This was brilliant. I have had similar thoughts as you because I too, had absorbed the idea from psychological mainstream ideas that something was wrong with me individually. There still may be something wrong with me, however, I successfully deprogrammed some bad elements within my mind and have regained some key elements of health that most adults have lost from childhood. I devised my own system which was not associated with psychology or psychiatric drugs. My method was this:

1. Remove myself from corporate environment that was shattering my soul.
2. Remove myself from toxic people.
3. Find employment where I have 7+ hours per day to learn from people smarter than me via podcasts and audiobooks (delivery driver).
4. Remove social interaction while my mind is absorbing new programs.
5. Apply the lessons learned from auditory information and work on self-repair, starting with the worst problem first, then working next on each weakness.

I love thinking about all your points and as an atheist, and I would say voluntaryist, I agree with your assessments.

The existential despair aspect of life is wholly ignored in most people's consciousness. Most are too busy occupying themselves with the latest distraction (Pokemon Go) to even consider their own existential dread. In fact, I've been thinking heavily about the possibility that most humans are more like housecats. Most are completely unconscious about their existence and death.

For me, my mind deprogramming system began when I had suffered considerably by certain circumstances that were out of my control.

That was when I woke up. But what I woke up to was the prospect of survival: either I was going to find a way to provide for me and my child or I wasn't. Becoming dependent upon others for my survival for a short time allowed me to do 2 things: destroy my ego (partially) and become grateful.

Without going through a rock-bottom type of experience, I feel that most humans will continue to languish in a sort of lulled, complacency that leads only to more unconsciousness. There must, I feel, be a significant amount of suffering in order to transform a consciousness in any meaningful way.

But the traps when one is suffering are numerous. I remained an atheist throughout my trials, because at a young age, I performed a series of tests to disprove the existence of "God." I never believed in such a ridiculous notion and took it upon myself to think about the unknown things of my direct experience.

About the dread. I have suffered from anxiety and dread more than most I think. But as of recently, my dread has ended. Why? Mainly because instead of focusing on myself as much, I focus on others. The lines between the self and other have become blurry, and I experience the greatest joy when I view life in this manner. Nature too, is not separate. Separation is what causes anxiety. The fear of making it on one's own is a bad model for life. But dependence too, when taken to extremes is a bad model. What is necessary for massive change in society to occur is for people to experience true responsibility and also to embody the idea of not being separated. The Native Americans didn't have this separation and that is why they existed as a healthy group of humans, respecting the earth and the things it provided to them at no cost. Look at a squirrel who does work for survival and exists with contentment. We can aspire to be more like wild animals instead of pathologizing our own isolated conditions as fucked up housecats.