Opinion: Why Is Russia So Damn ‘depressing’
Women relaxing at an observatin point in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia
Outlining the reasons for characteristic Russian depressiveness is a gargantuan task. Which is more true that we truly are a depressive bunch? Or rather, that others super-impose their concept of happiness on us? As it turns out, a bit of both.
First things first: why are Russians depressed? How about this
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
Homeless man sleeping rough, Russia
and a bit of that!
Of course, these in themselves are not indicators. They are merely pictures from which people infer that life must not be very good here.
Still, one could list a dozen reasons for why being depressed is a distinct possibility for a Russian: terrible roads uneven standards of healthcare and education across the country social isolation up north, coupled with cancer risks in industrial cities provinces living without hope of development due to rampant corruption a climate that is both uneven and unpredictable, with people often staying indoors when cold early nights and huge open spaces.
And finally, we are among the least densely populated countries on Earth as well as the single biggest one. We are often socially isolated. However, like everybody else, we put all of that into our songs, books, and cinema.
Everybodys embodied experience of their own culture is the other half of the puzzle. A Russian doesnt combat his own suffering any more than a Panamanian combats his own happiness.
Feminism Should Not Fear Trans Rights
At some point, certain branches of feminism will have to explain how they ended up on the same side as the extreme right when it comes to trans rights, writes Beatriz Gimeno in monthly Spanish-language Pikara Magazine.
As time passes, it will become more evident that a branch of feminism fell into a kind of “paranoia campaign” over what it calls trans ideology.
Someday, there will be regret about the support given to the global extreme right that invented the so-called gender ideology to combat feminism. For extreme right-wing evangelicals, gender ideology is the great threat, comparable even to communism.
Gender ideology has helped the campaigns of Bolsonaro, Orban, Putin, and of the right-wing in Poland, among others. To stop the advance of trans rights, a certain branch of feminism decided that it was a good idea to join that right-wing ideology and, in doing so, displace one of the most useful political and theoretical tools that feminism has the concept of gender.
LGBTQ+ protest in Bogota, Colombia Photo: Cristian Bayona/LongVisual/ZUMA
At some point, someone will have to explain why some feminists ended up on the same side as the most reactionary ideology, the extreme right.
From there, this branch of feminism argues that in order to discuss trans rights, it is necessary to listen to experts who are not trans, who have not spoken with any trans person, and who feel an obvious hatred towards trans people.
It sounds like a great idea, right?
Why American Teens Are So Sad
Four forces are propelling the rising rates of depression among young people.
The United States is experiencing an extreme teenage mental-health crisis. From 2009 to 2021, the share of American high-school students who say they feel persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness rose from 26 percent to 44 percent, according to a new CDC study. This is the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded.
The government survey of almost 8,000 high-school students, which was conducted in the first six months of 2021, found a great deal of variation in mental health among different groups. More than one in four girls reported that they had seriously contemplated attempting suicide during the pandemic, which was twice the rate of boys. Nearly half of LGBTQ teens said they had contemplated suicide during the pandemic, compared with 14 percent of their heterosexual peers. Sadness among white teens seems to be rising faster than among other groups.
But the big picture is the same across all categories: Almost every measure of mental health is getting worse, for every teenage demographic, and its happening all across the country. Since 2009, sadness and hopelessness have increased for every race for straight teens and gay teens for teens who say theyve never had sex and for those who say theyve had sex with males and/or females for students in each year of high school and for teens in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
So why is this happening?
1. Social-media use
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Large Territory Small Population
The Soviet Union, which replaced the Russian Empire, was even larger, covering 22.4 million square kilometers. Russias current borders were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which occurred when that huge country, having failed to build a sufficiently cohesive communist empire, disintegrated into 15 independent states.
Despite Russia’s immense geographical size, its population of 146 million people ranks only eighth in the world. This is just 10 million more than Japan, which has an area that is 45 times smaller. Kolosov stresses that large parts of Siberia and the Far East, especially in the north, remain largely uninhabited and are characterized by a harsh climate that is challenging for humans to live in.
This article is part of the “Why Russia?” series in which RBTH answers popular questions about Russia.
Mental Health Crisis Looms In Russia As Sanctions Fuel Drug Shortages Job Losses
Sasha, a 26-year-old animal behaviorist from Moscow, had seen a steady improvement in her mental health over the last three years.
Thanks to her passion for her job and rigorous micro-management of her medication, she was able to build a successful blog with a 27,000-strong audience and shake off a depression that plagued her from 2016-2018.
All of that progress was erased on Feb. 24, when Russian tanks rolled over the Ukrainian border.
In total, Ive relapsed. Ive returned to depression, had suicidal thoughts, Sasha told The Moscow Times.
