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In nature, sustaining yourself and staying alive are generally full time, difficult and energy consuming activities, whereas most people in western civilization don't have to do jack shit to fulfill the basic survival needs. whether it be trust fund kids, stay at home moms or just people who have completely meaningless jobs that don't require them to think or even do anything... for a lot of people surviving just means passing the time and stuffing your face.

Agreeance. I think luxury, laziness, and lifespan are three of the major contributers to the rise of diagnoses of depression in developed countries.

Luxury: Not too often in human history have the majority of people had the time to sit around and ponder whether or not they were happy. They were busy surviving.

Laziness: Well, not laziness exactly but the lack of physical activity. Ties in with luxury in that we don't have to be physically active to put food on the table. When you're physically working your ass off you go to bed tired at the end of the day, and are just glad for some rest. Physical activity is also one of the best-documented ways to improve mood.

Lifespan: Humans never really lived long enough to give a shit about this kind of stuff. The longer you live, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety at least once. I don't think people used to have midlife crises at 18 or 20.

Oh, and yeah, the pharmaceutical companies pimping their drugs, tied in with 95% of people over the age of 60 being diagnosed with something.

This is not to say that I think that depression is not a very real disease-it is. But the lifestyle that our biology is wired for no longer exists in developed countries.