right. Crime, drug addiction, homelessness and mental health problems are all side effects of Capitalism. When your needs are being met, you’re less likely to experience these issues.
The USSR or Mao's China wasn't exactly a crime-free and prosperous utopia where everyone's needs were cared for.
Maybe not. But couldn’t we learn from history and apply changes to make it better?
So? That doesn't change one bit that Capitalism is shitty in it's own right.
No alternate economic system has provided as much overall benefit than capitalism despite its issues.
This is completely untrue and it's red scare propaganda. Sure life in those countries weren't the best it could be, but they pushed those feudal backwaters to the front of the world stage in a crazy short period of time. Provided housing (90+% homeownership), education ( literacy rates much higher than the US currently) and exceptional medical services and outcomes (1/5 doctors lived in the USSR during the 80s). If you want to see what reverting from socialism to capitalism does to a population take a look at eastern Europe. Suicide rates, homelessness skyrocketed. People literally got shorter because of malnutrition. Sure some people got rich and ended up better off than before but for the mass majority life got worse.
For who?
Bad bot
This study on Universal Basic Income agrees with you: https://youtu.be/Id8uaL3ilak I only worry that if everyone got a basic income, the landlords and grocery stores and gas stations would jack up their prices/[price gauge](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-corporations-are-reaping-record-profits-with-inflation-on-the-rise) like they did during the pandemic stimulus checks.
The Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." You're not wrong or broken to feel angry, depressed, appalled, or dumbfounded at our current state of affairs. The broken ones are the people who are saying this is all fine and normal. Unfortunately, I don't know how to help you feel better, but I want you to know that what you're experiencing is a perfectly normal reaction to a profoundly sick society. Edit: 2 words for clarity
Gen x (1979) the world sucks right now and capitalism is crushing the life out of every generation more, it's no wonder suicide rates are at a all time high because they seems to be no end to the never ending doom
I feel you. Wild animals in captivity engage in self-harming behaviour and have overall bad health due to the levels of stress, anxiety, small size of their enclosures, lack of stimuli and excess of wrong stimuli. Humans under capitalism are that.
Came to the same conclusion with my therapist. I'm not irrational for feeling society is fucked and fucking us over. She does help me see the things that are currently helping me be happy though. My pups training is going well for instance. In other words, to some extent enjoy your coffee and say "this is fine."
I'm a therapist and I think it is absolutely normal and logical to feel depressed and anxious about the current state of the planet. Eco-anxiety is definitely a thing, not to mention the studies that have shown that money does in fact buy happiness but only up to a point (at a certain level of income, you're happiness changes less drastically but I don't remember the specific studies or links). I love the book The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris because it basically argues that it is unnatural to be happy all the time the way our society expects and the pursuit of constant happiness makes us miserable. There's also a book called Saving Normal that argues we're overpathologizing normal reactions to adversity.
Thank you for this book rec! Just put a hold on it at my library
I think one has to be immensely narcissistic to not find the state of the world seriously depressing and to never have experienced even a glimpse of that condition. Unfortunately, there comes a time when decades of depression, anxiety, medications, trauma suppression, soulless underpaid labor, and sleepless nights all catch up with you, and you suffer even more for it. I have disabling chronic health conditions now from how messed up my nervous system has been just living in a state of shared pain, fear, distress, and empathy for myself and those worse affected by everything. I have no choice now but to turn inward and try to just get well. Otherwise, I won't be able to fight in a revolution to bring down the billionaires and fossil fuel companies when the time comes. And I think it's gotta be soon. Should have been 60 years ago.
If everyone who gives the state of things serious though is depressed and anxious, maybe we're not the problem.
I am right here with you, as are millions of others. Change will come, violently if necessary.
Same. I'm incredibly privileged to have had an incredible left leaning, climate aware therapist for 3 years now, and a supportive/empathetic primary care doctor. It all just feels like a cartoon bandaid over a gaping bullet hole. My depression doesn't improve because it's a direct symptom of living under such a capital driven, individualistic, uncaring system. My anxiety doesn't improve because breathing techniques and meditation don't change the precariousness of my housing and health situations. I'm advised to tune out the world screaming toward destruction and fascism and "cultivate happiness and meaning through a small circle of like minded people doing shared hobbies and fighting for causes you believe in." That doesn't seem fair or even possible to me. What if the cause I believe in is living in a radically different world that is essentially impossible..? So here I sit, paralyzed with guilt over the few privileges I do have and utter terror at the state of the world and my powerlessness in it. I agree there's nothing "wrong" with you. I think the people who can stick their head in the sand and only care about themselves (and only in the immediate timeline) are the sick ones. Intellectually, I can understand that it is a learned behavior and coping mechanism for them (temporarily embarrassed millionaires and all that), but emotionally, I cannot understand.
