I’ve been getting a lot of correspondence lately. Patients, colleagues and friends want to draw my attention to the soaring rate of depression in the world today. The articles point out that songwriters mention love far less frequently and hate more often these days. Newspaper headlines are increasingly harrowing, and news coverage is far more negative. Social scientists, researchers and physicians assign the blame to a myriad of factors. And for some people who struggle, these articles provide a sense of comfort. Readers feel less alone. Their misery feels like part of a global shift that is unavoidable. But I’ve been asking myself if that’s the only way to look at the situation. Are there other ways we can deal with sadness so that we can turn things around for ourselves? Can we create a path that leads to greater happiness in our communities and in the world around us? In this series, I will explore several factors that contribute to unhappiness and how we might address them so that the outcome brings hope instead of despair.
