The most radical idea in Johann Hari’s Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions is that treatment for depression shouldn’t focus on medication only. Because depression has three kinds of causes – biological, psychological and social – treatment plans should include multiple responses and people. The implications for teachers are enormous. Most of us don’t understand the social and psychological needs of our students with depression. Shouldn’t we? I’m beginning to see mental health as an unavoidable issue. Perhaps I should see it as a social justice issue, as does the United Nations’ Office of Human Rights.
Hari, Johann. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression — and the Unexpected Solutions. Bloomsbury, 2018, p. 260.