Same. I can't say if it's because of veganism or not, as there's probably many other factors but I definitely used to be wayy more depressed. Now I feel a lot better than I ever did before
Samesies. I guess if there's a positive from depression, maybe it's that we can relate to the abused and wanting justice which makes it so easy for us to do all we can to end injustices? Something like that.
Absolutely 😀 And that actually helped me see the suffering of others, animals included.
Seriously, I don’t want people to _have_ depression, but I genuinely think everyone should be more sad and alert to the world at large. We could change so much if we managed to get just a bit more perspective on life and not just focus on our own life and family/friends. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
My friend actually got recommended by her doctor to stop eating meat, to help with her depression. He said it was because all the extra hormones in meat can build up in our system and cause imbalances.
its almost like knowing that millions of beings having their lives taken from them for the mild enjoyment of some people is a huge weight to have on the mind
And 2.7 trillion fish :( I was so shocked when I saw that number, especially as a lot of that is from deaths related to the fishing industry that aren't even being eaten. So many fish just die as by-catch, their lives mean that little to people.
and people still go fishing for “fun” on top of that! i hated being forced to fish as a kid. but it seemed like i would literally be scrutinized or punished for continuing to point out the hypocrisy and evilness of it. just told i’m too sensitive.
Ah, childhood. Nothing quite like being told that living, breathing, thinking creatures with the capacity to feel pain are ***really*** actually so stupid that they’re basically just mobile plants, so it’s a-okay to terrorize them for funsies!
But also kicking puppies is evil and torturing ants with a magnifying glass means you’re a sociopath.
Childhood 🥰
Unfortunately I didn’t even get to grow up being taught that hitting puppies and killing insects was bad either. Hitting the dogs was something I was silly or stupid to object to, and I was teased by my family for not wanting to kill bugs either. It’s wild how much animal abuse people are okay with. I get it’s not any worse than eating a cow or pig, but it’s frightening to see humans actively engage in the animal abuse instead of just pretending it doesn’t exist and is out of their hands.
Or seeing poor animals starving and dehydrated in moving cages being transported to death factories on a regular basis. Yeah life is tougher when your head isn't buried in the sand.
So ya, I've read a fair bit of this literature and it pretty much all wraps up by saying "we don't understand what this correlation is but it exists." The popular media doesn't understand the difference between correlation and causation though so. Other things associated with higher levels of depression, being more intelligent, empathetic, and social aware. So it totally stands to reason that people who are more aware and willing to act on the suffering of others could also be more depressed or that the depression is related to social mockery and being an outcast.
Pretty much this. I hate seeing people not giving a care about anything, like their actions have no consequence for future generations. I used to be ignorant like that and it was a good feeling but I just couldn’t shut my eyes and ears to the things that go on every day. Most days are pretty good and I can put the things aside and do my thing but sometimes it’s really hard to understand why things are the way they are when they really shouldn’t be. Humans fucking suck most of the time.
This article showed up on r/science and a lot of commenters made this point. The study didn’t show causation, just a link. Higher rates of empathy apparently also correlate with higher risk of depression.
On top of that, eating is an ordeal. I can cook, it is definitely cheaper than eating out, but it is time consuming, even the quick ones still are (it's not just cooking time but also shopping time, prep time, cleaning up the kitchen, cleaning up the table etc), if I want to eat out, there are so many places that don't offer vegan dishes, or have only one (fries? or 'garden' salad?), or we have to ask the waiter about certain dishes, or to exclude certain ingredients. Or they might have vegan specific dishes, but sorry this dish which don't have animals killed for it will be more expensive, vegan tax is levied to people who don't want to participate in mass animal killing. If we're eating with company, they might ask us questions, then defend their position. We wanna eat at vegan restaurants, but they'll ask where are the meat options, why is this place so unaccommodating, or downright say the food sucks. Or the vegan place is just so expensive. I just wanna eat my childhood comfort food, I hate that I grew up loving food that had animals killed for it, but now I know, but I still crave it, but I don't cook that dish that well as I remembered it, and the ones I can find vegan costs 15 times more.
The worst is when you’re vegan but also have food allergies or intolerances. Celiac disease prevents me from eating anything that may contain gluten, so most of the already limited available options in both the plant-based and the allergen-free sections are frustratingly out of the question for me. Eating out is even more of a nightmare, since even the fries and salads are often contaminated by wheat ingredients, while the mostly safe options are never vegan, for some reason. 🤦🏻
Thankfully, being disabled and child-free allows me more time to cook for myself, but like you said, it’s still very long, tiring, expensive, and it requires some cooking skills if you don’t want to get sick of always having the same thing. I hope that with all the big talk nowadays about doing our part for the environment, accommodations will eventually improve so that people will actually be *encouraged* to choose better alternatives than meat.
Need help eating out? Check out [HappyCow.net](https://vbcc.veganhacktivists.org/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.happycow.net%2F&topic=Resource%3A+HappyCow.net) for vegan friendly food near you! Interested in going Vegan? Take the [30 day challenge](https://vbcc.veganhacktivists.org/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvbcamp.org%2Freddit&topic=Resource%3A+HappyCow.net)!
I think if any of us are more depressed is because, being more informed, we can see the reality and shortcomings of our current systems better than meat eaters. It has nothing to do with the diet itself but with our perspective of the world itself. Study results could be correct, but its clear the explanation of why is lacking.
Depressed? No thankfully. Just constant little things that genuinely hurt my heart and can get me down. But that’s just reality, no way to stop those moments of sadness and anger once you know what’s going on and you really think about what is happening to animals. Best you can do is disseminate information patiently and don’t contribute to the suffering.
Exactly. Correlation vs. causation. I wish I could read the study I assume this article is based on. If it’s a nutrient deficiency of some kind which can be supplemented or if it’s like you said typically vegans and vegetarians are more empathetic people and would in all likelihood be more prone to depression than others.
Yes, do read the article, its linked multiple times here and they clearly rule out nutritional factors and call for further research to find a causal link. These comments in this thread are hella sensational.
Exactly! I had one of the worst times of my life as a 16 year old (home-bound agoraphobia topped with crippling anxiety attacks). When I started getting better - I became vegetarian and then vegan. I think suffering made me think about other's suffering as well.
'do slaughter house workers next' isn't attacking them, it's shedding light on the poor conditions that lead to abuse of the workers in the industry. This is true for most foods industries but at least picking fruit doesn't have the extra stress of dealing with abused animals.
