by Sita

Created on: July 06, 2008

I believe that there is such a thing as depression, and that it can be devastating. I also believe that as a culture, we have taken it to an entirely new level. The word has snuck into our vocabulary, and is often overused in even that sense."She's depressed because the boy she likes asked someone else to the dance." No, she's probably just a little sad about it, and would get over it normally in just a few days. I think part of the problem with labeling people as depressed, whether done casually or diagnosed, is that it actually makes people feel worse about their situation than before they had that label.

Having worked for Hospice for a few years, I've seen people that have every right to be depressed, but aren't, and I've seen people labeled as depressed who most likely aren't. When someone is ill and grieving their upcoming death, or a family member is upset over a fatal illness of a loved one, that's probably not depression. It's just a normal grieving reaction, and the grieving process lasts a long time. Yet even before anything else is done or even spoken about, many of these people find themselves slapped with a label of depression and a bottle- or two, or three, of antidepressants. What ever happened to teaching people coping skills?

Gone are the days of doctors telling people to vacation in the country or on the ocean to relieve stress, and the days when a good friend would drag you out of the house when you were sitting there moping about. I wonder, sometimes, how it was that people even lived for the thousands of years before antidepressants. I mean, maybe it is as rough as people say in this day and age, but what about the days of the plague, the days of slavery, the eras of constant warfare? If that was today, 95% of them would be handed a bottle of pills and sent on their way, but in their day and age they learned to live and cope with things we couldn't even imagine today.

Adults are depressed. Kids are depressed. Teenagers and the elderly are almost always depressed. When I went through a rough few months sorting out finishing college, struggling to work through it, and being unhappy with my job, half of the people I knew wanted to put me on medication. I got through it, just as I knew I would- but you know what? Being told over and over again that you are depressed IS depressing.

I do believe that there are people truly in need of medication and treatment for depression. These people have been afflicted for a long time, cannot cope with daily

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