> To receive a diagnosis of depression, these symptoms must cause the individual clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
I'd say most of the lower class has this issue.
> But it is certainly not something that includes "almost everyone".
How do you know this?
edit: maybe almost everyone is too much, I mean about 97% of the population.
Why would you say that? Do you think that rich people are happy and poor people are depressed? Anecdotally, the poorest people I know are often the happiest and the richest people are often the most miserable. I was a whole lot happier when I was younger and poorer. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
> Why would you say that? Do you think that rich people are happy and poor people are depressed?
There are numerous studies showing this, for almost all disease categories. All psychological illness is negatively corelated with socioeconomic status.
Also depression. It took me one minute to find three sources, could you please make some effort here? I have other things to do.
And you're right, it's not a causative factor necessarily, but I think there's pretty strong evidence at this point, it's hard to find a poor person who doesn't have some condition.
> Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day.
If most people had this symptom, you wouldn't see the current movie, gaming, and music sales. Also, sex work would not be a lucrative job, and neither would the leisure industry (except perhaps casinos).
> A slowing down of thought and a reduction of physical movement (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down).
If an overwhelming majority of people had this symptom, the world would have crawled to a stop by now. One look out the window on a busy street shows that most people are walking around normally, often at a brisk pace.
> Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.
> Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day.
These ones I could grant are extremely common, especially among the working class, and are often encouraged by moder work and management practices.
> Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day.
If this were true of the vast majority of the population, you wouldn't have any kind of political life outside the elites, you wouldn't have any real amount of productive work, and you wouldn't see any art or creativity from the working class, which is obviously not true.
Overall your claim that ~97% of the population suffers from all of these symptoms is simply obviously false.
> I'd say most of the lower class has this issue.
The lower class is not "in significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning because they have depression-like symptoms. It is the other way around: a lot of them have horrible jobs where they are treated poorly, and that is causing depression-like symptoms (especially fatigue and feelings of guilt). It is not the fatigue that keeps them from living a better life, it is the life they are forced to live by our current economic and societal model that is causing their fatigue.
Depression manifests very differently, especially if you are close enough to the depressed person to get a good glimpse into their life. Diminished pleasure or interest does not manifest by being slightly bored while watching TV or listening to soul-less pop. It manifests by sitting alone in the dark, sleep-less, for hours on end. It manifests by simply not feeling powerful enough to get out of bed, regardless of how hungry you are, or of how important your job is for your livelihood. It manifests by crippling guilt and long bouts of crying, regardless of how important for your future it is to greet customers with a smile at Walmart. People with clinical depression rarely hold down jobs, especially if they are untreated. They rarely hold down relationships of any kind.
The symptoms described above sound vague, but they are actually very recognizable. Sure, you could say that 97% of the population has something that vaguely looks like these symptoms. But remember that this is a guide for trained psychiatrists, it is not meant for the general public to diagnose others.
I'd say most of the lower class has this issue.
> But it is certainly not something that includes "almost everyone".
How do you know this?
edit: maybe almost everyone is too much, I mean about 97% of the population.