Sasha is one of many Russians reporting growing feelings of anxiety and depression since the start of their countrys invasion of Ukraine and resulting Western sanctions that are expected to devastate the economy.
From Feb. 28-March 6, sales of over-the-counter anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants have quadrupled, in what newspaper Kommersant dubbed the start of a mass depression.
Since the beginning of the war, my life has completely changed, Aliya Miftakova, a 25-year-old marketing specialist living with bipolar disorder, told The Moscow Times.
I start every day by watching the news, just scrolling through the feeds of various publications and feeling completely helpless and frustrated, Miftakhova said.
Bank manager Vladislava, 21, echoed these sentiments: I feel a sense of heaviness, as if the world has two atmospheres, and theyre slowly crushing me, she said.
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Both Peasants And Noblemen Were Taught Humility
I. Bogdanov. Newbie. 1893.
Russian peasants were loyal to the tsar and humble before their landlord, otherwise they would be punished. The Orthodox Church was instrumental in propagating this obedience.
Ivan Susanin went down in history as one of the most heroic peasants after sacrificing his life to stop the Poles finding the Tsar. His selfless act was symbolic of the Russian peasants collective mentality they rarely wilted when the going got tough.
To be considered an honorable nobleman, Russian landlords and officers needed to follow some strict rules. Most importantly, they were expected to be good Christians, safeguard the tsars honor, and never beg. With the latter in mind, children from Russian noble families often learned a craft so they could provide for their family. This helped the nobility in the wake of the Revolution when they were almost rendered destitute overnight and forced to take up manual labor. Being practical helped them to conceal their lofty origins from the Bolsheviks, who were baying for blue blood.
Russians Brood But Americans Get Depressed
By Caroline Humer, Reuters Life!
2 Min Read
NEW YORK – Russians dwell on negative emotions much as novelists Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy so famously detailed, but they are less likely to become depressed than Americans, according to two new studies.
A pedestrian walks in the rain along the waterfront with the New Jersey skyline in the background, in New York April 15, 2007. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
It seems that even though Russians brood and contemplate more than Americans, it is not the factor that contributes to them being so unhappy, said Igor Grossmann, the University of Michigan researcher who worked on the studies.
Americans had more symptoms of depression than Russians, who generally are believed to be unhappier than Americans, when reflecting on negative experiences, the studies, which will be published in the journal Psychological Science, showed.
When Russians reflect on negative feelings, they are able to distance themselves and have fewer symptoms of depression than Americans, according to the first study, which included U.S. and Russian students.
Symptoms of depression include negative thoughts, feelings of being punished, a decrease in sleep or appetite, feelings of guilt or past failures and pessimism.
In the second study, researchers measured the level of distress of the students after they recalled and analyzed a recent anger-related experience with another person.
The studies were conducted jointly with the National Institute of Mental Health.
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How To Survive In Moscow Without Sunshine
Imagine only getting six minutes of sunshine in a whole month – sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it?
Well, if you live in the Russian capital you don’t have to imagine it – that’s exactly what happened.
Moscow had its darkest December on record in 2017, getting just six minutes of sunshine instead of the normal one hour per day.
So what’s it like living through it, day after day? BBC Russian’s Oleg Boldyrev offers us an insight.
Final Battle In Moscow
Since the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Girkins criticisms have stood out not only for their frank analysis, but also for their melancholy tones. Putin and the entire Russian military command not only did everything possible to lose the war, but will also lead to the inevitable collapse of Russia that would follow the war.
He has repeatedly argued that the attack on Kyiv should have been back in 2014 without waiting for Ukraine and its allies to create a combat-ready army.
When this power collapses on itself, we will have many options, and most will be catastrophic
“The final battle will be here in Moscow, for the minds of the government, if it still has any, which I doubt and for the minds of the people, he says in the interview broadcast this weekend on YouTube channel Kovalev Principle. Because when this power collapses on itself and the country, we will have many different options, and most will be catastrophic.
For all his criticism of Putin, Girkin says he sees no point in overthrowing him it’s apparently either too late or impossible.
“I’m not going to fight against this government because I understand perfectly well what will happen next, and I don’t want to be responsible for it,” he says.
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The Meaning Of A Smile
Second, this phenomenon can be viewed through the lens of cross-cultural differences in personality or temperament. We know that different cultures have different ways of experiencing, expressing and regulating their emotions.
For example, in our work, weve traced how kids in different cultures develop different temperaments.
In one series of studies with Helena Slobodskaya, a psychologist at Novosibirsk State University Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine, we found that mothers in Russia, compared to American caregivers, reported that their infants and toddlers were more likely to demonstrate negative emotions, such as anger or frustration. The Russian mothers also reported that their young children exhibited lower levels of positive emotional expression, including smiling and laughter.
