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Objectivism as Anti-depressant

Posted by davidmcnab 10 years, 2 months ago to Science
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A disturbing proportion of people in the USA take antidepressants on a regular basis - 10% of the adult population average, ranging up to nearly a quarter of women aged 40 and 60.

One of the most depressing things anyone can live with is the belief that they exist for others. This axiom spawns the corollary that no matter how much you do, how hard you work, how much you invent, how much wealth you generate, it'll never be enough. If that's not a big black suffocating wet blanket, please tell me what is.

We recall that uplifting scene in The Fountainhead where Howard Roark hangs up his architect hat for a few hours and becomes a therapist to the sculptor Steven Mallory, delivering an improvised form of therapy not practised by any MD or ClinPsych, and how this snaps Mallory almost instantly out of chronic depression and substance abuse.

So I put forward a conjecture: A significant proportion, maybe the greatest proportion, of the endemic depression we see today is caused by people having lost themselves, by believing they are obligated to live for others; that their mental health can dramatically and permanently improve simply by being taught that it's safe and acceptable to honour themselves; that the most amazing thing they can do to support others is not live for them and bleed to them the fruits of their own labour, but to live for themselves, and set an example proving to others an amazing honourable life is within their reach as well.

Pack this up into a therapeutic protocol and I suggest you'd see antidepressant medication prescriptions and suicide rates plummet overnight.

All Comments

  • Posted by BobFreeman 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    'tis unfortunate that 'atlas" had the reverse effect on its author, who seemed to be a genius in philosophy & nearly completely ignorant about health issues.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 10 years, 2 months ago
    This isn't about any comments that I have read
    today, but when I previously said "H--l, no," as to
    whether an Obama supporter could be a resident
    or Galt's Gulch, I had misunderstood what it meant
    to be a resident. I had thought that a resident of
    Galt's Gulch meant a consistent supporter of
    Objectivism, but now I see that it is supposed
    to be a sort of association of people comment-
    ing upon it. So that is not quite the same.
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  • Posted by davidmcnab 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    @JoleneMartens1982 warnings about the risks of crypto are never in vain, thanks for reiterating.
    Sorry that you've got such a fundamental philosophical division in your family, that sure can't be easy.
    The light at the end of this particular tunnel is that the Gulch no longer demands a geographical place. It's a state of mind - the feeling of waking up on a bright early spring morning, smelling the rain-kissed grass, hearing the birds twitter and feeling that beautiful music in your heart, saying "OMG it was just a nightmare after all. My life is MINE! I can't wait to start this glorious day!"
    Hearts with this kind of charge naturally seek like-minded company, within local community and across the information superhighway.
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  • Posted by JoleneMartens1982 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Davidmcnab, you'd have to be careful, even with encryption, the criminals find ways, some criminals are unfortunately smarter than the rest of us. Unfortunately, we are only as strong as our protection, and if the government got word of our plans, we would be the criminals. It is a sad truth. I would go Gulch right now, with my 2 sons and my husband, but one of those boys is half liberal, his dad thinks I am crazy. He is somewhat intelligent, but very brainwashed by the system. His loyalty is his demise. If I went Gulch, he would have every form of govt known to man looking for me. And I would have a hard time doing that to him. Despite his obvious issues, he is a pretty good dad and part of our family, we have all learned to coexist very well, but I can't see him ever going gulch.
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  • Posted by JoleneMartens1982 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    CBJ that is so true. I realized this recently. My husband and I, in our early 30s had started falling apart, my knees were failing, dizzy spells, frequent illnesses, and the doctors had no response to the ailments. Just through pharmaceuticals at it. I ended up breaking my ankle, severely. Fell into depression, couldn't walk for 2 1\2 months. Fortunately, I used my time wisely, I read Atlas. This book made me realize I had fallen victim to the prescribed nonsense. We were living off boxed and packaged meals, never working out, no vitamins. As I researched my "conditions", I realized it was a calcium deficiency. I had a lack of vitamin D and I was not absorbing the calcium. I started taking vitamins, working out and changed to a whole foods diet. Our lives have really turned around. All of us are so much happier and healthier.
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  • Posted by JoleneMartens1982 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Dukem I am sorry to hear that you are taking an antidote to fit into their lives, hopefully some day you will have drugless peace, from a former user of not so legal antidepressants, this is a topic very close to my heart. It is an amazing feeling to see life clearly and to not give a $#@% what people think of your opinions. I always thought something was wrong with me, because I could always, from a young age, see through all the bs. But I chose drugs to fit in, rather than finding those willing to accept my intelligence and strong opinions. I wasted 10 years of my life on it and them. Ihave been clean for 8 years now, and I am happier now than ever! I left all my friends behind with the exception of a few. Life is much better when you are loved rather than sculpted, and this group for me as well as the book Atlas Shrugged, have been an answer to a 33 year old question that I never knew how to ask. I am a better person now, I am more able to move forward, my thinking is clearer, Imake ddecisions better, my life has changed 100%, some don't even recognize me.
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  • Posted by radical 10 years, 2 months ago
    Nathaniel Branden taught self-honor. He firmly implanted it in my mind during one of his Intensives.
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  • Posted by Mamaemma 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ok. I gotcha. I do do my best to spread these ideas. Have you ever heard Rush Limbaugh say that even most liberals actually live a conservative life? I think most people who work actually live according to a lot of Objectivist principles, but just don't know it.
    Mostly I try to point out to them that only we have a right to what we earn.
    Thanks for taking the time to answer.
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  • Posted by ewv 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Think of the positive aspects of reading the novel. It's a great inspirational novel because you read page after page about good people living in a way you can relate to in a purposeful action plot, while the villains are exposed for what they are and mocked for it -- whatever they get away with you don't see them portrayed as happy or otherwise benefiting from it in a way that really counts for happiness in life.
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  • Posted by BobFreeman 10 years, 2 months ago
    Great topic! I’ve been using the reading & listening to Rand & others & communicating with pro-freedom folks as an anti-depressant since discovering Atlas in 1966.