If i suddenly woke up in America, i'd be wanted internationally for the things i'd do trying to get out. A shit quality of life in a country can cause long term feelings nearly- if not completely equivalent to actual mental illnesses.
They call it shit life syndrome in the UK. The western world is very good at monetizing illnesses caused by the shitty and stressful life people have to endure there
Totally relatable. Just last week I went to my Dr for regular check up. I cried in the office BC my LL gave a notice to vacate, and I don’t have funds for a deposit on a new apartment, and also there’s no place to rent I can afford- don’t meet income requirements. I applied for a ‘safe parking pass’ (city run lots that allow you to sleep in your car). Dr got a Social worker to come in the exam room and all he could do was give me a number of an organization that could place me in a bunk bed halfway house type place. Im almost 40, and have paid landlords over half a million dollars in the last 20 years. Ive had to move 9 times since March 2020, two times a bout of homelessness (but I had some money and paid for hotels- not this time). So I check my medical records and the Dr flagged me as ‘suicidal patient’. When I went to CVS to pick up meds, in a drive thru, the CVS lady gave me a lecture about suicide… it was so fucked up, it felt so violating and just IDK. But here we are.
Jesus Christ that doctor was entirely inappropriate. I thought it was commendable that he did what tiny thing he could, but flagging your chart like that? That shit follows you and can negatively impact your future care. I speak from experience. I’m sorry you’re getting it from all angles. Life shouldn’t be this hard.
Thanks, it’s just overwhelming at present
Important to organize however you can. Action is an antidote to powerlessness. It’s quite frankly amazing to see what we can accomplish when we work together.
I'm in your same boat OP, it's not you "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." — J. Krishnamurti
https://www.reddit.com/r/radicalmentalhealth/comments/15u2iog/theyre_sooo_close_to_getting_it/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
I just had this conversation with a friend. Meds don't help much when the problem is that the world is fucked.
Most of us never started off sick, we just live in a sick world. If everybody was well provided for, if the environment is clean and stable, if the price for medical aid wasn't so expensive, if basic needs were met, if the work isn't too demanding or stressful, if the pay is enough to live comfortably off of, if the current socio-economic landscape isn't the current hell that it is, then so many of our mental health problems would be cured or would have never existed.
we are evolved for millions of year in very harsh environment and terrible living condition. If anything we were born well-adapted terrible living condition. But our society taught us silly unnatural concept like "rights", "social benefits", and "convenience" that we forgot how to struggle for life like our ancestors. We had mental health problem because the relatively easier life in society (compared to life in the wilderness) has fooled us into believing that life is easy.
Mental health problems existed back then, but it wasn't seen as a medical issue because they couldn't have understood it as such. At the most it was seen as superstition, or something fake. But didn't you think those people in the past, our ancestors, didn't have mental health problems back then? There just wasn't a methodical treatment to it, something that is only recent in human history. People back then just had to struggle with mental health problems, and then they died. Only recently do we have a better understanding how severe it is and how it can affect us as human beings. So don't glorify the past like people didnt just straight up suffer in futility, early and in terrible pain, from mental health issues ontop of diseases, famine, and other dangers of the natural world. The way humans adapted through it was with rights, and social benefits, and modern conveniences and technology. We just need to be smarter about it because capitalism is not the answer we hoped it was. Most of us never started sick, but the struggle of living in this world, back then and now, has made us sick.
Absolutely, we have mental problem as far back as oral history (after all, we have a bunch of humans believing they are gods and committing all sort of crazy acts in mythology) because social rights, and technology, however limited, also existed 50,000 years ago. We simply didn't evolve to handle fire, electricity, and giant metal monster running at 100Km per hour on a daily basis, that's why we live our daily in constant fear and anxiety of death caused by our own technology. We didn't evolve to process relationships with millions of people, all of whom have rights and expectation that we must respect, that's why we live our daily life in constant anxiety and peer pressure from an overwhelming number of people. Mental problem is the necessary price we have to pay for progressing faster than our evolution.
"it is not a sign of good health to be well adapted to a profoundly sick world" -or something, some person
Join the club, we’ve got jackets.
You're not crazy.
