Why is depression so prevalent in contemporary society?

Res it's our failure to acknowledge, as with the gun issue,

http://able2know.org/topic/205813-1

that earlier action is required to promote the mental health of kiddies

….starting in 1st grade if not kindergarten

Depression is prevalent in 1st world countries because intelligence is prevalent. The more you can think about, the more you will have to be upset about. I am a mac-daddy super genius and feel like **** every single day. I think about kids dying, people being tortured, rape, murder, terrible **** like that all the time. I feel my heart is constantly broken as I feel so helpless to change all this suffering around me. When I was a kid, I dreamt of being a super-hero to fight all the bad-guys. As an adult, I just feel there is nothing to do. I tell myself that I don't care, that they aren't my problems. But somewhere down inside, there is an emptiness that aches and tears at me.

There can be several factors that can contribute to depression. Mainly stress at work, or loss of a loved one.

It mostly starts with the mental attitude set in early life

That's not to exclude of course inborn deficiencies but they too could be detected and treated much earlier

Depression is only common for us to have as it deals with our mental state and emotions. there are many factors that can trigger depression, stress is one thing, having problem is somehow the most common factor of depression.

Interesting Dj to note in this connection how some tiny concentration of some otherwise harmless chemical, either its presence or its absence, can trigger the most intense depression /anxiety

By saying "so prevalent," you imply that it formerly was not prevalent, or not as prevalent. Do you have a basis for making such a claim?

Because it is diagnosable.

There is no reason to believe it is more frequent than it was in the past.

When women during the Victorian Age took to their beds with The Vapors, I doubt it had to do with noxious gases.

Depression is an issue of brain chemistry.

Unless there are contemporary influence on brain chemistry that didn't exist in the past, depression (whether recognized or not) as been long an affliction of mankind.

Hello Friends,

“Depression has been labeled the common cold of psychopathology” (Gilbert, 1992, p. 3). This abnormal state includes “changes in appearance, attitude, behavior, and thinking” (Ostow, 1970, p. 12). Depression is America’s number one emotional illness, and it is rising (LaHaye, 1974). One in six people in the U.S. has a depressive episode in their lifetime (Womens Health Channel, 2003). “In the opinion of many researchers, more human suffering results from depression than from any other disease affecting mankind” (LaHaye, 1974, p. 16).
Life is difficult. Among work, relationships, and crises, many claim depression. But what differentiates the depression of a bad grade on a test from the depression caused by the death of a loved one? People are so quick to throw around this word that it has lost its meaning in contemporary society and has become less recognized as the serious and prevalent disorder that it is. I have watched a close family member suffer at the hand of this terrible illness. I have witnessed the depths to which it will drag its hostage and the devastation it will inflict upon a life. If this disease of the mind is so common, why do we shun it? The solution is clear: Through increased awareness and understanding of depression, we can begin to bridge the gap between “normal” society and those who feel like outcasts in their world of darkness.

Thanks and Regards,
Milon Jones

Milon, I find helpful a couple tabs each of HPT-5, kava kava, St John's wort, and Ginseng