Unrealistic self-worth standards drive widespread depression in America

Evidence

Given such unrealistic standards of value, it’s no wonder that shaky self-esteem is the norm in the United States. And it is hardly surprising that one in ten Americans is clinically depressed and that so many suffer from anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse. These problems are, at least in part, a direct consequence of a culture that promotes rarely achievable standards for feeling worthy. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 243

Categorization

• XREF: Partially challenged by the social-psychology critique that cultural standards alone may not fully explain depression rates; connects to the debate over happiness research and the Easterlin paradox. — connects to: Depression emerges when entrepreneurial self-belief meets blocked opportunity — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1605
• QUESTION: The causal chain from ‘unrealistic standards’ to ‘one in ten depressed’ is asserted rather than demonstrated — worth chasing the actual empirical literature on this.