Kovacs, Jason

Mrs.Pittman
IBDP Essentials
1 June 2016
Reflection Paper
Psychology attempts to explain human behavior, and why people behave the way that
they do. Behavior can be normal or abnormal. An example of a behavior that is abnormal is
suicide; Psychiatrists would ask what leads people to behave this way. People commit and
contemplate suicide every day, but there can be different causes from individual to individual.
However it is usually a result of a mental disorder. 90% of people who kill themselves are
diagnosed with a mental disorder, and although there are others depression is the most
common one (Khan). Depression can lead to suicide, so to understand why people kill
themselves it is important to understand depression. Besides predetermined genetical
disadvantages depression can be caused by a magnitude of things. Some onsets of depression
are identical or similar to the traits of suicidal people before they killed themselves. Some
examples being: Feeling like a burden to people, talking about suicide, substance abuse,
withdrawing from activities, self isolating, anxiety, a catalyst event (American Foundation for
Suicide prevention). Aspects of certain cultures can reinforce, cause, or add to this list of
behaviors with the way they are structured. The parts of capitalism that were critiqued by Carl
Marx are still mostly present in the united states today. Things such as periods of economic
prosperity and downfall caused by overproduction, the majority of wealth being controlled by a
minority of society, and the social division caused by the difference of wealth. This causes
people without a card in the concentration of wealth to compare themselves to everyone else.
People compete to be the best and race to surpass the next person who they believe to be
superior to them. People believe that if they work hard enough they can be part of the upper

class, so they look at things about themselves they don't like with hopes of improving until it
becomes self degrading. They grow to hate themselves and feel worthless because they weren't
born into success. Even if they become marginally more successful than the average person
they still feel worthless because the materialistic attitude they had know until then is still in their
head. The focus on self improvement and materials makes people more likely to have less trust,
and be more alienated because they are always in competition (Peebles). The constant feeling
of being less than someone else, and the constant desire to be better than them is what causes
a lot of Americans to be stressed. They become stressed because if they do not have
something they feel as if they don't deserve it because they didn't have what was needed to
attain it making them worthless, or burdensome to those who did attain it. They feel isolated
from the group that does have whatever it is; which causes them to feel rejected. These feelings
are all linked to depression and anxiety which is why they are often times comorbid (Anxiety and
Depression association of America). It is the overwhelming desire to be a part of the
concentration of wealth that creates unhealthy competition and anxiety, and it is the feeling of
worthlessness that comes from being rejected by those who own more wealth in society that
causes depression. It is because of capitalism that this giant gap between classes exists, and
the media which is affected by the people who own the most wealth in society positively
reinforces the behaviors caused by the gap. People are constantly being rushed to purchase the
newest product, and the people who do purchase it post it on social media for everyone to see
so they're not rejected and isolated. And when the next large thing comes out they will want that
too, and it is this constant renewal of desire that creates competition and stress. Capitalism
causes a large class difference and the unrealistic expectation of being extremely rich causes
people to hate themselves, and be competitive. In turn they become depressed because the
way society is structured it is impossible to reach such wealth without being born into it or being
extremely luck, or everyone who worked hard would be in the concentration of extreme wealth.

These ideas are what cause people to feel isolated, rejected, and worthless; causing// anxiety
and depression.