Quote:
Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard
You missed the main point - treatment is a reactionary approach to a systemic problem, the rates of depression and the prescriptions for antidepressants are remarkably high. This indicates to me that there is a larger issue with our society that needs to be addressed rather than the treatment options available. We live in a very closed and isolated society - when is the last time that someone met someone new that wasn't related to work. Heck I don't know my own neighbours name, we lead two parallel lives only running into each other on the way to school or work. I really think that this is the downside of technology is that while we are plugged in with each other to a greater degree than ever before we are also more and more isolated, leading to higher rates of clinical depression. That isn't to say that all depression is the same and that all mental illness is the same but when I look at the situation I can't help but think that a larger, more broad, more innovative approach is required relative to merely pumping money into programs but rather looking at the social and physical construction of our society.
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I think you're making an error in attributing mental illness primarily to societal factors. I don't care how much social interaction you have or how much time you spend surfing the interwebz, or whether you even know what Google is, if your brain chemistry determines you're going to feel X, it won't matter. In my experience, the "reasons" for depression are just things that happen at the same time as rough patches in terms of the symptoms - people then assume correlation implies causation.
I recently had something go wrong at work and at roughly the same time I started considering suicide. This does not mean that the work issue is responsible for me thinking that way even though it may seem like that subjectively. I really think if it wasn't that, it'd be something else - I'd decide something was wrong with my relationship with my girlfriend maybe, or that the impending visit from family was causing me stress or something. Real world factors may to some degree trigger these issues but the symptoms would have found a way regardless.
I obviously have no psych background, though I've educated myself on this to the extent one can as a lay person (which is difficult because believe me it's preferable to just not think about it and pretend it doesn't exist). This is just how it seems to me after having this happen over the years... there's no rhyme or reason to what seems to cause these attacks. Like I said before, it doesn't matter what I do with my life, and I've done lots to make it seem like it should be, from an outside perspective, a good life. The same old symptoms inevitably re-emerge. There's just something wrong with my brain.