Really happy or just faking it? A depressed country
In a country where Dutch women don’t get depressed, the Netherlands regularly tops the world’s happiest nations and Dutch kids are happy because they’re egocentric, major depression is on the rise, putting the Netherlands at the top of the most depressed countries in the world.
According to a study sponsored by the World Health Organization, more people have reported being depressed in the Netherlands than anywhere in the world, according to interviews of more than 69,000 people in 18 countries.
Researchers took into account both clinical depression, a biological condition that leads to low self-esteem and loss of interest in otherwise enjoyable activities, and types of mild depression, which can be situational or caused by environmental influences. The latter was likely the cause of higher rates in the Netherlands, US and France
The report also found that women were twice as likely to experience depression, and the strongest link to depression was separation or divorce from a partner.
Recap: the kids are happy because they are highly individualistic, the nation ‘says’ it’s happy year in year out, but people are apparently suffering from depression in a dark corner somewhere. Group therapy, anyone? And handing out all those anti-depressants like bonbons is not the answer, dear doctors.
(Link: www.dutchdailynews.com, Photo of wilted tulip by Graham Keen, some rights reserved)
I totally agree. We are facing a beautiful clinical case of collective denial. I’ve never seen so many people being depressed, taking drugs (and not only the legal type) and showing heavily anti-social behavior than here. I think the myth of individual success (and responsibility) is making everyone sick.
And BTW, continuously trying to be happy, as if moodiness was wrong (think a bit like the US), also makes people depressed as they have to fake it as well.
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