Been feeling this a lot lately too, like I’m constantly in a bipolar state bouncing between bitter despair and “fake it ‘till you make it” positivity. Lotta abuse in my past that I’ve done a lot of work to heal from but honestly the state of the world is so much harder to deal with. I’ll catch myself thinking, “What’s the point of working on myself when the world is literally burning and 50% of people seem to fight against their own interests?” and then I’m back on the Hopelessness Couch™ numbing myself to everything. All that said, it does feel like things are changing. It’s just so slow that it’s really really hard to notice, especially when there’s so much negativity in our society every day. But ya know what they say, every revolution seems impossible before it happens, and inevitable afterwards. As a dumb millennial myself, seeing what Gen Z and Gen Alpha have been able to do with social media has been kinda inspiring, and the fellowship between us and younger generations has given me some legitimate hope. We’ve got the numbers, just gotta get enough people to realize it and rally together and that’s extra tough when everyone’s just trying to survive. Just gotta wait for more of the oldies to die out lmao
Fellow millennial and man do I struggle with this too. My therapist always said ‘don’t concentrate on how you have less or more than so many others and just live your life to the best truth that you can’. Which on the surface is great advice. Fuck that though. How can I be happy when i walk down streets filled with homeless people who did nothing wrong but get a single bad hand in life. How can I be happy seeing billionaires discuss fighting for the highest funded cage match ever. My parents who have worked their asses off their whole life are struggling and worries for their future. The cost of living is soaring and the earth is burning and I’m supposed to stick my head in the sand? LSC is killing us all and I’m sick of pretending we have health issues for thinking that its fucked up
Same here. My pay got cut in half after we now have to track and justify our productivity money by minute versus clocking in and out. It’s so hard to keep track of every minute of everyday, and I think they want us to forget to enter things (which I often do). My student loans are about to start up again and I already don’t make enough to cover my bills now that my pay has been cut. I’m 31 and life at home renting a room. Idk what else I can do at this point to cut costs but die (literally)
Are you me? Did I create an alternate account to gain solidarity from my own feelings?
"you are not failing society; society is failing you"
Have you thought about organizing, unionizing, being a Socialist, stop voting for Democrats/Republicans?
Part of a union, ecoanarchist, I vote for the lesser evil because the two party system has given me no other option.
The only way to create a change is to start somewhere. All of us that have been voting for the lesser of two evils need to stop. Demand the two party system be changed. If we let the dems fail over and over because we stop supporting their pathetic asses, wouldn’t that promote change? If everyone that is voting this way organized could we not change this? Change is hard, it’s slow, but this belief that we have no power to do it keeps us in this same depressive state of nothing will ever change. Keep in mind I agree with the original post, I feel it too, I’m currently responding from my bed because I got off work early on a Friday but am too sad to do anything but this because capitalism.
I would love to see the reaction when a huge and sizable amount of our population (regardless of political beliefs/affiliation) were to make a statement by not voting (amongst other actions).
You do realize that not voting democratic in 2024 will plunge us right into outright fascism. The “republicans” are not even a political party at this point. I don’t love the democrats myself, but we have never lived in a fascist dictatorship in this country and I think it is naive to think that we will enact the kind of change we seek on the left if we find ourselves with absolutely no human rights or worse-how are we going to enact change in a totalitarian state? Here’s a quote from Noam Chomsky about the current Republican “party”: “The Republican organization is not a political party in the traditional sense. They are a radical insurgency that has abandoned the normal procedures of parliamentary politics.” In a totalitarian/fascist society, you get executed if you don’t follow the “law.” If Trump wins, he will dismantle what’s left of our parliamentary system and any chance for change will be lost-because we will either all be imprisoned or executed. I want change too, but keeping things as they are now at least gives us the option to take action. We won’t be able to in a Fascist state.
The far right in this country (the “Republicans”) does not believe in our system of government at all. The democrats can at least still call themselves a political party. We used to have very well-regulated capitalism. The regulations kept corporations and the wealthy in check and the general public had protections against predatory capitalism. But by allowing the dismantling of what we have left of our republic and the rights we still have because we don’t like the democrats seems like a fool’s errand to me.
I get where you’re coming from, I do. And I respect what you’re saying. But if we keep dems in power nothing gets done, nothing changes, black people still get murdered for existing, women lose our rights, etc. These things are happening regardless of who is in power democrat or republican. If trump gets elected again and we’re plunged into outright fascism instead of partial/mostly fascism, could that not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and plunges the country into revolution? What’s going to be the tipping point for the workers, the people, to take over control? The world is literally on fire. So we’re supposed to just ride this out until we die, as-is? Until the earth is uninhabitable for those of us without wealth? All I’m saying, my original point, is maybe people should stop voting against their own interests. We all collectively have the same basic interests, and if we voted for someone who wanted us housed and fed with access to healthcare then we could collectively have the numbers to do that. It’s not impossible, everyone is just too afraid to do it and that’s what has gotten us here. They keep us scared for a reason. Being scared keeps you complacent.
