Does Fluther attract depressives?

I posed this question as part of an answer to another post and it was suggested that I ask the question of the community, so here it is. I suffer from depression, but that was not a factor, or at least I did not think it was, when I joined Fluther after my previous Q & A site went under. I wanted something similar to where I had been, which never talked of depression.

It could be that the number of questions regarding depression is simply a reflection of the prevalence of the disorder in the population in general. If that is so, then this would be good evidence of what many believe to be an epidemic.

Types of mental disorder vary in place and time and there is a theory that the major disorders at any place and time are as much a matter of sociology as they are of psychology. Depression is most prevalent in wealthy industrialized nations. It is virtually unknown among hunter-gatherers.

Why should this be? It is the opinion of some that our lifestyle may be a significant factor. We move from place to place and from job to job, and this mobility robs us of ties to family and community. There have been a spate of books, including the landmark work Bowling Alone, that discuss this phenomenon. And so we get depressed and turn to virtual communities for needed support.

Like many others here I have found Fluther to be addictive. I had been visiting several times a day. I have of late been cutting back, to restore a little more balance in my life and attempting to find more community in the real world.

Let me end on a note of optimism. I think we are at a breaking point. Our current lifestyle is economically unsustainable and I think that our current economic problems will yield significant changes. We will be living closer together and moving around less for sheerly economic reasons. And in the process we should get to know one another better and form a greater sense of community.

Feel free to comment on any of the various points raised here.