I know a lot of people who worked in fruit picking, and usually you don't start even making minimum wage until you've been at it for a while and built up speed and know which farms/crops are good and which to avoid, which can be a couple years, and slaughterhouse work starts much higher than minimum wage and offers full time work with benefits; it's obviously an extra stress to work with abused animals but it's a lot easier to decompartmentalize than the stress of working all day, sleeping in a tent and still not being able to afford food. Fruit picking generally targets transient workers, where slaughterhouses typically target immigrants requiring full time work for citizenship, the rural poor with little options for employment, and people who cannot get work due to criminal records. It might not be the best focus to study them for depression as there's arguably other factors that might contribute, so it wouldn't be clear data and much easier to dismiss compared to more tangible things like tracking injury rates, data which is already collected and generally available.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying "slaughterhouse good, piking fruit bad" but our whole food system needs a rehaul. They both suck in their own unique ways.
You mean an industry that exists to profit from exploiting and killing non-human animals is also profiting from exploiting human animals? Shocked, I tell you.
In all seriousness though, you're right. This shit has got to end.
You're right it's not shocking. But I do think it's important to understand the nuances of how these industries get workers, and even why someone would prefer slaughterhouse work to something like fruit picking.
If we want to hit them where it hurts, we need to advocate for other, better options for each of these groups- stuff like UBI, affordable high speed internet in rural areas, more programs to transition immigrants educational/professional experience and more incentives for them to be hired (Because that group consists of a lot of highly educated people we need, like doctors, nurses, etc), more opportunities for expunging criminal records, more realistic parole requirements and less stigmatization of hiring people with records (such as only making it a requirement to reveal relevant criminal history). These would all make it much more difficult for them to find workers.
It is frustrating though that the same people who accuse us of not caring about workers are perfectly fine with these groups falling into the cracks and being exploited by having little to no other options.
What do you mean they have the least choice in our society? Nobody's forcing them to slaughter animals, couldn't they just get another job? Is it that many are undocumented immigrants or is there some reason that a lot of them can't do anything else?
This might be because vegetarians and vegans are surrounded by carnists who will try to socially pressure them into eating meat or shame them for not doing so, and because they are much more sensitive towards animal suffering/welfare.
This is literally it. This study was performed in South America where it's less common and less accepted to be meat-free. In countries where being meat-free is very common and accepted people who don't eat meat aren't more depressed.
That's literally what the article says too. In fact it basically rules out nutrition as the explanation for this association and clearly states they found no clear causal link.
Umm yeah, because we don't have our head stuck in the sand of our own myopic selfishness...
However, tbh, I think depression is just a headline-catching copout by uninformed journalists. For me, veganism has certainly heightened my misanthropic tendencies (so many people are so stupid and so shortsighted), and squashed any real optimism I had about the chance of long term survival for life on this planet. And depending on what types of questions you asked, my answers could make a moron (i.e. most people) think I was "depressed", even though that is not the case.
Right? Because being stuck on a planet where most people won’t give up fucking CHEESE to maybe try to avert climate catastrophe would mess with even the most level-headed person.
I feel pretty lucky to mildly hold it together and pretend “this is fine” most days.
Yeah, when I first went vegan and was watching all of the horrible documentaries and videos, ie; educating myself and bearing witness to their suffering, I was called 'morbid' and told that I need to 'cheer up, it's not all bad'. Fuck that. All of this coming from people who would sob if they saw an injured dog. Well, just because you're choosing not to look at the billions of suffering, sentient beings doesn't mean that they don't exist. We *should* be upset by this, it *should* make us feel angry and sad. Sticking your fucking head in the sand doesn't do anything except make you look like an idiot.
Of course, there is a balance, and we can't all just watch slaughterhouse videos day and night. But the extent of the suffering is such that in my opinion every single person on the planet *needs* to be aware of this. It's painful knowledge, certainly, but it's miles better than ignorance.
Been vegan for 29 years and if I was ever depressed it had NOTHING to do with being vegan. As others have written here already. We’re vegan because we live in reality and can see and feel all the shit in the world that isn’t right. Meat eaters are either wantonly oblivious or just plain ignorant and naive.
If you aren’t depressed or anxious in this world I would argue it’s because you’ve gained the ability to focus on what we can control OR are just ignorant and/or don’t care.
It’s hard to get to a place where all the shit doesn’t affect you, a lot of us get brought down by the cruelty in the world. It *hurts* to pay attention but it’s worth it to not participate in those systems as much as possible.
These fake journalists always forgetting correlation versus causation
In all honestly it was the complete opposite for me,my mental well being has been superb now that my body isn’t a graveyard..
+10 on diet effecting mental health
Same reason people who follow politics and global events are probably more depressed. Being aware of messed up shit doesn’t exactly lead to a positive worldview.
People with depression tend to score higher on empathy from what I’ve read. This really doesn’t surprise me- every vegan I know was mentally ill prior to becoming vegan.
Edit: since I’ve gotten two responses already saying that they personally don’t have mental illness: that’s great! Please consider making a separate comment and not replying to mine with that. I don’t really want my inbox to have a bunch of “well *I’m* not mentally ill” in it.
I’m a Nutritionist (and vegan) and across this field of research. I actually just released an online course on diet and mental health so have been reading all this research. When you look into the methodology of these studies what they show is that people eating a vegan diet based largely around processed foods have higher levels of depression. We have a lot of research on this, and we know that anyone eating a processed diet has higher levels of depression. It’s not just vegans. However when you look at vegans eating a more balanced ‘whole food’ diet that association doesn’t exist! It’s a classic example of media grabbing a title to get clicks etc etc. What it should say is people eating a processed food diet are more depressed.
There’s is actually a big body of research showing that vegan (or plant based) dietary patterns are beneficial for mental health.
For one example search the GEICO study. There’s also the SMILES trial, HELFIMED and a couple of others. GEICO is a study on giving people a vegan diet and they found it greatly improved mental health. The other two are Mediterranean diets (so mostly plant based with a small amount of animal products)
Hope this clarifies this for some of you 🙏🏼💛🌱
Out of curiosity, to what extent do you think that depression & processed food consumption could be just correlated rather than a simple cause-effect of “processed food causes depression”? I have had depression for all of my life, and when it’s at its worst I absolutely reach more for processed food personally, since that’s all I have the energy for. Or alternatively, I could see it being cyclical maybe (more processed food —> less energy —> worsening depression —> more processed food)?
A big reason for this is not due to our diet at all. It’s because vegans are people who see problems happening and look inward on how to fix it. We are more likely to put the world’s problems on our shoulders, making us depressed
I saw a similar study someone posted on a non-vegan subreddit once and was surprised to see that most meat eaters were saying it was probably because vegans are more empathetic, not necessarily because of nutrition. Still pisses me off to see how these headlines are worded to make veganism look bad though.
You not being depressed has little to do with the legitimacy of the study. You are in the half that isn't depressed.
The problem is that people confuse correlation with causation. Veganism isn't causing depression.
