Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions

Community and connection are at the heart of Hari’s understanding of what causes anxiety and depression. Disconnection, Hari argues, ignites depression. Hari describes the causes of depression as “disconnections” and the potential cures as “reconnections.” Even the more personal causes of depression, such as having a job one hates or experiencing trauma, is seen by Hari as a type of human connection. As Hari writes: “What if depression is, in fact, a form of grief—for our own lives not being as they should? What if it is a form of grief for the connections we have lost, yet still need?” (34).

Hari explores disconnection from one’s surrounding communities. According to the evidence he gathered, loneliness causes stress, which in turn causes anxiety and depression. To end loneliness, a person needs “to feel you are sharing something with the other person, or the group, that is meaningful to both of you” (100). The Internet has failed to provide a suitable substitute for human connection, Hari argues. Instead, it only offers a “kind of parody” (107).

In some ways, the ideal model for human connection is Kotti, a working-class, impoverished neighborhood in Berlin, where diverse residents bonded over protests against high rents.