Depression in the UK – How I perceive it

In India, it is difficult to find depression among people. Not that I am arguing that there is no prevalence of the disorder there, but in day to day life, it is difficult to encounter more than one or two who seem depressed.

My one year in UK has shown me how depression is a lifestyle disorder to be reckoned with in the western world. I am not a traveller, and I will not be able to provide a holistic state of affairs, but the little time I have spent in Cambridge, thoroughly exploring every bit of the little town, I have found more morose people here in one year than I have experienced in India in my whole life!

This is indeed staggering.

Agreed that Cambridge is a student town, mostly inhabited by a melange of people from all over the world, everyone trying to find their little spot in their environment, to succeed in their work and achieve contentment in life. They are all brilliant people, and they succeed. It is part of their DNA. But are they content?

That is a debatable matter, and my opinion is, they are not. But is it because of the weather and the fact that it is UK where everything seems to be muted and moderated, where discipline is the only means to effectively lead life and not fall off the wagon, where colours are a tad greyish, and thoughts are a tad numb? Perhaps, at least to a partial extent.

The other possible reason might be because it is Cambridge. Once you have huge expectations to perform, stress is a very natural response. For some it might become a habit, chronic and uncontrollable. In such an environment where everyone is stressed, it is difficult to find people who are unstressed enough to take care of the stressed ones. Society has historically taken care of those in stress, but the social environment in Cambridge is extraordinary. And, although there is some structure to help wide-eyed, hypertensive students feel at ease, it takes a more impersonal form, like luxurious accommodation and food, and e-mail/social networking services to help to do stuff. A friendly voice or helping hand is woefully missing in most occasions.

What is really required are people to think about what you need, rather than those who sit in front of a computer with a catalogue of things you might want. What is also required are people who will provide a calming influence over those involved in accidental cultural conflicts, a phenomenon which is quite common in a global village such as Cambridge. However good you might be at forging a path through the woods, sometimes you need someone to tell you what tools you need to survive it. Sometimes human beings just need human contact. And without realising it, we are so desperate for it, that we are willing to go to the extreme extent of fondling all day with electronic devices, just so that someone out there listens to what we have to say, and comes a little closer, somehow.

Sometimes I feel that the habit of social networking through the internet has reduced our human intellect to lines of meaningless status updates and grids of pointless selfies. It has let out the narcissus in us, and now we don’t care about anyone than ourselves. We search the world through the World Wide Web for those who are exactly like us, in every which way possible. This is actually quite a paradox, as more we yearn to find someone like ourselves, more we find them, only to want to differentiate ourselves from them in some way. The vicious cycle continues, and it is only the resilience of the human brain which still sustains the meaningless online banter. Unfortunately, it grows more and more every day, so much that today, it is very difficult to separate the wheat from the heavy load of chaff all around our online presence.

For a world so technically advanced that human contact is literally not required in day to day functioning, it is indeed strenuous for the emotion centres of the brain to stay calm. Yet, if one cries out for help, one is deemed strange and desperate, and shunned. It is the innermost desire of most to be able to speak their minds, and call for help, but where no one ‘needs’ help, one is afraid to ask the question. I am not sure that is the best way to live a healthy life, and to prevent sliding into chronic depression.

Dr Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University has to say the same thing about students in famous universities, in his case referring to Stanford. It became clear to me what the problem was, and my own timid observations were re-affirmed after I watched his lectures on YouTube.

Depression is not something that can be avoided in life. But it can be dealt with, and resolved, and human beings falling into depression have been known to come out of it. I am no psychiatrist, but with the perspective I have gained of the world, it is not difficult to see that human beings actually need other human beings, to survive. We just need to speak up, and with our vocal chords, whenever it is needed. Typing really doesn’t help, and staring at the computer monitor and wireless technology still gives headaches (this is still true, though not much publicised anymore in the media).