On my theory that depression is a mental virus, a whopping, wholistic meme: it’s global and permanent, like the thought itself. Its vector is talking about depression in certain ways, and a sick mixture of stigma and pride. Early on, pride in not sleeping, in being stressed out expressed itself in the culture (see the Slow Movement’s attempts to blow out that furnace with a whisper). This was a good foundation for the petri dish we all live in now.

The problems with our friendships has been talked about in plenty of places. I believe that the idea of friend has been changed to include contacts, while true friendship hasn’t been similarly buffed up. In other words, contacts have become friends while we still only have the same small amount or fewer real friends. Also, the society of besting people, the hatred of stars and the time spent hating them. This is group loneliness.

Economic terms being simply that most of us earn much less money for the amount of work we do, with the focus being on those who earn far more than they deserve (and the lucky few who earn a lot for doing a lot), the average person is made to feel alien.

Is this how depression can spread? Because I’d always thought of it as genetic, but the World Health Organization is predicting an increase in depression world wide. It must also be a virus. A bug you catch no problem when you have the wrong genes.

Can individuals spread it?