49 pages 1 hour read

Johann Hari

Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 3, Chapter 22-Conclusion

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3, Chapter 22 Summary: “Reconnection Seven: Restoring the Future”

Hari acknowledges that current social and economic circumstances are a major obstacle to his ideas for reconnection: “Most people are working all the time, and they are insecure about the future” (298). He describes a social experiment the government of Canada conducted in the 1970s on the small town of Dauphin in Winnipeg. The government put the town’s citizens on a universal basic income, which gave them enough money to pay for basic necessities. The experiment ended after three years when a new political party came to power.

An economics student in Toronto, Evelyn Forget, and a group of researchers became the first to actually look at the data from the experiment after it was shut down. They found that people in Dauphin were able to start a business or get a postsecondary education, such as a woman who was the first person in her family to go to college and became a successful librarian. The number of babies with low birth weight declined, students performed better, and there was a 9% drop in serious mental illnesses, including depression (302). Forget argues that the need for a universal basic income has grown since the 1970s since it is harder to make a career and earn a pension after retirement, and the automation of jobs through technology has continued.

Related Titles

By Johann Hari

Study Guide

logo

Chasing the Scream

Johann Hari

Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

Johann Hari

Study Guide

logo

Stolen Focus

Johann Hari

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--And How to Think Deeply Again

Johann Hari