Depression and Anxiety - Why Do We Exist?

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Alexander hayman is the author of a new book, The Loneliness Project. He talks about why we have such an individualistic view of happiness. But studies show that in some countries it actually makes us happier to be more self-confessedly happy. And there's no reason not to try and improve your quality of life by taking part in social groups - even if you don't think you need them.

What causes addiction? Johann Hari, author of Chasing the Scream, travelled some 30,000 miles in search of an answer. He met with researchers and lawmakers, drug dealers and drug makers, those who were struggling with substance abuse and those who had recovered from it, and he came to the conclusion that our whole narrative about addiction is broken. "The opposite of addiction is not sobriety," he argues. "The opposite of addiction is connection." But first, we have to figure out what it really means to connect.