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.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/840538.html

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From:

silveradept

I have yet to understand why people believe that any disease or syndrome is automatically "lifestyle" until proven to them otherwise.

From:

firecat

Yes, and I think if the condition doesn't involve harming others, it shouldn't matter whether it's lifestyle.

(And "has to pay more taxes" does not count as harm that any individual is doing.)

From:

johnpalmer

Well... sometimes it's because it would seem that it has to be, to them. And sometimes it might point at something they're struggling with.

My ex-wife was tired or fatigued a lot of the time. I *despised* this... because I was fatigued all the time. I think I had a harder time recognizing that she might not be able to help it because I was struggling so hard to carry on in spite of fatigue. Would I have felt the same if I had plenty of energy? I honestly don't know. But I know the issue that I *wanted* to be able to collapse and rest for a bit made for some extra bitterness in my thoughts.

(ETA: "It has to be, for them"... if you're not depressed, you may not have any idea how someone could be so mopey - if *you* were so mopey, it would be lifestyle - a choice. This can sometimes be the hinge were the door to understanding can open. "So you would never, ever choose to be that way, because if you did, you'd hate yourself and feel like crap to boot, right? So wouldn't it be awfully stupid to do that - unless there was something broken making it happen? What if there *is* something broken making it happen?")

Edited Date: 18 Aug 2014 07:12 pm (UTC)

From:

adrian_turtle

I believe it's because people want to think they have so much control over their lives they can protect themselves from sickness by doing everything right. That's not the way the world works. But if my neighbor brought disease on herself by eating the wrong things, or taking the wrong medicine, or using the wrong dental fillings, I will be safe if I am careful enough. It's not as scary as living in a dangerous world where bad things just *happen* sometimes.