[sinecure]

Belief dictates reality. This is the fundamental driver behind the common effectiveness of placebo. Which leads to the question, does depression exist as a flaw in the brain? A malfunction? Or is it like a mind virus, that it becomes an inescapable suffering because we are told we are broken and powerless to fight these feelings?

If a person is feeling sad, often, and without reason, and you tell them "Sorry, your brain is broken, you have depression, we will give you these pills to fix your brain chemistry." You have taken that person's autonomy away. They are now the victim of a disease.

I think the reality is that our society and civilization leads to a certain despair and sadness in many people, one that can be fixed by changing one's lifestyle, mindset, or overcoming challenges. This is not a disease, not a mental illness, not some health problem you cure with a pill. It's a spiritual dilemma that must be faced individually and overcome with effort and belief that one can change.

Essentially, I believe that by diagnosing people with "clinical depression" we are creating a self fulfilling prophecy and condemning them to a victim status that perpetuates their suffering.

[hirvi74]

How would you describe a condition like Bipolar Disorder where the brain swings in both directions? Depression is half of Bipolar, but is the brain broken in this case? What about the manifestation of psychotic features?

Based on my understanding of the condition, typical anti-depressants tend to be a contraindication for Bipolar Disorder (can induce mania), so in some regards it seems like the medications not only work for Bipolar, but they work a little too well.

If depression is not a disease, is Bipolar a disease -- half a disease? I am curious what you think. I do not suffer from BP, but I was misdiagnosed with it at one time (I never had psychotic episodes or anything), and doctors wanted to load me up with medications. Luckily, I refused, and I later found out that wasn't the issue, which caused me to lose a lot of faith in psychology/psychiatry. However, the whole process made me more empathic to those with the disorder.

[sinecure]

A childhood friend of mine developed schizophrenia at 25, so I am surely convinced of the existence of true mental illness. To me a mental illness is defined as a clear defect in the workings of the brain, such that you have uncontrollable hallucinations and mania. I am not as familiar with bipolar disorder, but my overall argument is not that mental illness is non-existent, it's that depression is either vastly over-diagnosed or should not be categorized in the same group as schizophrenia and the like. Where is the line between "I've abused my brain with the comforts and overstimulation of modernity and now I am not happy" with "I was born to be sad because I'm genetically broken"?

In the end psychology is just too political and too lacking in scientific rigor to handle these questions. the DSM is essentially a politically motivated group of academics voting on what is or isn't a mental illness. At one point homosexuality was a mental illness, seen as a deviance in brain function leading to the end of reproduction. But the political tides changed and now it is no longer classified that way. How can we drug people for a lifetime based on the changing tide of academic bureaucrats who vote on what is or isn't normal? Is it too cynical to believe that the pharmaceutical companies making massive profit off of the mental health drug industry are not backing the psychologists making DSM decisions?

A kid comes in saying he's depressed all the time. They ask him what's wrong, why he is unhappy? He complains about feeling sad all the time without reason. They give him anti-depressants. But what about the fact that he plays video games all day, watches porn constantly, is on booze and weed and stimulants, is constantly browsing novel media on his smartphone, constantly entertained with netflix, he's blasted with supernormal stimuli 24/7 and then wonder's why his brain chemistry is out of whack... yet the mental health industry would rather see him drugged up on profit making anti-depressants rather than struggle through the years of effort and therapy to change his lifestyle.