Obesity : The Plight of the Fat Man (or Woman)

Any medical doctor will tell you obesity causes depression. The problem I find in this clear-cut statement is the causal relation between the two. Many people still think that the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps, and rubella) causes autism, even though it doesn't. It is simply because around the same time children usually receive their MMR vaccine is about the same age signs of autism are detectable, which is around age two or three.

So does obesity cause depression directly? That is, simply by being overweight you become depressed. Or is it a social factor? I suppose many doctors say both. And I suppose another good many would say it is indeterminate. The media essentially advertises that if you don't use this or that product you won't get laid (with "sexy" men and women in the ads). Weight loss program ads make it sound you will be miserable unless you join their program ("Get your life back!"). And today being obese is simply unattractive by today's standards.

But wind back the clocks four or five hundred years. In the Middle Ages (though the middle of what I cannot know) it was attractive to be fat. If you had a big gut you had money, because you could afford to get that fat. So back then, by pure logic and not causal influence, if you were fat you had money and women and power. What was there to be depressed about?

So where is the good ole' jolly fat man? Has the media killed the age old mantra of "fat people are jolly"? Or is obesity a cause of depression? Well not all overweight persons are depressed. I still remember a friend of mine from high school, Danny, whose self-proclaimed nickname was Fat Daddy. (Danny, I miss you and all the humor you brought to our lives. Those were sincerely the most laughter-filled days I have spent on this earth and I doubt anything will compare to them again.) But Danny killed his father at age 16 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and, consequently is bipolar. Is a duality plague at work? Probably not. Depression is something like MS or homosexuality : it doesn't happen to just one set of people. Healthy people get depressed. Anorexics get depressed, and usually depression causes anorexia. White people get depressed, and so do Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Indians, Native Americans, and aborigines. Now I'm not a medical doctor, but I would suspect the causality of depression and obesity are significantly vague, albeit a good percentage of obese persons are clinically depressed and are, statistically, depressed more than healthy persons.

To illustrate a point on the social factor involved, what if, say, in 150 years having a nice tan and a body cut like Greek marble with a vogue haircut is not what is defined as attractive, but rather intelligence. Being more intelligent means you can get a better job and better be able to support a family. So a person of high intelligence would be more attractive by their GPA, how many books they read a week, and the nature of their PH.D work. Creating a social atmosphere as such medical doctors would probably say that stupidity was linked with depression. Sound adequate today? No, probably because ignorant people can by sheer luck of genes be "sexy" and get mates and fame, and would be far less likely to become depressed (unless a chemical imbalance kicks in).

Oh, where have all the fat men gone? The media kill them, every one. Oh, when will they ever learn?