[cluckindan]

”There’s a difference between intoxication and treating the chemical imbalance behind depression or anxiety.”

There is no significant, rigorous evidence that depression or anxiety are caused by an inherent ”chemical imbalance”.

[joquarky]

Am I an idiot or is it not glaringly obvious to everyone that the cause is our individualistic hyper competitive culture?

[contravariant]

I won't call you an idiot, but assuming that all cases are simply people being sad is a bit simplistic.

Some people are going to be more susceptible to depression, for whatever reasons, and improving someone's surroundings is probably going to prevent or alleviate depression to an extent, but to people who are depressed now it's somewhat pointless advice.

[anal_reactor]

"Patient is chronically lonely" isn't really a diagnosis, even though it should be.

[zdragnar]

There are plenty of historical records of people having anxiety or depression.

There's almost certainly a link between the prevalence and modern, always-on culture, but to suggest that it alone is the cause is blatantly wrong.