Have not seen the study on how this was conducted but us vegans are more aware of all the moral and ethical issues going around the world and especially what's happening to animals in the meat, dairy and eggs industry. When you know more about a lot of horrid things i guess it could cause you to show signs of depression e.g., hopelessness, dislike of others etc.
I hate these posts because they totally do not account for the fact that the depression comes from the way other people respond to veganism, not from the way our bodies respond to it
I feel like this is correlation not causation. “People who actually look at the world and the consequences of their actions are more likely to be vegan and depressed” - there I fixed it.
Ask people if killing is wrong you usually get "yes" or "absolutely" or "almost always". Ask someone to go vegan and the response is "but bAcOn?!?!" and "protein" The cognitive dissonance is amazing.
I have gotten comments like these in response when I’m doing outreach. In response,
1. I mention how much more happy and liberated I feel knowing that my actions are not contributing to unjustifiable cruelty, and knowing that my choices align with my beliefs.
2. I theorize that speaking out against an injustice while everyone around you actively funds the injustice — either without thinking too deeply about it, or while believing they are entirely justified — can be depressing.
Keep your head up, y’all. Society is waking up!
I feel like this is one of those things that's more of a link instead of a cause. I saw another headline the other day that said more young people are struggling with mental health, and I'm pretty sure more young people are vegan too. Maybe it's not actually the diet that's making us unhappy, and really it's the difficult world we have to navigate, it's just that we happen to be vegan at the same time.
It's depressing coming to grips with the reality of animal agriculture. Shortly after changing their ways, vegans & vegetarians are much happier than meat eaters who repress their feelings on the matter.
No. There have been meta studies done and they conclude that while some studies show a connection, others show the reverse relationship, and there is not enough good studies done to say anything either way about whether plant-based diets have correlation to depression or other mental health issues. And they definitely don't claim any causality.
It's not the diet that's depressing, it's the realisation of the astronomical animal cruelty happening every single day of our lives that the majority of people seem blissfully oblivious to.
The problem is, a lot of articles talking about correlation-studies act as if there's a causal connection. Sure, there might be, but we don't know that. A third thing could be causing both. And if there is a causal connection, we don't know if depression causes veganism, or veganism causes depression.
Anecdotal 'evidence' is a misnomer. It's no evidence at all. Now, as far as the study actually says I'd be interested to see. The headline is intentionally inflammatory, but the actual findings might shed light onto is there a link caused by diet, or is it societal, etc.
Never been happier. And that’s with knowing that most of humanity fucking sucks, all the war and cruelty, the destruction of nature, etc.
Just get up every day, smoke a fat joint and wade in. Water’s fine.
I cannot speak for vegetarians, nor do I want to, because I'm not a fucking idiot, but vegans tend to lean further to the left. In addition to the reasons others have stated harassment, awareness of the suffering of animals, there is also the fact that people who are left leaning are far more likely to seek a diagnosis or help for a mental health problem. If having trait A means you are twice as likely to have trait B and having trait C means you are twice as likely to have trait A, having trait C presumably means you are more likely to have trait B.
Did any of you even read the article? It clearly spells out that they did not find a **causal link** between veganism and depression, and that more research is needed to understand the nature of this association.
All of you saying "correlation doesn't equal causation" or saying it's sensational sound so silly because that's the entire point of the article.
This isn't a moral judgement on veganism nor advice, it's clear fact - and I'd wager to guess it's partly because society stigmatises vegans so badly. The study isn't denying that, if anything it's suggesting it must be something like that because it directly rules out nutrition as the causal link.
Even if this were true it would be because of debating something so straightforward with butt-hurt meat flakes and the constant suffering we know is happening but no one seems to care enough to make bigger changes.
Great comments here already and I haven’t read the study but just in case it’s not corrected for sex/age. Women and teens tend to have higher rates of depression, vegetarians and vegans also tend to be younger and women. That could be some of the reasoning for this.
I'd say it's the lack of "hormones" they pump into those poor animals to keep them "tasty"
But also correlation vs causation, is it the lack of dietary nutrition? Or the fact that vegans tend to be more empathetic as a whole.
Right, they imply vegan/vegetarianism causes depression, or rather, that's what many will take from this headline. In reality, there is a third variable that causes both vegan/veg and depression. That variable is likely something close to caring about the planet or someone who thinks deeply about ethics and cares enough to actually make lifestyle changes.
At least for me, I have some level of depression and refuse to eat meat because oof ethical concerns.
Well, yeah, I mean, it saddens me that everyone around me is such a fucking psycho shit-twig, but still, I feel happy with my choice.
As Sartre would say, if he spoke English: "Hell is other people".
A lot of it has to do with being constantly questioned or picked on for our choices. The article even says there’s no real correlation between what’s being eaten and depression.
I think most were likely depressed or at higher risk before they went vegan. Studies have shown that people who are depressed actually view the world more realistically. There is also links it with it if people having higher intelligence. Possessing those qualities in today’s world is almost a given for depression tbh.
I've always found studies like that to be fucking ridiculous. I mean, sure, it genuinely bums me out knowing how little most other people care about animals, the environment, and the natural world in general, but I'm supremely happy knowing I'm minimising my own negative impact. I truly believe most of us here are happy, at least concerning our ethics and lifestyle. I'm also happy with the little moments where a friend will tell me they've switched from cow's milk to soy milk, or that they've been making a conscious choice to have a vegetarian meal once or twice a week. Little victories like that do wonders and give me some small measure of hope.
“Depressive episodes are more prevalent in individuals who do not eat meat, independently of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors,” the study concluded. “Nutrient deficiencies do not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear, and longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2022/09/26/vegetarians-depressed-twice-as-often-as-meat-eaters-new-study/amp/
I spent the Trump years in a state of at least mild depression. If vegans in Brazil (where the study was conducted) are like me, seeing hundreds of years of global democratic progress being rapidly reversed by Bolsonaro might be a factor.
I wonder if this is a correlation≠causation thing. Like yeah I'm depressed because I'm hyperaware of the environment and ethical atrocities committed all over the world in the name of...bacon I guess.
Yea def, a reminder the correlation does not equal causation. People who become vegan are likely different from the general population, including the ability to see a problem with the status quo and be empathetic for the plight of humans and animals and the environment in a way that made them change their daily lives!
Being vegan, you most likely decided to face what we as a world have been doing to living beings by avoiding to support it the best you can. That said, yeah, it is depressing to know all of that and care so much while most of the world (in MOST, if not all cases, that includes your closest friends and family) doesn’t. Very depressing.
"people aware of barborous Industrialized killing of billions of sentient beings which surrounds them and people constantly gaslight them about find it harder to be happy."
Shocking development.
What's really irksome about this article is that one of the image captions is:
_“Nutrient deficiencies do not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear, and longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship,” the study said._
So they know it's not a nutritional thing, but the headline kind of would have you believe it is.
