Letter
Life, Friends, Is the Pits
April 30, 2007 (from the May 2007 Issue)
Psychiatrist Kevin Turnquist gave an excellent response, conservative and correct, to important questions about “depression” and related issues [“The Doctor is In,” April].
I find that the word “depression” nowadays is loosely used and over-used by the general public. Where once we were “unhappy” or “down” or “moody” or “low,” now we are “depressed.” This buzzword too often gets us directed—unnecessarily—to a mental-health practitioner for treatment.
Life is not a bowl of cherries; it has its pits. When we feel “low” or “down,” by no means does this mean that we need professional treatment for depression. Talk with a friend. A relative or religious leader can help us when we feel “low.” So will a vacation, change of scene, another activity, or merely time itself. If our happiness interferes not with our work, social life, or our physical well-being, then (in my view) we are only “unhappy”; we are not mentally “depressed” such as to need treatment.
Unfortunately, in these times there is a pervasive attitude that no discomfort, mental or physical, is allowed—and an immediate treatment or a pill is called for. And we forget that sometimes the “treatment” is worse than the “disease.”
Life is not a bowl of cherries; it has its pits. When we feel “low” or “down,” by no means does this mean that we need professional treatment for depression. Talk with a friend. A relative or religious leader can help us when we feel “low.” So will a vacation, change of scene, another activity, or merely time itself. If our happiness interferes not with our work, social life, or our physical well-being, then (in my view) we are only “unhappy”; we are not mentally “depressed” such as to need treatment.
Unfortunately, in these times there is a pervasive attitude that no discomfort, mental or physical, is allowed—and an immediate treatment or a pill is called for. And we forget that sometimes the “treatment” is worse than the “disease.”