by Marea E. Johnson

Created on: January 02, 2009   Last Updated: July 01, 2011

The stigma that continues to surround depression in this, the 21st century, is an attitude that continues to boggle my mind and get me a little heated under the collar.

Supposedly being the most intellectually and technologically advanced generation in the history of mankind, it is almost inconceivable that we should be continuing to not only participate in, but to actually continue propogating the ignorant attitudes surrounding the very real, and often debilitating condition known as mental depression. In fact, with such ignorance abounding, I'm questioning whether or not I should delete the word "mental", so as not to scare off those that are, shall we say, not as "intellectually enlightened"?

Living in a time where we have unlimited amounts of information, literally at our fingertips, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is totally inexcusable that such ignorant attitudes continue to exist. But I suppose, as long as people remain unconcerned, apathetic, and indifferent, no amount of information will bring about change.

The misconceptions surrounding depression are endless it seems, but the most prevalent one seems to be the belief that people who are depressed really don't have a medical illness that requires treatment, but that it is simply a "flaw in their character" that, with enough will and determination, they can correct. This is absolutely ludicrous of course. This type of thinking is akin to telling a diabetic that because their bodies cannot properly deal with the abnormal amounts of sugar in their blood, they are weak, lazy, irresponsible whiners, who, if they truly wanted to, could take control of their disorder by "willing it away". Or ridiculing the heart patient who takes medication for his angina by telling him it's "all in his head". Only the most disturbed and ignorant person would ever conceive of doing such a thing.

So then, why is it that people feel they have the right to make such judgements on people suffering from depression? The only difference between mental disorders and physical disorders are the body parts involved. Why would the brain, being an organ like the pancreas or the heart, be magically exempt from age, disease, or injury? It wouldn't, and it's not!

Like other malfunctioning organs of the body, the causes of depression could be hereditary, meaning that the person was born with a chemical imbalance in their brain, possibly inherited by their family genetics. And just as the same physical problems tend to run in families,

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