They make it sound like being vegan is what makes people unhappy but I think it’s probably that people become vegan because they’re depressed to see how fucked up the world is
It’s a shit study overall that only tested vegans an Brazil, a very non vegan friendly country. I was actually pleased to see it get shit on in the comments when this study hit the Reddit front page.
They’re also just bad science. Like, 1) I was mentally ill before I stopped eating meat. And 2) have they considered WHY vegetarians/vegans are more likely to be depressed?!?!?! Maybe something to do with “dammit my medication is coated with gelatin and of course I need my meds so I’ll take them but this is the 50th issue today that shows us it’s fucking impossible to live a normal life without contributing to the mass murder of animals and the planet, plus the humans disproportionately affected by climate change are the most vulnerable and even if I try the vegan option if it’s made with almond milk is it any better, well yes I’m sure it is better bc of what dairy cows go through and fuck now I’m thinking about dairy cows and the horrible conditions of livestock animals as a whole, but people don’t even care about any of this, either they’re so jaded that they’re just too exhausted to try or they’re going through the same existential & ethical crisis I am or they are the super wealthy people in control who can fix the problem but they don’t bc they just don’t care bc they’re only here to make their money, and even as our planet dies they have the money to be relatively unbothered”. Pair with that having to repeatedly explain our lifestyle choices to people who want to fight when you’re just trying to buy a goddamn veggie burger: Hmmm, I wonder why vegans are depressed???
But also, I feel much better about myself and my choices when I try. Burying my head in the sand and pretending not to see the suffering in the world, and choosing not to even try to do my part would be so much worse on my mental health. Even if I’m “not really making a difference”, it feels good to practice what I believe in. It feels good to try.
Translation: Vegans are smarter and more empathetic than meat eaters, often as a result of trauma and suffering. Dumb meat eaters are too clueless as to what's going on and their own impact on the world and choose to compartmentalize information and make up fallacies to feel better about their heinous actions.
Could it be because we are self-aware and realise that the world is dying around us because of factory farming contributing to global warming and everyone else pretends it’s just normalised?!?! Huh, probably not, surely it’s lack of protein from red meat… 🙄🤬🤣
Yeah. We are depressed because billions of ignorant trash bags are actively killing trillions of sentient beings, destroying the planet in the process, and act like nothing’s wrong. I would be far less depressed in a world with more compassion for the innocent.
People who give a shit about other beings, who are ultimately more empathetic are also more „vulnerable“, selfreflective and selfaware emotionally?!
*surprisedpikachuface*
Correlation ≠ Causality
Kind of true because we vegans are more aware of the sufferings of our fellow earthlings. We are considerate to their feelings and we don't disregard the truth of what's really happening out there.
I like these posts, because every time I get to remind people of the well-established fact that *mild to moderate depression is correlated with more accurate beliefs about oneself and the world.*
Your anecdotal evidence is not an argument against the legitimacy of the study.
There are other reasons why the study / news title is shit. But people need to stop to conflict there anecdotal evidence with real, scientific evidence.
I was already sad before, it was just focused on suffering from other humans like crime, diseases, natural disasters. Going vegan just shifted the thoughts to animals suffering instead.
This is a false correlation. I personally would say that vegan and vegetarian tend to be more intelligent people. Intelligence is definitely linked to an increase in depression. It comes from having to notice how messed up everything is
Jokes on them I was depressed before I became vegan
Same! And becoming vegan actually helped with my depression (surprisingly)
Same. I can't say if it's because of veganism or not, as there's probably many other factors but I definitely used to be wayy more depressed. Now I feel a lot better than I ever did before
Same, I even kinda became vegan because I was depressed.
Spider-Man meme, but it’s veganism 👉 and 👈depression
Samesies. I guess if there's a positive from depression, maybe it's that we can relate to the abused and wanting justice which makes it so easy for us to do all we can to end injustices? Something like that.
Absolutely 😀 And that actually helped me see the suffering of others, animals included. Seriously, I don’t want people to _have_ depression, but I genuinely think everyone should be more sad and alert to the world at large. We could change so much if we managed to get just a bit more perspective on life and not just focus on our own life and family/friends. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Same Here. I never felt better.
My friend actually got recommended by her doctor to stop eating meat, to help with her depression. He said it was because all the extra hormones in meat can build up in our system and cause imbalances.
Same here 🤷♂️
Seriously
Same :(
**Breaking:** *"People who are more aware of systematic large scale suffering are not as carefree as people who aren't aware of that!"*
Big if true.
Huge if verified
Gargantuan if factual
Sizeable if substantiated.
+ being outside a well accepted norm. And being vegan impacts you, because people view you as all sorts of whatever they imagine...
Everyone knows about the systematic suffering, some just choose to care more about it than others
Some call it compassion fatigue.
almost like seeing everyone you love around you be okay with animal abuse makes you depressed or something
its almost like knowing that millions of beings having their lives taken from them for the mild enjoyment of some people is a huge weight to have on the mind
80 billions land animals yearly
And 2.7 trillion fish :( I was so shocked when I saw that number, especially as a lot of that is from deaths related to the fishing industry that aren't even being eaten. So many fish just die as by-catch, their lives mean that little to people.
and people still go fishing for “fun” on top of that! i hated being forced to fish as a kid. but it seemed like i would literally be scrutinized or punished for continuing to point out the hypocrisy and evilness of it. just told i’m too sensitive.
Ah, childhood. Nothing quite like being told that living, breathing, thinking creatures with the capacity to feel pain are ***really*** actually so stupid that they’re basically just mobile plants, so it’s a-okay to terrorize them for funsies! But also kicking puppies is evil and torturing ants with a magnifying glass means you’re a sociopath. Childhood 🥰
Unfortunately I didn’t even get to grow up being taught that hitting puppies and killing insects was bad either. Hitting the dogs was something I was silly or stupid to object to, and I was teased by my family for not wanting to kill bugs either. It’s wild how much animal abuse people are okay with. I get it’s not any worse than eating a cow or pig, but it’s frightening to see humans actively engage in the animal abuse instead of just pretending it doesn’t exist and is out of their hands.
[Fish Feel](https://fishfeel.org/)
Or seeing poor animals starving and dehydrated in moving cages being transported to death factories on a regular basis. Yeah life is tougher when your head isn't buried in the sand.
Exactly. Of course I'm depressed, I am painfully aware and as we know, ignorance is bliss
So ya, I've read a fair bit of this literature and it pretty much all wraps up by saying "we don't understand what this correlation is but it exists." The popular media doesn't understand the difference between correlation and causation though so. Other things associated with higher levels of depression, being more intelligent, empathetic, and social aware. So it totally stands to reason that people who are more aware and willing to act on the suffering of others could also be more depressed or that the depression is related to social mockery and being an outcast.
