depression related to lack of knowledge about freedom

[syamsu]

There is widespread depression among college students:
http://huhs.harvard.edu/NewsAndEvents/News/Article.aspx?id=200009
"Chances are almost one in two that a college student will become
depressed to the point of being unable to function"

Scientists are generally adverse to knowledge about freedom:
http://www.human-nature.com/nibbs/03/dcdennett.html
"there can be no such thing as free will for the committed scientist,
in his or her professional life"

In my opinion these two facts are related.

Basically we all know how freedom works on a practical level, we don't
have a problem to talk in terms of choosing in daily life. But on an
intellectual level free will is a heavily contested, and heavily
doubted issue. So what I think is happening at colleges is that there
is much pressure on this practical knowledge from an intellectual
level, leading to destruction and mangling of the practical knowledge
of freedom that students have. And to have this bad knowledge about
freedom that is pressured and shallow, occasions psychological
problems much peculiar to college students.

When you ask people how choosing works you generally get two kinds of
answers.
1. choosing is forced
Here choosing is defined in terms of calculating an optimum from a set
of values. So the result is forced by the calculation. The choice can
only turn out the optimal way, not any other way. For example a
chesscomputer calculates the move with the highest chance of winning.
Selecting the best move in stead of the others is called choosing.

2. choosing is free
Here choosing is defined in terms of things turning out one way or
another. The alternatives are in the future, and one or the other is
realized. The act of realizing an alternative is called choosing. What
does the job of realizing an alternative in a choice can only be known
to exist by deciding it is there (love, hate etc.), not by measuring.

The first is the intellectual concept of choosing, the second is the
practical daily life concept of choosing. So what do you get when
number 1 intellect encroaches on number 2 practical?

The result is that the opinion of what is good and bad becomes
objectified (like the objective goal of winning the chessgame). The
spiritual process of deciding what is good and bad freely is replaced
with calculations with a forced result.

So the link to emotions is lost, there is only a link to an objective
goal. The students become tortured with all kinds of objective
criteria for beauty, objective criteria for doing well at college etc.
and they fail to develop subjective opinions about those things
because they misconceive freedom.

Mohammad Nur Syamsu

[hortonpilot]

Thought provoking!
too early in the day....will chew over this one.


Horton.

[SWM]

cognitive and behavioural theories of depression have much more research and evidence to support them. some of which acknowledge the importance of autonomy and individuality (freedom?) in depression.

http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/allen.html

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~dfresco/CBT_Readings/BM_Lejuez_BATD_Manual.pdf

http://web.utk.edu/~dhopko/BAinpatient.pdf

[syamsu]

My theory of depression is, it hurts alot somewhere in your heart. So I mean it can be from lots of different causes, lots of different ways. So this is one way, and I think this is an important way for college students.

I think it's important because when I think about how fundamental freedom is, then if anything is wrong with that knowledge, then I think it's plausible that things can go wrong much, because it is so fundamental. I also can feel my way into how that would dysfunction, that kind of heavy SCIENTIFIC authority, squashing the practical knowledge a bit.

I have verified with many people that they are not aware of the social convention that judgemental words like love, bad, good, bad, selfish ought to be used in a free way, by deciding they are there in a choice. This is a problem for many athiests / scientists because as a matter of principle they don't accept the existence of anything except by measuring it is there. But if you measure, then you are forced by the measurement, and then there is no alternative result possible. So then you are not free, you are acting as like a computer could act measuring and calculating, and the link to emotion, which is manifested within the choice, is lost. 

[S. Earl Martin]

Interesting! I have a few thoughts on freedom and why so many young people are depressed today.
1: Freedom is an illusion. We have very little actual control over our life and how things turn out.
2: We have very little actual knowledge that we can "know" to base our decisions on. It comes back to
What you know.
What you think you know.
What you don't know. and
What you can't know.
3: I see several main reasons young people are suprised at the lack of freedom they have and become depressed when they realise the limits of their reality.
A: The media portrays an unrealistic idea of freedom and success. Not everyone can be rich and famous. Not everyone can be beautiful and in perfect health. Someone has to clean the toilets and take out the trash.
B: Parants have an unrealistic idea that their kids will be better off than they were. History shows that is not usually the case. The only reason adults today appear to be more successful is because of the staggering debt that has been placed on their kids.
C: Many young people today live a sheltered life and when they actually have to earn a living and they see how things really work and what is expected of them. They realize this is their destiny for the next 30-40 years. That in of it self is depressing. 
4: The overwhelming amount of information avalible today makes decision making alot harder. How do you process all this information repeatedly. Even understanding it is hard enough.
5: Personally I believe that alot of the reason depression is prevelant in society today is because we have abandonded alot of traditions and cultural norms. These gave people a sense of belonging and an idea of what to expect. Now people are expected to be successful and at the same time be "themselves and unique". The odds of success are greatest in most circumstances to do it the way it has always been done.
6: Life is boring and mundain. It is the same thing over and over. The main change is when things go wrong. This usually just makes it harder not exciting and fun.
7: Attitude has a lot to do with it. What our goals are and our ability to set realistic goals. To be patient in achieving our goals and to sometimes admit we will never achieve all the goals we set. To be satisfied and happy with what we have and where we are. Instead of always looking for something or someone to make us happy.
 
I believe that computer games that protray an alternet reality will continue to become more and more popular. This will allow people to escape the day to day and live the fantasy life that the media portrays.
 
Be content with the you that already exsists. Make changes to improve the you that is inside and to help others. Not to increase the things that are taking your time and energy away. More debt only takes away your freedom. More things only require more effort to control and maintain them. To be free we must shead the things that take away our freedom. What do you really need Vs what you want and what society tells you that you should have? Peace!