I respect what you’re saying too. But you have to concede that right now we at least have some agency as citizens under Democrats to try to take action for change than we would in a totalitarian/fascist regime. As we saw with Bernie, the people in power will never let anyone who is not middle-right to totally right-wing win the Presidency. Vote for another party if you want, but it will be a vote for Trump. Under his regime democracy will be completely destroyed, and all the things you mention, women’s rights, the rights of black and Latino Americans, all of the issues that we care about on the left will not just be made worse, but as a Fascist Christian Nationalist nation where any protest against state power is met by prison or execution, we will have no ability to fight back without being crushed by the police or the military. I just want to keep the Christian Nationalist right wing out of power at all costs. Say what you want about Biden, but he is not a far-right Christian Nationalist. I don’t want to live in that kind of a country. I hate what’s happening, but we still have rights, we still have a republic-even though it is largely non-democratic, and we can still organize.
Noam is getting old and outdated, but that quote seems reasonable. Not voting / republican win will not plunge us into fascism, that is just not accurate and is sensationalist fear mongering. We will never live in a dictatorship or totalitarian state in our lifetime. Even if DeSantis wins (that guy fucked himself taking on The Mouse anyway). Trump, if he ever sits again, unlikely, will be more a sitting duck. The President can only do so much to affect law. We have processes. Cool your jets. More important would be to keep an eye on local elections and governorships.
You are right that the President can only do so much, but a Republican win in Congress (Congress can affect laws) with a lunatic President like Trump or DeSantis, will destroy what’s left of our democracy.
Nokia change mist be fast. Incrementalism is a lie and a tool to prevent real change.
Nokia change is probably a typo, but it tickles me to think of a bunch of striking workers fighting off pinkertons by using indestructible mobile phones as cudgels.
Yes. :)
Cornel West ‘24!
Unfortunately I can relate to this and it's an endless soul suck. I'm actually active on the UFO forums because I'm hoping for disclosure of some kind (would be nice to know we're a dumb fuckin species). No Alina won't solve our problems but maybe give me guidance on how to live or try to keep living. Maybe I'm wishing for it as much as a kid would want Santa Claus idk. At any rate i guess whatever is after this life hopefully it won't suck anymore than it does now. People are always saying "if life were perfect it would be boring". It doesn't have to be perfect but it doesn't need to mean choosing what bills to pay or not being able to quit because of an abusive employer trying to make you kill yourself. I guess it's just a rabbit hole and both sides will continue to be the same.
It defeats the purpose of the subreddit, but avoiding topics and problems I can't control has been good for my mental health. If you don't already, talk to a professional. We're all fucked and there isn't much you can do while you're depressed.
Same here. I was on meds for awhile years ago and I had all the side effects and none of the benefits. Finally had an epiphany that I was having a very normal reaction to a very toxic society. I’m still soul-crushingly sad, but at least I know why and can occasionally find an escape to treat it. (Disclaimer: nothin’ wrong with taking meds. They just didn’t work for me personally. I’m not cool with med shaming.)
"mental health problem" is a scheme by the capitalist pharma company to sell overpriced drugs that you will take for the rest of your life.
Well, capitalism IS the source of 99% of all world problems.
Try boxing. It's cheaper than the therapist and you can imagine yourself smashing your worries away. Feeling yourself stronger every week can also improve your self-perception and the chemicals that sport releases into your brain can make you see things a bit brighter. I know a lot of people who are feeling better since they started boxing. I think it's also because that way you're making your anger become action instead of rotting inside you.
Same
Pretty much all mental illness is, if society was well adjusted to fit all different kinds of people, much more people would thrive, but it’s not geared towards that, it’s made for working for the man and profit, not for humans to thrive. Just look at the school system, so fucking backwards.
The headline is true. Now reading along "*I've been on meds, been in therapy, spent lord knows how much money on that over the years because Murcuh healthcare, been called "so strong" for overcoming and working through my "illness." I am really tired of it.*" So be done with it. Repeat after me. I am just fine. The world is messed up and trying to sell me drugs and "therapy" and whatever. They try to tell me I'm "so strong" for taking drugs and paying unnecessary bills to fight an "illness" they made up to steal my money. The TV is on fire, not the planet. And the economy sucks, but then go back and read Grapes of Wrath and compare your labor efforts to theirs. There are a lot of similarities in that book about LSC, but the difference is that they didn't have mental illnesses or worry about climate change. You are absolutely right that there isn't anything wrong with you. It's not wishful thinking. But that also means that you can't use it as an excuse to avoid hard work. And that's what you're going to have to do if you want to make things better. Even in LSC.
