Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Depression is the most common mental illness, affecting over 16 million Americans, and those are the ones who report it; there are a lot of sufferers, especially men who, according to Thoreau, “lead lives of quiet desperation.” Depression is a natural aspect of biology: high insulin levels from eating to much sugar, low dopamine levels from not getting enough sleep, hormonal changes during menopause & low testosterone in men as they age. Depression is just the opposite of euphoria, another chemically induced state our body enjoys. Your body is a drug factory, and the swing from elation to despair and back goes on in everybody everyday, some more than others. When the swing is too much, a person's mental faculties are compromised to the point of mental illness, called Bipolar.

People are evolved to get enjoyment from simple accomplishments, like having enough food to eat, evading an enemy, or building shelter. When those things are provided without effort, it becomes more difficult to find individual purpose, and it's getting harder because depression is a symptom of affluence. Unfortunately, by broadening the definition of “mental illness” to include depression, everyone is mentally ill, and substitute drugs for fulfillment, no different than any drug addict. We are all victims of our biology.