Current mood:	bitchy
Current music:	Like a Prayer - Madonna

Saw this on my friendslist a couple times. I have a feeling my opinion is going to be unpopular.

I suffer from depression. I am a strong, intelligent, capable person. I am neither weak nor stupid nor lazy. Depression is an illness that millions of people suffer from and there is nothing wrong with admitting you need help sometimes.

If you've ever felt this way, copy this and paste it into your LJ. Maybe if we start talking about how we survive depression, we'll realize we aren't alone.

I will state for the record that I am not a physician, and this is my experience with depression and my opinion. Let me also state for the record that I believe my understanding of depression is greater than most people's, due in part both to research and the interviewing of medical professionals on the matter.

In my opinion, depression is not an illness. Calling depression an illness is nothing more than transferring responsibility of one's state of mind from them to some mystical, general statement that there's something clinically wrong with them.

It has symptoms! It must be an illness!

Nope, sorry. That's an excuse. Depression causes a hormone imbalance, I'll give you that. The thought that the vast majority of cases have pills being thrown at them makes me nauseated. We know throwing pills at things doesn't solve problems. For every person online that I've spoken with, a majority claiming to have dealt with moderate to serious depression, none of them seem happy with the pill regiment they've been put on by physicians except one, and that one is only happy because she is no longer depressed. This should be a clear indication that pills are not the answer.

I had moderate to severe depression. My family doctor attempted to get me prescription medication. I told her no. I ended up taking St. John's Wort, which while having proven results in easing mild to moderate depression, was probably more of a placebo than anything else. I took a herbal remedy that someone had told me would help my depression, and because I thought that it ought to be getting better, it did.

Depression is a state of mind. It can, in fact, be helped with good diet, vitamins, sunshine, and exercise, because all these things encourage the body to want to go expend some energy, and it's hard to be angsty and depressed when your body and your brain are nice and wound up. It will not get better until the 'patient' wants it to get better, period. In most cases, it is not caused by an imbalance of hormones, it is not caused by genetics, it is a behavioural response to adolescence and an increasing amount of information flooding the brain during adolescence.

Some people handle stress better than others. Those that don't handle stress well, or choose not to, assume the symptoms of depression. Disinterest, listlesness, tiredness, mood swings, weight gain or lose. Changes in behavior cause the brain and body to react, producing more or less hormone, insulin, and other chemicals, which in turn make it harder for a change in mindset to equal a change in behavior. The longer a person decides to be symptomatic, the harder it is for the body to be jostled from its new 'normal' MO.

I bi-annually have myself a nice little depression, have pretty much done so since I was fourteen. This is normal. A majority of people seeing a doctor on a regular basis in the United States report the same thing. Not every matches a season, and each depressive cycle isn't always equally spaced, six months apart from one another. It is normal for a male or female to have depressive times, it is a reaction of the brain to a person's environment as well as a reaction of them to certain stressors, be it work, home, or even a few solid weeks of overcast weather. Your personality has a lot to do with depression. Usually depression is tied to individuals of average or higher intelligence. One doctor described it as "a person's ability to overwhelm themselves."

Depression is not some unexplainable cootie you can pick up. It is not a disease, it is not an illness. It is a person who wants to be depressed so much they can force their body to produce symptoms. It is no different than a teen stressing about a recital and having zits pop out all over their face, or a woman nervous about an interview coming out in hives. It is no different than a woman really excited about a trip or adventure suddenly starting her period, or a hypochondriac suffering from headaches because they believe they have a brain tumor.

I have a serious beef about our current culture and the desire to transfer responsiblity from the one onto the amorphous and undefined something else. Raise your own damn kids, own up to your own bad choices, accept the consequences of your actions, and stop turning to a court or a pill to solve your problems. Treating the symptoms seems to be in vogue, and it's inefficient, expensive, and stupid.

So there! =)

Back to your regularly scheduled silence. =)

EDIT: I have received reports of snark on this thread, and as I said above, I can't dedicate any more time to it today. It is frozen until further notice. I don't know where the snark is, but when I have time I will go find it and settle it, and then reopen the post.

If the comment numbers continue to rise, I will set this post "Disallow comments" which will cause all the previous comments to temporarily disappear. I'd really rather not do that, I think everyone can learn something from the experiences that have been posted here. Feel free to take it to another venue, but as I said before, I will not tolerate anything less than polite, intelligent discourse here. Failure to do so is an insult to everyone else who kept a civil tongue in the face of emotion and it invalidates any point the snarking person may have been making.

MORE EDITING: I have just received reports of further snark. I see two new comments, one of which within minutes of the first edit, but the second one - someone must have linked this in open view of the children. As I said above, this post is now set to "Disallow comments," and all comments will no longer be in public view. As I said before, when I have time to clean up the snark and the troll, the post will be restored and unfrozen, and discussion may continue. I hope everyone who wanted to continue this in another venue had enough time to move their comments. If anyone needs a copy of their comments, please feel free to contact me on the post above and make your requests.