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You can tell people that the cure for ennui doesn't involve mind-altering drugs (just exercise, diet, social/community involvement) without being sneered at. Th

• Jtsummers 8y ago
  To be clear, you can tell people that those things help clinical depression as well, without being sneered at. And for some people that is enough (over time, particularly as clinical depression is often a symptom of other things and not a condition on its own). The only reason they'd sneer at you is your "just" part. There's no "just" with a mental state that can leave people unable to even will themselves out of bed for days at a time (at my worst I could at least do that, but couldn't get out of the apartment without using up most of my mental and emotional strength). There are points where medication (mind-altering drugs) can be essential for people, and for others it may be something they need forever. Why? Because there are different causes. Mine is a consequence of anxiety, addressing that essentially eliminated my depression. For others, their anxiety is worse than mine and rather than medication for depression they need medication for anxiety, and not just coping techniques. For other people, the depression is a condition on its own, with no or no apparent causal factors. Others, it may be a consequence of physical health (lack of sunlight, exercise, poor diet) and so those precise things can eliminate or significantly reduce their experience of depression. It's all going to be case-by-case, and so there is no "just".