Season 3, episode 5: "Depression thrives on the You Do You Era's narrative."

Humans have never had more access to self help media and mental health drugs than right now. And yet, depression and anxiety are the hallmark pathologies of the You Do You Era. All the statistics show the same thing: We're more depressed, more anxious, and less happy, even though we have more creature comforts than ever in human history.

Why is this?

Obviously, the answer is very complicated....more complicated than what we could cover in this episode.

But here's the deal: Modern society makes us ill. Many people are anxious and depressed not because there is something wrong with them, but because something is wrong with the water (culture) that we are swimming in. It's polluted. It points you inward and then leaves you all alone.

Research shows that religious faith, connected to a healthy Church, is a buffer, a HUGE buffer, against depressive disorders. Why? Because a healthy Church offers a counter narrative to the You Do You Era.

You belong to God (See Alan Noble's You Are Not Your Own); You are a baptized child of God; God is the center, not you; these Church folk love you and you are accountable to them; you are not the king /queen of your life.

And this counter narrative will change your habits, and your habits may lead you to God.

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]

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