Punter wrote:I was affected by depression, and yes is was because of a shitty family situation, but I think that its attitudes like yours that those ads are trying to target. (I'm assuming it those ads that started this)
They are real medical problems, my brain was sick. Its like living in unhygienic conditions you will get sick, and you can't just snap out of it either, can you snap out of a cholera??
Well, it would appear that our definition of depression differs then.
IMO, depression is:
A chemical imabalance/deficiency in the brain, which leads to a condition where you are never happy, despite the circumstances.
For these people, I dont dispute the wonders of medication.
However I dont believe that you can 'get' depression because bad things happen... I mean you're depressed because bad things are happening, not because there's something chemically wrong with your brain.
That sounds like a completely natural human reaction to me.
I've had some pretty crazy shit go on in my life, and I had about 4-5 years of my life that were hell...
By your definition, I was probably 'depressed' among other things.
That doesnt mean that there was anything wrong with me physically or mentally, it was just the situation that I was in.
Now that I'm out of this situation, I couldnt be happier.
I can see how popping pills can help get you out of a downwards spiral, but I think it's just as likely to make you avoid your actual problems, as the pills make your situation bearable, rather than it being bad enough that you want to change things.
And many people become dependant on these pills for the rest of their lives, just to feel normal.... when they could have probably sorted things out otherwise.
It's like taking pain killers for having a broken leg, rather than getting it put in a cast.
They might help in the short term, but they arent going to fix your problem.
In the same manner, I think that pills can help ease your short term problems, but if not used in conjunction with some long term solutions to your problems, then they're worse than not having them at all.