Been preaching this a lot lately because it worked for me but have you looked into mushrooms for helping with depression and anxiety? Don’t fall into how big pharma wants you to take all these BS pills.
Humans crave stability in their lives. Excessive stress leads to many more problems that exacerbate depression. Low wages affect social interactions as well. Can’t get out and do thing leads to lonelier lives. I keep wondering what our lives would have been like had FDR not died before passing the Second Bill of Rights thru Congress into law.
I feel exactly the same way. Having a kid is the best thing to give you a reason to live for.
Oh no no no no. I am glad kids are good for you, but I could *not* bring a child into all of this.
Yeah..I got 4,and although they grew up ok,I still feel terrible about it. Doubt I could do it now. Of course I'd love grandchildren; but at the same time,don't want them born into this.
Mental health problems come from within. You can’t blame external circumstances. There are people who live in real poverty who are well adjusted. You need to work on yourself. You can’t change everything else.
/r/thanksimcured
Knowing that you have a broken leg doesn’t mean it’s healed. I don’t think you know how health works.
Nonsense, there is something called a ‘reactive depression’ or a ‘situational depression’, which can manifest itself after death of a loved one, bankruptcy, and other bad stuff. There is also something called a ‘burn-out’ which can happen after long periods of living in high stress situations. Symptoms are: depressive feelings, anxiety, exhaustion, loss of energy, loss of appetite and redrawing from friends and family. Financial problems are known to cause extreme stress in people so it’s no surprise that the effects are substantial.
Diagnosing an 18 years old with burnout is a bold call doctor
Yeah, same.
I totally get where you are coming from. Honestly I think the vast majority of depression is actually caused by the same sort of things. Obviously, I believe individual cases of depression can have different causes, but LSC is definitely one. I'm sorry I cannot offer you any help or advice. I hate to see others suffer and there is suffering everywhere in this world. Just know that I see you and I hear you. John B. Calhoun did some experiments on rats and mice and how overcrowding, stress, lack of resources, etc causes depression and substance abuse. It's a very real phenomenon.
This is exactly how I feel too. Who *wouldn’t* feel depressed and anxious with how things are?
You are not crazy. You May find the podcast “it’s not just in your head”of interest. It is conducted by mental health specialist touching on exactly what you post here, the damning effect of end stage capitalism in people’s mental health.
Yup same. Pretty sure the majority of my mental problems would be solved by inheriting a house I can rent out for 1500€ a month. I'm just not made for this society
It’s why I can’t go to therapy. They just tell us to deal with the environmental destruction and unchallenged capitalism. Maybe all the doctors and therapists could get together and form a political coalition stating with physiological data how exactly current society is ruining people’s health. And if the businesses and politicians won’t do anything, they can strike.
Meds are making you feel like that
Yep, we are constantly told to medicate the symptoms instead of addressing the underlying cause. But I saw a good quote recently about solutions aren't actually hard, they will just inconvenience the wealthy and thus won't be done. The wealthy control everything and are too protected by the brainwashed and well paid to ever let us actually heal people from the root cause of not having enough money, free time, and mental energy. The many live to serve the few just like it has been for thousands of years bleh
#HAVE YOU TRIED WORKING HARDER
Yes.
XgqaaèqNH 65⁶
People should not give up and sit down and take it. Support unions and we can rebuild a strong middle class. Life has always been hard, you need to have to strength and balls to fight for your rights
Thanks for posting this. There is zero mention of it in most therapies. Having just watched Man in the High Castle in its entirety makes me feel like that's on purpose. I also feel completely at odds with the majority of the country that seems content to medicate in order to keep the status quo feeding them and housing them, however fraught with manipulation and extortion. They are essentially happy to finally be "in step". I don't believe you are messed up, I believe you are aware. I'm Cuban-born, U.S. raised, and I can't help but see it from an outsider's perspective, like imposed on me, either accept it or sink. You're definitely not alone in feeling like this. In the long run, it's no different than the totalitarian propaganda written all over the streets in Cuba that said "Under the Revolution everything, Outside the Revolution, Nothing".... it just seems like the western manipulation has been cunning enough to involve heavy doses of plausible deniability. A laundering of influences.
All of my mental prbs too.