About that parallel you're drawing...

[firecat]

I have seen multiple posts about depression recently that compare it to diabetes and say something like "You wouldn't expect a diabetic to go without their insulin, right? Well you shouldn't expect a depressed person to 'just cheer up.'"

Here's the thing. There is lots of shaming of diabetics for being on meds or insulin. A lot of people think diabetes is a "lifestyle disease" and that one can choose whether to have it and how to treat it. There is probably considerable overlap between people with that view and the ones who think depression is a bad mood or a selfish play for attention.

I appreciate the attempt to educate people about depression and I'm not criticizing any particular person or post, but I'm thinking some other comparison would probably work better to get the point across that depression is a very difficult condition to manage.

Comments

[janetmiles]

Epilepsy, maybe?

[adrian_turtle]

Epilepsy, too. I'm not sure there's ANY disease that people don't get blamed for (I mean, aren't expected to take personal responsibility for having or not-curing), at least sometimes. Though it's more common with some diseases than others, and problems that begin in childhood are usually blamed on parents rather than the person who actually has the disease.

[flarenut]

I think this is right, at least at this point in time/place. Victim-blaming is in, and it's a great way to deflect from how human-hostile our current society is.

[johnpalmer]

Maybe. Simple and complex partial seizures, especially, could probably cause some odd behaviors that could lead to blaming.

I'm pondering - if I have simple temporal lobe seizures, it might by why some of my emotional moments have been so hideous. And I know that some people (you, certainly) would be compassionate. But I know others would be seriously icked by it. And some would say that I shouldn't expose others to it. You know, not shameful if it happens, as long as it happens behind closed doors.