4 ms·

Honestly that is lot of BS. I get what your saying to a point, but I have never used my depression as an excuse to dismiss any of my normal duties, and I think

Honestly that is lot of BS. I get what your saying to a point, but I have never used my depression as an excuse to dismiss any of my normal duties, and I think it's pretty bad that you would assume many would. By all accounts I have a great life, I have friends that have been with me for over 20 years, have a wife who by all my accounts is the greatest person in the world, have an amazing job that I completely love going to every day. I'm truly blessed with what I have, and could never argue otherwise. I am a diagnosed manic depressive and I treat it like alcoholism. You're not going to see an alcoholic stand up in an AA meeting 20 years later and say "I'm not an alcoholic anymore". I treat depression the same way, you have to confront it head on each day and admit what is happening to you mentally. 10 years from now, 20 years from now, whenever. The great irony of that is that alcoholism is recognized as a disease where this article is arguing that depression isn't the same. You can have the best life, the best people in it and still want to top yourself. To "fight the hellish mode" is such a radical oversimplification it's comical. I seriously have some of the best and most longstanding relationships with my friends that makes it most people jealous. Most people don't understand how a group of people could still be with each other after 20+ years. Yet I'm still depressed every day. It's never going away, it will always be there no matter what I do. To characterize that as victimization or lack of effort is exactly what leads people to kill themselves, because whats the point after honestly? You are literally saying their inability to foster positive relationships is what is the problem. Having nothing but positive relationships in my life I can tell you that's bullshit. It's not interaction that fosters the problem, it's fucking depression, the disease. Get off you high horse or were going to have more Aaron Swartz's on our hands. The stigma is a 100% real, and garbage like this just makes people with depression feel more alienated.

Swannie 11y ago
I know someone that would describe themselves in a similar situation as yourself. I don't know that this article is complete garbage. My friend certainly felt that therapy (recommended by their psychiatrist) was an extremely valuable tool, in addition to medication, to help them manage their day-to-day symptoms, and to understand the things that would trigger the worse periods. They also felt that therapy allowed them to improve their relationships, which improved their support structure, which was slowly reducing the frequency and duration of the bouts of depression. But yeah, saying that depression can be fixed by therapy is harmful, and after a careful re-read, I'd consider this article as 80% junk.

Swannie 11y ago

I know someone that would describe themselves in a similar situation as yourself. I don't know that this article is complete garbage. My friend certainly felt that therapy (recommended by their psychiatrist) was an extremely valuable tool, in addition to medication, to help them manage their day-to-day symptoms, and to understand the things that would trigger the worse periods. They also felt that therapy allowed them to improve their relationships, which improved their support structure, which was slowly reducing the frequency and duration of the bouts of depression. But yeah, saying that depression can be fixed by therapy is harmful, and after a careful re-read, I'd consider this article as 80% junk.