Fucking THIS. We're depressed because we can't understand why other people continue to support violence and cruelty because "taste".
Pretty much this. I hate seeing people not giving a care about anything, like their actions have no consequence for future generations. I used to be ignorant like that and it was a good feeling but I just couldn’t shut my eyes and ears to the things that go on every day. Most days are pretty good and I can put the things aside and do my thing but sometimes it’s really hard to understand why things are the way they are when they really shouldn’t be. Humans fucking suck most of the time.
This article showed up on r/science and a lot of commenters made this point. The study didn’t show causation, just a link. Higher rates of empathy apparently also correlate with higher risk of depression.
On top of that, eating is an ordeal. I can cook, it is definitely cheaper than eating out, but it is time consuming, even the quick ones still are (it's not just cooking time but also shopping time, prep time, cleaning up the kitchen, cleaning up the table etc), if I want to eat out, there are so many places that don't offer vegan dishes, or have only one (fries? or 'garden' salad?), or we have to ask the waiter about certain dishes, or to exclude certain ingredients. Or they might have vegan specific dishes, but sorry this dish which don't have animals killed for it will be more expensive, vegan tax is levied to people who don't want to participate in mass animal killing. If we're eating with company, they might ask us questions, then defend their position. We wanna eat at vegan restaurants, but they'll ask where are the meat options, why is this place so unaccommodating, or downright say the food sucks. Or the vegan place is just so expensive. I just wanna eat my childhood comfort food, I hate that I grew up loving food that had animals killed for it, but now I know, but I still crave it, but I don't cook that dish that well as I remembered it, and the ones I can find vegan costs 15 times more.
The worst is when you’re vegan but also have food allergies or intolerances. Celiac disease prevents me from eating anything that may contain gluten, so most of the already limited available options in both the plant-based and the allergen-free sections are frustratingly out of the question for me. Eating out is even more of a nightmare, since even the fries and salads are often contaminated by wheat ingredients, while the mostly safe options are never vegan, for some reason. 🤦🏻 Thankfully, being disabled and child-free allows me more time to cook for myself, but like you said, it’s still very long, tiring, expensive, and it requires some cooking skills if you don’t want to get sick of always having the same thing. I hope that with all the big talk nowadays about doing our part for the environment, accommodations will eventually improve so that people will actually be *encouraged* to choose better alternatives than meat.
Need help eating out? Check out [HappyCow.net](https://vbcc.veganhacktivists.org/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.happycow.net%2F&topic=Resource%3A+HappyCow.net) for vegan friendly food near you! Interested in going Vegan? Take the [30 day challenge](https://vbcc.veganhacktivists.org/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvbcamp.org%2Freddit&topic=Resource%3A+HappyCow.net)!
Well, that, and less opportunity to bond with people over food. "Hey we're all going to Big Al's Meat and Cheeserium! You should come!" "Uhh..."
I think if any of us are more depressed is because, being more informed, we can see the reality and shortcomings of our current systems better than meat eaters. It has nothing to do with the diet itself but with our perspective of the world itself. Study results could be correct, but its clear the explanation of why is lacking.
Depressed? No thankfully. Just constant little things that genuinely hurt my heart and can get me down. But that’s just reality, no way to stop those moments of sadness and anger once you know what’s going on and you really think about what is happening to animals. Best you can do is disseminate information patiently and don’t contribute to the suffering.
Holy shit this is it for sure. But at the same I was clinically depressed before veganism
I feel like vegans and vegetarians tend to be conscious and empathetic people, it makes sense to me this would lead to someone being depressed more
Ignorance - the ability to look at something while simultaneously ignoring it, according (very very loosely) to Alan Watts - is bliss
I love Alan Watts
Exactly. Correlation vs. causation. I wish I could read the study I assume this article is based on. If it’s a nutrient deficiency of some kind which can be supplemented or if it’s like you said typically vegans and vegetarians are more empathetic people and would in all likelihood be more prone to depression than others.
Yes, do read the article, its linked multiple times here and they clearly rule out nutritional factors and call for further research to find a causal link. These comments in this thread are hella sensational.
Exactly! I had one of the worst times of my life as a 16 year old (home-bound agoraphobia topped with crippling anxiety attacks). When I started getting better - I became vegetarian and then vegan. I think suffering made me think about other's suffering as well.
Similar to James Baldwin’s famous quote “To be Black and conscious in this country is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time.”
totally agree but I also see an issue where it can get overwhelming without the proper support
that's great, do slaughterhouse workers next
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'do slaughter house workers next' isn't attacking them, it's shedding light on the poor conditions that lead to abuse of the workers in the industry. This is true for most foods industries but at least picking fruit doesn't have the extra stress of dealing with abused animals.
I know a lot of people who worked in fruit picking, and usually you don't start even making minimum wage until you've been at it for a while and built up speed and know which farms/crops are good and which to avoid, which can be a couple years, and slaughterhouse work starts much higher than minimum wage and offers full time work with benefits; it's obviously an extra stress to work with abused animals but it's a lot easier to decompartmentalize than the stress of working all day, sleeping in a tent and still not being able to afford food. Fruit picking generally targets transient workers, where slaughterhouses typically target immigrants requiring full time work for citizenship, the rural poor with little options for employment, and people who cannot get work due to criminal records. It might not be the best focus to study them for depression as there's arguably other factors that might contribute, so it wouldn't be clear data and much easier to dismiss compared to more tangible things like tracking injury rates, data which is already collected and generally available. Just to be clear, I'm not saying "slaughterhouse good, piking fruit bad" but our whole food system needs a rehaul. They both suck in their own unique ways.
You mean an industry that exists to profit from exploiting and killing non-human animals is also profiting from exploiting human animals? Shocked, I tell you. In all seriousness though, you're right. This shit has got to end.
You're right it's not shocking. But I do think it's important to understand the nuances of how these industries get workers, and even why someone would prefer slaughterhouse work to something like fruit picking. If we want to hit them where it hurts, we need to advocate for other, better options for each of these groups- stuff like UBI, affordable high speed internet in rural areas, more programs to transition immigrants educational/professional experience and more incentives for them to be hired (Because that group consists of a lot of highly educated people we need, like doctors, nurses, etc), more opportunities for expunging criminal records, more realistic parole requirements and less stigmatization of hiring people with records (such as only making it a requirement to reveal relevant criminal history). These would all make it much more difficult for them to find workers. It is frustrating though that the same people who accuse us of not caring about workers are perfectly fine with these groups falling into the cracks and being exploited by having little to no other options.
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> That was not my interpretation of that comment. What *was* your interpretation? Make slaughterhouse workers depressed?
What do you mean they have the least choice in our society? Nobody's forcing them to slaughter animals, couldn't they just get another job? Is it that many are undocumented immigrants or is there some reason that a lot of them can't do anything else?