    Even with that, I still leaned on ethanol as an anti-depressant thru school prior to being granted State permission to write prescriptions for toxic drugs, at which time, my wife & I switched from buze to diazepam in the form of Valium ‘cause it was cheaper & more convenient.

    In 1973, we invited Covert Bailey to our Lake Tahoe home for three weekends where he taught us … & 35 other dental teams, how to effectively teach prevention to our clients. During that time, he successfully helped us to convert from drugs to aerobic exercise as a great health benefit … including attenuation of depression. We’ve been enjoying that, and freedom from drugs, ever since … and all the side effects of aerobic exercise are positive.
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  • Posted by khalling 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    thank you. i hope you enjoy it! You get that this about ideas. everywhere you go, wherever your influence, you can influence. we have the world to win :)
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Woops. I had misquoted 30K once, I think. I had better get it straight, eh? It is...a phenomenon.

    Depression can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I prefer butterflies (and you probably have some gorgeous ones).

    Jan
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  • Posted by Mamaemma 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I have power over my own life and my own choices. I can choose whether to continue working although the circumstances are worse and my pay is less, or I can shrug. But I am powerless over what is happening in the country and society.
    What am I missing, khalling?
    PS just got your book and started reading it today!
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  • Posted by khalling 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think that was the novel's purpose. Roark the tulip bulb. i get it, but I think about Tooheys
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  • Posted by Mamaemma 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Atlas has a happy ending. The heroes win and I knew they were going to rebuild the world. But if I were to read it right now, it would be depressing because everything she wrote about is coming true. When I read it 45 years ago, the Anti-dog eat Dog rule and 10-289 seemed to be pure fiction that made a great book. But now it seems all too real, and it's depressing for 2 reasons. 1) I don't see any way for things to get better, and 2) I am completely powerless to stop what is happening.
    That's the thing that has hit the hardest since 2008; my powerlessness.
    So I don't watch the news, although I check Drudge report every day, and I try to concentrate on the many good things in my life.
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  • Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Really? Depressing? Howard wasn't thrown off track by anything and wasn't afraid to do or say what he wanted. I found it gripping and refreshing.. the other characters, not so much, but they were nothing in Roark's shadow... And they knew it.
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  • Posted by khalling 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    this is interesting. I found Fountainhead depressing until teh very last scene. I found AS to be an action thriller. I knew the heroes would win :)
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Not sure how else you could do it. So long as you're in the US, you're going to be beholden to some gov't entity (and usually, several). Whether property taxes, drivers license, automobile license plate, sales tax, etc., there's no way to extract yourself from gov't control fully (unless you want to live with absolutely no modernity on public lands, it's done, but we typically call those folks bums).
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  • Posted by davidmcnab 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The problem you're going to find with distributing AR's books in schools is that these days, attention spans are much shorter. If a message can't be grasped in a quick Facebook status, it'll probably be thrown into the 'tl;dr' pile and forgotten.
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    can you list the colleges and universities please, the only two I know are un. so. carolina has a program and I believe one in texas.
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