Street Roots » Ja n . 19-25, 2018
News
Page 4
The real
reason
we're
sad and
anxious
JOHANN HARI
LOST
CONNECTIONS
U N C O V E R IN G THE REAL CAUSES
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and what
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BOOK COVER COURTESY OF
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING
Johann H ari is the author
o f "Lost Connections:
Uncovering the Real
Causes o f Depression -
and the Unexpected
Solutions.”
P H O T O B Y S IM O N E M M E T T
The root o f depression is environmental, not biological, author Johann H ari explains
BY E M ILY GREEN
SE NIO R STAFF REPORTER
| Xhe way we’ve been taught to think
about depression and anxiety is all
• A
wrong, says Johann Hari.
In his new book, the London-based
journalist and New York Times best-selling
author explains th at depression is not actually
the result of malfunctioning brain chemistry -
it’s a response to the way we’re living our
lives.
Hari spent three years traveling the world,
speaking to scientists and doctors who have
made ground-breaking discoveries around
depression and anxiety - and who have found
innovative and surprising ways to treat it
This research and Hari’s personal
experiences with his own depression have
culminated in his new book, “Lost
Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of
Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions.”
In the same way Hari’s previous book,
“'Chasing the Scream,” helped shift the .
conversation around drug treatment and
addiction, “Lost Connections” seeks to
radically reframe the way we approach
depression and anxiety.
Bloomsbury Publishing is releasing the
book in the U.S. on Jan. 21, and it’s already
received rave reviews from progressive icons
such as Naomi Klein, Bill Maher and Arianna
Huffington. According to Elton John, it’s a
book that “will change your life.”
Hari recently spoke with Street Roots from
his home in London. He shared what he’s
learned about depression and discussed ways
we can all strive to live happier lives. We
began our interview by discussing why he
began researching depression in the first
place.
Johann Hari: I really wrote this book
because there were these two mysteries that
were haunting me. One was: Why was I still
depressed?
When I was a teenager, I went to my
doctor, and I explained I had this feeling like
pain was kind of leaking out of me, and I
couldn’t control it. My doctor told me a story,
which is, “There is a chemical called
serotonin that some people are lacking in
their brains, that makes them feel terrible.
You’re clearly one of these people. We’ll give
you these drugs and it will make you feel
good again.”
I took this drug Paxil for 13 years and I
remained depressed. I had a boost when I
started taking them, and then a few months
later I started to feel really bad again, so I
went back to the doctor and they said well,
you haven’t been given a high enough dose. I
was given another dose, I felt a bit better for
a few months, and the feeling came back. I
was basically in that pattern until I was taking
the maximum allowable dose. So why was I
still depressed when Iw as doing everything I
was told to do?
The second thing was: Why were there so
many other people like me?
There s been this explosion of depression
and anxiety in the United States and across
the Western world. Today, 1 in 5 Americans is
taking a psychiatric drug, 1 in 11 Americans
is taking an antidepressant, and we’re more
depressed than we’ve ever been. And we see
this manifesting in all sorts of ways.
I wanted to understand this, so I ended up
going on this big long journey. I went 40,000
miles meeting the best scientists in the world
who’ve looked into this. I think the main
thing I learned is it’s not so much a lesson
about antidepressants, as it’s a lesson about
depression and anxiety themselves.
I thought I was weird for still being
depressed when I was taking antidepressants,
but in fact I discovered 1 was completely
normal - between 65 and 80 percent of
people taking antidepressants are still
depressed.
See DEPRESSION, page 5