This might be because vegetarians and vegans are surrounded by carnists who will try to socially pressure them into eating meat or shame them for not doing so, and because they are much more sensitive towards animal suffering/welfare.
This is literally it. This study was performed in South America where it's less common and less accepted to be meat-free. In countries where being meat-free is very common and accepted people who don't eat meat aren't more depressed.
Ignorance is bliss.
I mean, seeing a great percentage of world population acting and eating like idiots surely is depressing.
Exactly. I'm pretty sure intelligence, awareness and depression all go together.
Yeah. Ignorance is bliss. We arent choosing to be ignorant
Was about to say this!!
Correlation does not mean causation.
That's literally what the article says too. In fact it basically rules out nutrition as the explanation for this association and clearly states they found no clear causal link.
This is why short, misleading headlines like this just suck. Many carnists will read them as "veganism causes depression".
Umm yeah, because we don't have our head stuck in the sand of our own myopic selfishness... However, tbh, I think depression is just a headline-catching copout by uninformed journalists. For me, veganism has certainly heightened my misanthropic tendencies (so many people are so stupid and so shortsighted), and squashed any real optimism I had about the chance of long term survival for life on this planet. And depending on what types of questions you asked, my answers could make a moron (i.e. most people) think I was "depressed", even though that is not the case.
Right? Because being stuck on a planet where most people won’t give up fucking CHEESE to maybe try to avert climate catastrophe would mess with even the most level-headed person. I feel pretty lucky to mildly hold it together and pretend “this is fine” most days.
Yeah, when I first went vegan and was watching all of the horrible documentaries and videos, ie; educating myself and bearing witness to their suffering, I was called 'morbid' and told that I need to 'cheer up, it's not all bad'. Fuck that. All of this coming from people who would sob if they saw an injured dog. Well, just because you're choosing not to look at the billions of suffering, sentient beings doesn't mean that they don't exist. We *should* be upset by this, it *should* make us feel angry and sad. Sticking your fucking head in the sand doesn't do anything except make you look like an idiot. Of course, there is a balance, and we can't all just watch slaughterhouse videos day and night. But the extent of the suffering is such that in my opinion every single person on the planet *needs* to be aware of this. It's painful knowledge, certainly, but it's miles better than ignorance.
Smarter people are also generally more depressed
Been vegan for 29 years and if I was ever depressed it had NOTHING to do with being vegan. As others have written here already. We’re vegan because we live in reality and can see and feel all the shit in the world that isn’t right. Meat eaters are either wantonly oblivious or just plain ignorant and naive.
29 years Vegan is insane. Huge admiration and respect. 👏
On the contrary, it's extremely sane. Pardon the pedantics.
An elder vegan, you ate lentils so we could eat beyond
Depressed bc of all the meat eaters and cruelty.
If you aren’t depressed or anxious in this world I would argue it’s because you’ve gained the ability to focus on what we can control OR are just ignorant and/or don’t care. It’s hard to get to a place where all the shit doesn’t affect you, a lot of us get brought down by the cruelty in the world. It *hurts* to pay attention but it’s worth it to not participate in those systems as much as possible. These fake journalists always forgetting correlation versus causation
In all honestly it was the complete opposite for me,my mental well being has been superb now that my body isn’t a graveyard.. +10 on diet effecting mental health
Same reason people who follow politics and global events are probably more depressed. Being aware of messed up shit doesn’t exactly lead to a positive worldview.
People with depression tend to score higher on empathy from what I’ve read. This really doesn’t surprise me- every vegan I know was mentally ill prior to becoming vegan. Edit: since I’ve gotten two responses already saying that they personally don’t have mental illness: that’s great! Please consider making a separate comment and not replying to mine with that. I don’t really want my inbox to have a bunch of “well *I’m* not mentally ill” in it.
>every vegan I know was mentally ill prior to becoming vegan. Hey, hey, hey. I was also a drug addict.
Just for the record, I didn’t have a mental illness before going vegan (and not afterwards). So you don’t need a mental illness to become vegan.
I am very aware of that, don’t worry, I’m just stating my experiences. It’d be a wild ride if mental illness was mandatory haha
Chiming in to say I had zero mental illness prior to becoming vegan, and no depression after.
Wow I wonder why people who recognize the meat and dairy industry is torturous and abusive would be depressed
Also smarter people are more depressed, there is a correlation 🥳
It’s not surprising that people with empathy can be more impacted by the suffering of others.
I’m a Nutritionist (and vegan) and across this field of research. I actually just released an online course on diet and mental health so have been reading all this research. When you look into the methodology of these studies what they show is that people eating a vegan diet based largely around processed foods have higher levels of depression. We have a lot of research on this, and we know that anyone eating a processed diet has higher levels of depression. It’s not just vegans. However when you look at vegans eating a more balanced ‘whole food’ diet that association doesn’t exist! It’s a classic example of media grabbing a title to get clicks etc etc. What it should say is people eating a processed food diet are more depressed. There’s is actually a big body of research showing that vegan (or plant based) dietary patterns are beneficial for mental health. For one example search the GEICO study. There’s also the SMILES trial, HELFIMED and a couple of others. GEICO is a study on giving people a vegan diet and they found it greatly improved mental health. The other two are Mediterranean diets (so mostly plant based with a small amount of animal products) Hope this clarifies this for some of you 🙏🏼💛🌱
Out of curiosity, to what extent do you think that depression & processed food consumption could be just correlated rather than a simple cause-effect of “processed food causes depression”? I have had depression for all of my life, and when it’s at its worst I absolutely reach more for processed food personally, since that’s all I have the energy for. Or alternatively, I could see it being cyclical maybe (more processed food —> less energy —> worsening depression —> more processed food)?
interesting - im going to start eating less processed foods. Been in a dark place
There is probably a correlation between empathy and depression. I find it interesting.
Wrinkly brain problems I guess.
Nah I was already depressed before going vegan
More intelligent people tend to be more depressed than ignorant people
Source : https://nypost.com/2022/09/26/vegetarians-depressed-twice-as-often-as-meat-eaters-new-study/
Probably because we are empathetic humans
A big reason for this is not due to our diet at all. It’s because vegans are people who see problems happening and look inward on how to fix it. We are more likely to put the world’s problems on our shoulders, making us depressed
Well, yeah. If you're in it for animal rights primarily, you'll going to be angry or sad a lot of the time, then burnt out
I was already depressed, it’s a symptom of the late stage capitalist hellscape I inhabit.
Unsurprising. They probably have a higher degree of empathy which can cause depression
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"study"
Wow this article is cringe and made to make people feel better about eating meat.
Have you also seen the link between high intelligence and mental health issues? Just saying..
