So let me start by saying I had no intentions of posting a follow up on the book and the thoughts it has provoked in me, but I need to.
In the portion of the book we read today, the author talked about the chemical side of depression and how it changes your life. I think it's really important that people understand that depression is and can be a chemical issue. There were some girls in our English class that decided that depression is just an excuse to have an easy way out and that it is completely mental. I was beyond pissed upon reading this. Depression is not just an easy way out...for some people yes, and unfortunately our society stresses it as a way out (the labels of emo and scene) but for other, true sufferers of depression, not something they brought upon themselves, it is not an easy way out at all...it's not that people don't want to part take in the activities they used to enjoy..they can't b/c the disorder has consumed them so wholly, which brings me to the next part of the comment...that depression is solely mental
this also is not true...with the onset of depression and the chemical imbalances that come with it, the immune system gets broken down and leads to physical pain and illness
I can't believe people would say something like that when they don't even understand the true things behind it...
Darkness Visible Part 2
By vern - Posted on March 20th, 2008
I've never been truly depressed in my life, sure, I've been "down in the dumps" so to speak a few times, but never really been in depression so I can't properly sympathize with you. However, I do see that depression is chemical as well as mental. Today's society has somewhat made it "cool" to be depressed, I have no idea how that came along, but it did. I'm not so sure it's true of scene kids, but it's very true of the emo crowd. Scene kids are more just people that go to hardcore shows and stuff, they just look like emos. I'm really hoping we don't start an emo uprising over this.... Anyway, I think one of the main reasons people laugh off depression is because it's common. True depression isn't extremely common, but when people hear that someone is depressed, they'll most likely just say that they're emo and make fun of them or something. Depression has been around a lot longer than the emo movement and it will last longer than the emo movement as well. Fads fade away.
agreed...but just because society has made it look cool doesn't mean it should be shrugged off...and it definitely shouldn't be called a fake disorder that people use as an easy way out of doing things (which is what these girls claimed)...because a lot of times it is serious and isn't the fault of the person suffering...and they also claimed that depression can easily be fixed w/o treatment by doing things that release endorphins like exercising and things...but as my coach pointed out...blood pressure which can be brought on by stress or heredity can also be treated by those things, so should we stop medicating them too? Not to mention that a lot of the people that don't get help self-medicate...do we really want people in therapists offices or a bunch of alcoholics and druggies? think about it...and what I really really don't like about saying that depression is "made up" is that they had nothing to back it up whereas me and my friend looked up stats and studies and showed them
sorry for the rant...these girls just really pissed me off but yeah I do get what you're saying
If depression is a just a health issue then there are a few things that can be done just by changing one's diet. My friend and I have been reading about some substance known as "glyconutrients" that are missing in basically everyone's diet. When these are put back into people's diets, they find that they feel much better and even some allergies have been known to go away (my friend's neighbor was allergic to peanut butter and longer is after taking these nutrients). Of course, these would only help if depression was purely a health issue, which it could be related to other things such as stress due to various reasons. I think stress might be one of the more common reasons for depression. People can tend to overwork and overstress themselves with their jobs or school or whatever. But that's just my thoughts.
oh yeah I definitely agree that those are SOME reasons for depression...but they definitely aren't all...that's what made me so mad about those girls is that they claim all of these things yet they have nothing to back it up with
That pisses me off like it does you. Yes it is a chemical inbalance in the brain but in some people it doesn't need to be treated with medication...like me. It made me feel so numb, Like I didn't care about anything. I was like that when I had depression so why would I want to be like that now? I realized though that YOU are the only person that can make yourself happy and that I would strive for happiness another way and realize that things could always get alot worse. Good blog.
Something people should know about:
http://www.progressiveu.org/032913-lupus-uncureable-wait-what
yeah exactly...but for other people the medication is the only thing keeping them stable...it's just really frustrating...and after my friend and I posted stats and studies they haven't said anything about it....but I told my friend (the boy) who is studying to be a psychologist and he was like they are so dumb I wish I could show them all the diagrams of what really happens to your brain when you're depressed...and I talked to a teacher about it who also agreed that they are wrong and they should've been able to back it up if they wanted an impact.