Theres an interesting twist to these findings. The American toddlers who were most likely to express positive emotions also were better at self-regulation. In other words, they were better at controlling their emotions and behaviors. But Russian toddlers inclination to express positive emotions had no such relationship to self-control.
What do these results tell us?
In each culture, smiles work in different ways. In Russia, children may only contract their facial muscles when theyre truly happy. Its an authentic expression of emotion.
Some Try Drinking To Keep Warm
So what do we do to keep our spirits up?
Some, inevitably, try drinking to keep warm.
But mistaking the amber glow of a beer glass for the setting sun takes a lot of imbibing and the headache next morning makes things even worse.
Surprisingly, the Russian health minister reports that Russians are drinking less each year, which seems strange.
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Is Classic Russian Literature Really So Depressing
A scene from the 1967 film ‘Anna Karenina’, featuring Tatiana Samoilova.
One could just as well wonder why cancer is so hard to treat or why elephants have broad feet. Fiction is like a spiders web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners, great English writer and thinker Virginia Woolf believed.
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Russians have long been champions in describing the state of human mind in inimitable fashion. Try to read Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment or The Seagull. Lets be honest, if youre already on page 140, youre in good shape. Even if you dont see the light at the end of the tunnel, dont throw yourself under a train! Just keep going and youll see that maybe the lights were briefly off for a reason.
Georgy Taratorkin as Rodion Raskolnikov in ‘Crime and Punishment’.
Russians have a reputation for their excellence in fiction. Trust them, otherwise youll have to go to bed without ever knowing what happened to aspiring actress Nina Zarechnaya, a character from Anton Chekhovs The Seagull. However, in literature, like in sex, the most interesting stuff is sandwiched between the lines, popular Russian satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky once said with a twist of irony.
Why is Russian literature depressing is, rather, a rhetorical question. It so happened that Russians have a penchant for drama. Russian literature has generously touched upon the themes of:
– solitude and exile ,
Hoping For An Early Spring
In the end I did what most of us do: wait and fill the time with a little bit of everything – books, booze, music and walking. Russians are good at waiting for things to pass.
A couple of work trips lifted me closer to the Sun, if only for the duration of a flight. And a hike in a forest, filled with remnants of autumn grass, at least put more oxygen into my tired lungs.
The skies opened up a bit in early January and then showered a few centimetres of snow, restoring a semblance of winter.
But by now most of us have lost hope of a classic Russian winter.
Those celebrating Epiphany on 19 January, with a dip in the icy water, can stay in a bit longer.
The rest of us are hoping for an early spring. That may be the silver lining in the grey clouds which still shroud Moscow.
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So Why Do People Live Here
I imagine, at this point, youâre asking the all-too-reasonable question â why on earth would anyone live here? There are several reasons. The first, is that the employment rates are actually comparatively high for rural Russia, as is the pay. Many people move here with their families for a number of years, in order to save up money. With huge nickel deposits underground, the mining opportunities are in no danger of drying up and many view the financial benefits of moving to the region as outweighing the downsides.
Another point is that although surface level Norilsk appears like a dystopian ghost-town, this is largely because life exists predominantly underground. Because of the extreme temperatures – communal spaces, restaurants, cafes, and malls are all built deep under the ground level and away from the bitter cold. If youâve been to Russia before, youâll know that what the nation lacks in warm weather and aesthetic cityscapes, it makes up for in warm hospitality and an unfazed and humorous approach to life! Though the city may appear cruel and inhospitable to outsiders, the people that call this place home are very much the opposite.
Despite Problems People Continue To Live In Norilsk As The Workers At Norilsk Nickel Earn Over $986 A Month Which Is Higher Than Russias Average
Reported By:| |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Jun 14, 2022, 06:20 PM IST
The most northerly city in the world the Russian mining town of Norilsk is so remote that it cant be reached by road. Labelled as the most depressing on Earth, this city is so polluted that life expectancy here is ten years less than the national average in Russia.
Nevertheless, Norilsk houses over 1,70,000 people who live in the small city in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Siberia, eastern Russia.
The remote city is under 1,800 miles from Moscow. Only one freight line runs to and from the city. Even the port city of Dudinka which provides a sea route to the city remains frozen over the winter.
The only way to reach this city is to fly, but even that is rough as it is in a far-flung corner of Russia. Visitors have to take a five-hour-long flight to Moscow and are then greeted
Norilsk only got a proper internet connection in 2017 until then this city about the size of Ipswich relied on a dodgy satellite link.
The only year-round route to this far-flung corner of Russia, therefore, is to fly, although even that isnt easy.
After a more than five-hour flight from Moscow, visitors find themselves at an unpleasant spot made on the site of a Soviet prison camp.
Out of these, 18,000 workers died due to a poor environment.
It is also one of the top-ten most polluted cities on our planet.
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