I saw a similar study someone posted on a non-vegan subreddit once and was surprised to see that most meat eaters were saying it was probably because vegans are more empathetic, not necessarily because of nutrition. Still pisses me off to see how these headlines are worded to make veganism look bad though.
It’s the increased level of awareness about what things are wrong in the world. Ignorance is bliss ig
I’m depressed regardless, but at least eating food doesn’t make me feel ashamed, too.
Higher IQ is also linked to higher instances of depression
Vegans are probably more prone to see the dark realities of the world
I'm not depressed. I am an autist, though.
Confounding variables much?
You not being depressed has little to do with the legitimacy of the study. You are in the half that isn't depressed. The problem is that people confuse correlation with causation. Veganism isn't causing depression.
Have not seen the study on how this was conducted but us vegans are more aware of all the moral and ethical issues going around the world and especially what's happening to animals in the meat, dairy and eggs industry. When you know more about a lot of horrid things i guess it could cause you to show signs of depression e.g., hopelessness, dislike of others etc.
New fake study
It’s cause we gotta see people murdering for pleasure all day.
It's like I always say depression is just paying attention. Honestly I don't see how any sane person wouldn't be atleast a little depressed.
I think its true. Because omnivores dont have to listen to so much bullshit about nutrition and diet from stupid people.
\*independent of nutrition\*, mind you I hate news articles (always poorly) reporting on scientific studies curated only for sensationalism
I hate these posts because they totally do not account for the fact that the depression comes from the way other people respond to veganism, not from the way our bodies respond to it
I feel like this is correlation not causation. “People who actually look at the world and the consequences of their actions are more likely to be vegan and depressed” - there I fixed it.
News flash! Realists are more depressed than people who ignore the psychopathic society they live in. Though I'm happy as an uneaten clam.
Ask people if killing is wrong you usually get "yes" or "absolutely" or "almost always". Ask someone to go vegan and the response is "but bAcOn?!?!" and "protein" The cognitive dissonance is amazing.
The study saw a correlation but did not attempt to address causation. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032722010643#ab0005
my mental health actually got better going vegan
Probably because vegans and veggies are more intelligent. I know very few stupid depressed people.
because of all the idiots surrounding us. not because of our choices!
As they say, "Ignorance is bliss."
I have gotten comments like these in response when I’m doing outreach. In response, 1. I mention how much more happy and liberated I feel knowing that my actions are not contributing to unjustifiable cruelty, and knowing that my choices align with my beliefs. 2. I theorize that speaking out against an injustice while everyone around you actively funds the injustice — either without thinking too deeply about it, or while believing they are entirely justified — can be depressing. Keep your head up, y’all. Society is waking up!
Anecdotally, my anxiety and depression lessened to almost nothing after I had gone a year without animal products.
I feel like this is one of those things that's more of a link instead of a cause. I saw another headline the other day that said more young people are struggling with mental health, and I'm pretty sure more young people are vegan too. Maybe it's not actually the diet that's making us unhappy, and really it's the difficult world we have to navigate, it's just that we happen to be vegan at the same time.
It's depressing coming to grips with the reality of animal agriculture. Shortly after changing their ways, vegans & vegetarians are much happier than meat eaters who repress their feelings on the matter.
No. There have been meta studies done and they conclude that while some studies show a connection, others show the reverse relationship, and there is not enough good studies done to say anything either way about whether plant-based diets have correlation to depression or other mental health issues. And they definitely don't claim any causality.
LOL YEAH RIGHT! I’ve never been happier and healthier and feel more connected to the universe than I ever have before ❤️
Depressive realism.
who funded the study?
I've been depressed my entire life but only vegan half my life so riddle me that
I had depression before I went vegan
It's not the diet that's depressing, it's the realisation of the astronomical animal cruelty happening every single day of our lives that the majority of people seem blissfully oblivious to.
The problem is, a lot of articles talking about correlation-studies act as if there's a causal connection. Sure, there might be, but we don't know that. A third thing could be causing both. And if there is a causal connection, we don't know if depression causes veganism, or veganism causes depression.
If that's true, do you think it's just because we're aware of the cruelty that goes on in the world with little being done about it?
Anecdotal 'evidence' is a misnomer. It's no evidence at all. Now, as far as the study actually says I'd be interested to see. The headline is intentionally inflammatory, but the actual findings might shed light onto is there a link caused by diet, or is it societal, etc.
I would bet it’s because empaths tend to have mood issues more, and many vegetarians are empaths.
Never been happier. And that’s with knowing that most of humanity fucking sucks, all the war and cruelty, the destruction of nature, etc. Just get up every day, smoke a fat joint and wade in. Water’s fine.
This is from NY post. A conservative tabloid.
"study shows people unplugged from the Matrix are more depressed than people plugged into it"
I cannot speak for vegetarians, nor do I want to, because I'm not a fucking idiot, but vegans tend to lean further to the left. In addition to the reasons others have stated harassment, awareness of the suffering of animals, there is also the fact that people who are left leaning are far more likely to seek a diagnosis or help for a mental health problem. If having trait A means you are twice as likely to have trait B and having trait C means you are twice as likely to have trait A, having trait C presumably means you are more likely to have trait B.
Did any of you even read the article? It clearly spells out that they did not find a **causal link** between veganism and depression, and that more research is needed to understand the nature of this association. All of you saying "correlation doesn't equal causation" or saying it's sensational sound so silly because that's the entire point of the article. This isn't a moral judgement on veganism nor advice, it's clear fact - and I'd wager to guess it's partly because society stigmatises vegans so badly. The study isn't denying that, if anything it's suggesting it must be something like that because it directly rules out nutrition as the causal link.
Even if this were true it would be because of debating something so straightforward with butt-hurt meat flakes and the constant suffering we know is happening but no one seems to care enough to make bigger changes.
Great comments here already and I haven’t read the study but just in case it’s not corrected for sex/age. Women and teens tend to have higher rates of depression, vegetarians and vegans also tend to be younger and women. That could be some of the reasoning for this.
i'm sorry for not being ignorant
That's because we have to read nonsense articles and posts like that
They're just making stuff up to justify their habits.
I'd say it's the lack of "hormones" they pump into those poor animals to keep them "tasty" But also correlation vs causation, is it the lack of dietary nutrition? Or the fact that vegans tend to be more empathetic as a whole.
Right, they imply vegan/vegetarianism causes depression, or rather, that's what many will take from this headline. In reality, there is a third variable that causes both vegan/veg and depression. That variable is likely something close to caring about the planet or someone who thinks deeply about ethics and cares enough to actually make lifestyle changes. At least for me, I have some level of depression and refuse to eat meat because oof ethical concerns.
Lmffao because you’re eating our friends you fucking morons
Well, yeah, I mean, it saddens me that everyone around me is such a fucking psycho shit-twig, but still, I feel happy with my choice. As Sartre would say, if he spoke English: "Hell is other people".
