Though there are links to depression in more extreme cases Cassian is probably describing more a carelessness that can affect all, and that would be later associated with “sloth” when describing “seven deadly sins”. Along with this Cassian points out a tendency for monks to blame others, or their surroundings, for their state. This perhaps is a more common Western attitude – that of you are not happy then you need to change something about your environment (with adverts advising us that if only we buy their product we will find happiness). Sometimes I have noticed a few people talking about churches in the same way – how they have moved around churches trying to find one that is right for them. In extreme cases there are people who have abandoned all churches because none fit their requirements. These are not necessarily depressed people, but people who have learned to reject things that don’t suit them well – they opt out rather than learn to live with others they may not get along with, or they opt out of all churches not out of depression but because they blame the churches for their failure to grow in them. The desert fathers were united in the same advise – “go back into your cell, and your cell will teach you everything”, or in more modern day phraseology “find out what you need to change about yourself before assuming you need to change what or who is around you”.

I think Cassian is pointing to something epidemic in Western Society – the pursuit of happiness through changing what is around you, rather than changing what is inside of you.