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> There's a dangerous perspective held by a conservatively-minded minority of more people who say mental illness "isn't real" and you just need to "suck it up"
by empath75 8y ago
> There's a dangerous perspective held by a conservatively-minded minority of more people who say mental illness "isn't real" and you just need to "suck it up" and "have stronger character"
I don't think most cases of depression are an illness for the same reason that I don't think that hunger is an illness. It's the body and mind's natural response to a life which it wasn't evolved to cope with. Which isn't at all the same thing as telling people to suck it up. If everyone is forced to take drugs in order to thrive in what civilization has become, it's not the depressed person who is sick.
- _bxg1 8y agoRight, so you're not in that group. But there are people who literally write off every possible thing that's wrong with someone's mind as a character flaw and therefore that person's fault and something they don't need any professional assistance to deal with.
- empath75 8y agoI wish we thought of depression as a disease of systems instead of of people -- and that our first response to rising numbers of depression diagnoses wasn't only to treat people, but also to reform society. Like if a building is on fire, you don't just do first aid on people that get burned. You evacuate the building and put the fire out.