On Depression

 I just read an interesting blog post on Carl Jung responding to a woman asking how to get over being depressed. In the post Jung tells the woman that getting over depression takes a few key tasks--being useful, living in the moment, and dealing with one's shadow.

I've been ruthless in condensing Jung's poetic letter to this lady, but it did make think about what I would say are the primary things to do--or not do--to "beat" depression. In the next few posts I'll ponder this question. It's a rich, worthwhile question that seems to be given little thought in our society.

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Fear in Religion

 I've been giving some thought to the question, How much of what people say is praise and love for God is really fear? That is, could it be when some people are saying how great God is and how much we should worship God, they are really saying these things out of fear, fear that God, when they are dying, will reject them and send them to eternal punishment?

I had thought about it briefly in the past, but it seemed almost impossible to get to the truth of the matter, because people use self-defense mechanisms (e.g., projection, displacement, reaction formation). But I thing there is one relatively good method of telling: how demanding is the person in making sure you will agree with their view of God.

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Depression and Social Connection

 I just read about a recent study that again marked the importance of social connection as the strongest protective factor for depression. The study was in The American Journal of Psychiatry. It does seem that more and more studies affirm this.

Though, going by my own experience and my take on the average person, many people read about and "hear" these studies, but few respond in a visceral manner. By "visceral manner," I mean, few of us realize that the information can be put to good use in our own lives. Using myself as an example, I have heard numerous times how social connection mitigates depression. And it seems like it has been a slow realization for me that "it may be true."

Maybe when we see information we're not ready to take in, we put it in a category called, "Interesting, I'll Have to Keep That in Mind." Which is another way of saying, "Not yet."

Wealth Inequality

 It seems as of late I've become fascinated/obsessed with learning more about wealth inequality in the United States. It's a topic that I always see somewhere in the news (though rarely at "the top" of the news), yet, it seems, the average person on the street rarely talks about it. 

I remember speaking years ago to a neighbor about this topic. Somehow we were talking about people who have much wealth and he said something like, "Well, you know, we just have to give the rich people their money so society can work smoothly." I think I half-heartedly agreed because I didn't know how to respond.

As I thought about his statement one question kept coming up--Why? I think it is tied to the notion of "trickle-down economics." The idea of trickle-down economics may sound good in theory but there is no evidence that "it works."

I will talk more about this topic in future posts. I really have to, so as to make sense of it.

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Corporate Shenanigans

I just recently read about how large companies are pushing Republican leaders to let them not be responsible for any untoward happenings at their businesses. That is, to get a free ride while the coronavirus pandemic has been active.

It's as if these executives are saying to these Republicans, "Hey look, there's going to be a lot of lawsuits and a lot of money involved in the aftermath of the coronavirus. We are trying to make up for lost time because of the pandemic, so what we really don't need is to be involved with all these workers and families who want to get compensated for all our misdeeds. We don't have the time or money for that. You understand where we're coming from. And when re-election time comes around, well, don't worry, because we got your back."

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