“The best journeys are not where you find yourself, the best journeys are where you find other people…Trying to find yourself as a unique individual is part of the reason why we are so depressed and anxious as a society.” ~ Johann Hari
E47 – JOHANN HARI ON DEPRESSION, ADDICTION AND CONNECTION
LOST CONNECTIONS: FINDING OTHERS INSTEAD OF OURSELVES
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About this interview:
What’s behind the rise in depression and how can we heal collectively?
“The best journeys are not where you find yourself, the best journeys are where you find other people…Trying to find yourself as a unique individual is part of the reason why we are so depressed and anxious as a society.” ~ Johann Hari
In this episode Amisha meets author and journalist Johann Hari. Johann’s best-selling book ‘Chasing the Scream’ is focused on addiction and the war on drugs, while his most recent publication ‘Lost Connections’ dives into the deeper causes and unexpected solutions for the rising tide of depression and anxiety.
Together Johann and Amisha discuss how our society and culture is failing to meet people’s needs in the most basic way. They speak about the crisis of Western democracy and the discourse of rage and humiliation that dominates our current socio-political context, the origins and impacts of our addiction to ‘junk values’ such as extreme materialism and individualism, and how we might reconnect with the genuinely meaningful moments in life and what we really love
Johann shares his views on how the overwhelmingly biological stories we are told about depression have deeply divorced us from the sources of our own pain, why we must wake up to the wider context of depression and how we can construct a more truthful, honest and loving story about why we feel the way we do.
During his 30,000 mile quest to understand depression, addiction and connection Johann encountered people from all walks of life seeking to heal the epidemic of depression and anxiety. We hear stories from across the globe of communities banding together to recover collective control, meaning and connection.
“When people band together and fight for progressive change it can absolutely happen. In a way things are more hospitable to progressive change than they have been for a long time because the system is falling apart and we can be the ones who build the alternative – and that’s a really important thing for us to be thinking about.” ~ Johann Hari
Johann Hari is the author of The New York Times bestselling book Chasing the Scream, the product of his four-year, 12-country, 30,000-mile journey into the war on drugs. His viral TED Talk—viewed online more than 15 million times—is a funny, fascinating, and moving look at the ways in which we turn to addiction as a response to conditions of isolation and disengagement in our lives. Hari has written for many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Nation, Slate, El Mundo, and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was a lead op-ed columnist for The Independent, one of Britain’s leading newspapers, for nine years, and was named ‘National Newspaper Journalist of the Year’ by Amnesty International twice. He was named ‘Environmental Commentator of the Year’ at the Editorial Intelligence awards, and ‘Gay Journalist of the Year’ at the Stonewall awards. He has also won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for political writing.
To find out more about Johann visit: www.thelostconnections.com and www.chasingthescream.com
To connect or work with Amisha, visit www.amisha.co.uk
Links from this episode:
Residents protest in Kotti, Berlin
Prof. John Cacioppo, University of Chicago – research on loneliness
Dr. Brett Ford – research on happiness
Prof. Tim Kasser – research on happiness and materialism
Research on effect of advertising on social vs material decision making in children
Nathan Dungan – Share, Save Spend
Harvard Medical School research on depression
STAR*D Study – largest ever study of anti-depressant efficacy
Research on suicide amongst First Nation Peoples in Canada
Dr Joanna Cacciatore – MISS Foundation for grieving families
John Hopkins University- Smoking cessation and psilocybin
Magic mushrooms clinical trial
The Future Is Beautiful Patron Video Circle
The Future Is Beautiful book (gift)
Amisha’s Presence Mentoring Programme
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