Why do so many people seem depressed?

[Unintentionally_Blank]

I’m of two minds. At no time in history have we been as aware of our neighbors as we are now. When Grog was out beating rocks together to get food, was he stressed, or just hungry? When The mesopotamian farmers had a bad day at work, did it piss them off, or were they too tired from the excercise to care?

Our more receint generations had lovely things like race wars, domestic violence, and the lot and it was something not talked about. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t all Ward and June Cleaver.

We now have the ability to treat the scars of stress, and on the other, more stressful situations than we’ve ever really had in the past.

Or do we? Infant mortality is unheard of anymore. Death on the job in sweatshop conditions doesn’t happen anywhere this post is being read. The fatalities in our current war are 1/100th what they were in previous historical conflicts.

If you break your arm, folks don’t give it a second thought if you have a cast. If you have the runs, you take something for it. If there’s something wrong with your head, why WOULDN’T you take something for it?

In the interests of full disclosure, I’m in the titrating phase of getting off Xanax and Wellbutrin. I had Generalized Anxiety Disorder and it was a VERY REAL illness.

It was stated above (correctly, I believe) that our society is built on not being happy. There’s always the next car, house, computer, Movie, job, whatever. As a good consumer, you have no right to be happy as long as there’s something else out there you don’t have. And if you do, then you better watch out before the Evil People take it away.

[Q.N.Jones]

@Renob

No, I think depression is real, althought I doubt that it’s as common as is generally thought. My wife, in fact, could probably diagnosed with clinical depression and “melancholy” (as they used to call it) seems to run in her family.

However, my opinion is that regardless of what you are feeling, there is just stuff you have to do. You have to get up out of bed and go to work, for instance.
If you are able to work, then you should. If you want to induldge your depression and stay home and let others support you, then I don’t have much sympathy for you.

I graduated from Harvard Law School and forced myself to keep working 80 hour weeks even though I was psychotically depressed. (Yes, believing things that were not true.) I did this until I physically could not continue. The big wake-up call happened when I was in a meeting with a partner and a client, and I suddenly couldn’t read. My ability to concentrate enough to comprehend had been diminishing for a long time, but I could compensate by spending 16 hours a day at the office. Under pressure, I actually couldn’t tell you what the words on the page said.

I forced myself to work through a two-week jury trial, and when I was done, I got into bed and went to sleep for three days. It wasn’t a matter of not feeling like getting up. For most of that time, no one could wake me. During my few waking moments, I was incoherent.

To say I was “indulging” myself is sheer idiocy.

Leaving your job to have a recovery period is not “indulging your depression.” People who take time off to recover from a serious non-mental illness are not seen as “indulging” themselves. They’re taking time to heal so they can come back and be productive. Same thing. In my case, it turned out I was bipolar. It took two years before I was properly diagnosed and treated. I’m now back in the work force and productive.