Here is what I consider to be a more accurate portrayal: Depression is an issue that plagues pretty much all of the educated America, which significantly overlaps with tech these days.
Plus this article focuses on the depression founders face, but most of us aren't founders. And while I wouldn't say starting a company should make you depressed, it should be hard in some sense. There is an idea that it will suck for a while and then you'll succeed, or more generally that the suck has some sort of timebox around it.
But for people with jobs, we just... have jobs. Until we retire or die. So depression in that case is a bit more of a problem, I'd say.
If you're interested in this, definitely read the book _Suicide_ by the sociologist Emile Durkheim. (Published in 1897). It's an incredibly incisive analysis of several of the flavors of depressive thoughts that smart folks have. One of the top 3 books I've ever read.
Sorry, my opener was misleading. I intentionally did not comment about the less educated because (at the cost of sounding elitist) I know very few of them personally. I'd love to hear about depression among the uneducated (I would not be surprised if this, too, is a serious issue) from more learned folks out here.
As they say, ignorance is bliss. If you never educate yourself about how other people in the world live and how your lifestyle impacts them, or how the food you eat is made, or the actions that governments take on your behalf, you won't feel empathy or anger about all the injustices and abuses that occur. Once you realize how much pain exists, and how much of it is a result of your action or inaction, then the real depression starts.
Actually my impression is that poorer people are more likely to be depressed. Consider the high rate of suicide among poor Indian farmers, or the high number of homeless with mental illness.
A quick google search for studies of the correlation between wealth and suicide seem to confirm my view, eg "a 2009 Gallup survey [shows] the rate of depression is nearly twice as high for Americans making less than $24,000 a year than it is for those with annual incomes above $60,000." Of course, the real story is more complicated: It seems the correlation is much less clear for poor regions than for poor individuals, and I saw some suggestions that poor people living next to wealthy people were more likely to commit suicide.
That might be confusing cause and effect. It's not that homeless people are more likely to be mentally ill, it's that the mentally ill are often homeless.
And that's by choice - we've decided that we'd rather not give a shit about mentally ill people, because it might cost money. (Cf. the killing of the Mental Health Systems Act)
I don't know how much depression is caused by external and abstract world events and how much is caused by more personal events. People are more likely to become depressed after a divorce for example.
I came here to say this. We're not the only industry that suffers from it. In fact many of the traits that make someone a good leader or unusually innovative are the same traits that can trigger depression. We only have anecdotal evidence at this point but I'm confident it will be proven someday.
> We're not the only industry that suffers from it
The article actually acknowledges that:
> Depression is hardly exclusive to tech. The disorder is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and costs employers billions of dollars a year in lost revenue. Multiple people I talked to for this story pointed out that entertainers are also known for melancholy. For writers and artists, neuroses are practically required.
So true. I think it's the fact that the general public doesn't think startup founders (and employees) face depression that is the story. But the same can be true of many other professions too: doctors, lawyers, consultants, etc.