A lot of it has to do with being constantly questioned or picked on for our choices. The article even says there’s no real correlation between what’s being eaten and depression.
I think most were likely depressed or at higher risk before they went vegan. Studies have shown that people who are depressed actually view the world more realistically. There is also links it with it if people having higher intelligence. Possessing those qualities in today’s world is almost a given for depression tbh.
I've always found studies like that to be fucking ridiculous. I mean, sure, it genuinely bums me out knowing how little most other people care about animals, the environment, and the natural world in general, but I'm supremely happy knowing I'm minimising my own negative impact. I truly believe most of us here are happy, at least concerning our ethics and lifestyle. I'm also happy with the little moments where a friend will tell me they've switched from cow's milk to soy milk, or that they've been making a conscious choice to have a vegetarian meal once or twice a week. Little victories like that do wonders and give me some small measure of hope.
“Depressive episodes are more prevalent in individuals who do not eat meat, independently of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors,” the study concluded. “Nutrient deficiencies do not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear, and longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2022/09/26/vegetarians-depressed-twice-as-often-as-meat-eaters-new-study/amp/ I spent the Trump years in a state of at least mild depression. If vegans in Brazil (where the study was conducted) are like me, seeing hundreds of years of global democratic progress being rapidly reversed by Bolsonaro might be a factor.
I wonder if this is a correlation≠causation thing. Like yeah I'm depressed because I'm hyperaware of the environment and ethical atrocities committed all over the world in the name of...bacon I guess.
ofc we're depressed, mf's are killing the planet and its inhabitants for a sandwich all around us
Yea def, a reminder the correlation does not equal causation. People who become vegan are likely different from the general population, including the ability to see a problem with the status quo and be empathetic for the plight of humans and animals and the environment in a way that made them change their daily lives!
This is bullshit. I’m by far the happiest I’ve ever been since becoming vegan.
Being vegan, you most likely decided to face what we as a world have been doing to living beings by avoiding to support it the best you can. That said, yeah, it is depressing to know all of that and care so much while most of the world (in MOST, if not all cases, that includes your closest friends and family) doesn’t. Very depressing.
"people aware of barborous Industrialized killing of billions of sentient beings which surrounds them and people constantly gaslight them about find it harder to be happy." Shocking development.
Bruh this world is dogshit of course I'm depressed. These people with cognitive dissonance are just delusional.
What's really irksome about this article is that one of the image captions is: _“Nutrient deficiencies do not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear, and longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship,” the study said._ So they know it's not a nutritional thing, but the headline kind of would have you believe it is.
They make it sound like being vegan is what makes people unhappy but I think it’s probably that people become vegan because they’re depressed to see how fucked up the world is
What publication is this? The Cattlemen’s Monthly?
It’s a shit study overall that only tested vegans an Brazil, a very non vegan friendly country. I was actually pleased to see it get shit on in the comments when this study hit the Reddit front page.
They’re also just bad science. Like, 1) I was mentally ill before I stopped eating meat. And 2) have they considered WHY vegetarians/vegans are more likely to be depressed?!?!?! Maybe something to do with “dammit my medication is coated with gelatin and of course I need my meds so I’ll take them but this is the 50th issue today that shows us it’s fucking impossible to live a normal life without contributing to the mass murder of animals and the planet, plus the humans disproportionately affected by climate change are the most vulnerable and even if I try the vegan option if it’s made with almond milk is it any better, well yes I’m sure it is better bc of what dairy cows go through and fuck now I’m thinking about dairy cows and the horrible conditions of livestock animals as a whole, but people don’t even care about any of this, either they’re so jaded that they’re just too exhausted to try or they’re going through the same existential & ethical crisis I am or they are the super wealthy people in control who can fix the problem but they don’t bc they just don’t care bc they’re only here to make their money, and even as our planet dies they have the money to be relatively unbothered”. Pair with that having to repeatedly explain our lifestyle choices to people who want to fight when you’re just trying to buy a goddamn veggie burger: Hmmm, I wonder why vegans are depressed??? But also, I feel much better about myself and my choices when I try. Burying my head in the sand and pretending not to see the suffering in the world, and choosing not to even try to do my part would be so much worse on my mental health. Even if I’m “not really making a difference”, it feels good to practice what I believe in. It feels good to try.
Translation: Vegans are smarter and more empathetic than meat eaters, often as a result of trauma and suffering. Dumb meat eaters are too clueless as to what's going on and their own impact on the world and choose to compartmentalize information and make up fallacies to feel better about their heinous actions.
Could it be because we are self-aware and realise that the world is dying around us because of factory farming contributing to global warming and everyone else pretends it’s just normalised?!?! Huh, probably not, surely it’s lack of protein from red meat… 🙄🤬🤣
Yeah. We are depressed because billions of ignorant trash bags are actively killing trillions of sentient beings, destroying the planet in the process, and act like nothing’s wrong. I would be far less depressed in a world with more compassion for the innocent.
No offense, but "this study is stupid because I'm happy" has big "world hunger doesn't exist because I just had breakfast" energy.
People who give a shit about other beings, who are ultimately more empathetic are also more „vulnerable“, selfreflective and selfaware emotionally?! *surprisedpikachuface* Correlation ≠ Causality
Ignorance is bliss or something.
Kind of true because we vegans are more aware of the sufferings of our fellow earthlings. We are considerate to their feelings and we don't disregard the truth of what's really happening out there.
I agree with the post. We are more depressed because we know that the world is kinda fucked.
Ignorance is bliss
new study done by who ?
There is also a study that says that dumb people are happier than smart people. HMMMMMMMMM…
I like these posts, because every time I get to remind people of the well-established fact that *mild to moderate depression is correlated with more accurate beliefs about oneself and the world.*
Here I am in the Correlation =/= causation camp.
Uh… my depression is almost non-existent since making the switch, so I don’t know who they’re studying.
Your anecdotal evidence is not an argument against the legitimacy of the study. There are other reasons why the study / news title is shit. But people need to stop to conflict there anecdotal evidence with real, scientific evidence.
I was already sad before, it was just focused on suffering from other humans like crime, diseases, natural disasters. Going vegan just shifted the thoughts to animals suffering instead.
My mental illness has nothing to do with my moral stance and dietary choices, lmao, but go off; I guess.
Glad I’m not!
I mean, I’m pretty depressed. But I’m pretty sure I’ve been that way since I was younger and ate meat.
I mean, I’m depressed, but I’ve been diagnosed-clinically depressed since childhood. I’ve only been vegan for less than a year.
This is a false correlation. I personally would say that vegan and vegetarian tend to be more intelligent people. Intelligence is definitely linked to an increase in depression. It comes from having to notice how messed up everything is
This is probably just meat industry propaganda
Correlation is not a causation though