>To me it seems absurd that much of the medical establishment would regard the unhappiness a recently bereaved person as a chemical imbalance or a symptom of il

>To me it seems absurd that much of the medical establishment would regard the unhappiness a recently bereaved person as a chemical imbalance or a symptom of illness It doesn't seem so absurd when you realize that they make a lot of money that way. I agree with your post though. The marketing agencies for drug companies want you to feel as though being uncomfortable for any amount of time means something is wrong with you. It doesn't help that (in the United States at least) there is a very large consumer culture which is based around an intellectually-unhealthy ideal, which, I think, makes people deeply unhappy. Thus, when people realize what is wrong with the world around them, they feel extremely uncomfortable and are quickly herded into the category of "mentally ill" rather than being allowed to face what is troubling them. Depression is very much a fad disorder, like ADHD and Asperger's syndrome (much to the dismay of people who suffer from them legitimately, no doubt).