The Myth About Depression

Is hard to believe that being mentally ill is still seen as “craziness” and that for most people is easier to say they suffer from any chronic health condition and that they need medication for the rest of their lives than to say they suffer from a mental disorder and even worst, if they need medication to improve their condition.

After putting some thought in the topic and seeing a lot of faces of disapproval, I have found even sadder that it is easier for people to hear that someone suffers from anxiety than if they have problems with depression.

What lack of information does to the human beings!

Both anxiety and depression are part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Axis I: Clinical Disorders. Although, they are different conditions, the medication used most of the time to treat anxiety, is the same used when treating depression.

SSRIs such as Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac as well as some benzodiazepines as Ativan or Xanax to name a few are all medications that send messages to the neurotransmitters in the brain, these messages alter brain chemicals as the Serotine that control human emotions and behavior. They can also affect appetite, sleep patterns and other body functions that are set by the brain. In the medical field, these medications are known as Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors but for most of us, they are simply called antidepressants even if they actually not only treat depression.

I have to admit that the fact that Anxiety Disorders are more related to stress factors and traumas, people tend to quickly relate them to external factors and seem easier to accept that help is needed when is not the person’s fault to suffer that condition.

So what is the problem with depression?

Is it that for some people depression should be managed easier than anxiety?

Because depression is a Mood Disorder, it is fast related to internal factors and for that, people judge that depression should be able to be handled and cured by individual’s own will to feel better.

Both are not actual facts, anxiety as depression can be caused by external and internal factors as both can be influenced by the way chemicals in the brain are balanced. This balance is not different in any way to how the body balances sugars, blood pressure and other elements that can cause health problems and they need medication to be regulated.

As a professional counselor, it saddens me to see people's reaction about mental disorders mostly when I see so many individuals in need of psychotherapy and even medication to improve their quality of life.

I read news about mothers killing their children and being sentenced to life in prison. Is hard to see that it is until someone like this is in trial and the fact that she was diagnosed with a mental illness since her early years but refused medication and treatment is when people think about the importance of mental health, a fact that could have been prevented and treated.

Depression can have little to do with how good your life is as well as anxiety, can have just a small influence from how stressful your life is, both factors can trigger them but they are not the only fact.

I hope I live to see a world where people's concerns with mental disorders make them want to prevent them or treat them instead of ignoring them. I wish for a world where psychotherapy can be respected, where people can freely admit they have a mental illness and can openly work on them.

I dream about a mentally healthier world!

#depression #mentalhealth