if you want facts, here are some other ones that haven't been mentioned here:
depression is something that's reported in developed countries the most, by far. While it is a three-dimensional, weighty reality for us out here, it's a luxury for someone in a poor African country. We can *afford* to go to school and learn philosophy and 'oh can you believe Aristotle came up with a logic system way back then, how impressive'. And even if the depression is real, its origin is this fake-a$s world we've fabricated, far from all things natural and harmonizing. We're people of the concrete, an urban species with its own new faults that never should've existed. And our tummies are softer than ever. A restaurant is a place to go eat food, not pay 50â'¬ to taste intellectually captivating waters in "water bars". Dressing up in 100â'¬ clothes our dogs. Our world is sick and has derailed from the plot long ago.
Yeah, I'm hardly pleased with today's society and all that, but depression is far from just a 21st century illness and has been
part of civilisation from long before we were that far removed from nature (and, on a side note, we've been derailing from the plot ever since we decided to pick up a rock to crack a nut). It's a set of complex conditions that cannot be ascribed to any one thing. Bipolar spectrum disorders, for example, are genetically inherited (that's an irrefutable fact) and has also been alluded to throughout history and have nothing to do with the condition of today's society. Either way, depression arises in people with a predisposition to it - it's not to do with being 'strong' or 'weak', it just is.
On another note, I was reading one of Lewis Wolpert's books on the subject a while back, it's suspected that the physical manifestation of depression does vary from country to country and is an oft-somatised condition - for example, there are fewer incidences of the 'classic' depressive symptoms in China, but they often manifest as other physical complaints, usually stomach-related. I haven't got the references to hand, but having had a few somatic complaints myself I can believe that.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome only exists in the first world, you don't fkng see poor Bolivians or Congolese people with it; and 'adrenal fatigue' was dubbed the "21st century disease" by a famous contemporary doctor. Pollution, terrible quality of food, sur-exploitation, enormous stress at work or social occasions, the capitalistic disaster, over-stimulating, screens all day, everything this world has come to is incompatible with the human species we are, evolved primates/hominids with biological needs and essential requirements.
Where do all those suicides and depressions come from ?? Why us, the "developed" societies ? What species manages to create problems for itself, invent a new platform to set its own self up for sickness ?
Seeing as (still) so little is known about CFS, I wouldn't rush to draw conclusions and blame everything on perceived societal ills. In drawing up a counterpoint, I'd argue that people with such conditions often have weaker immune systems and, in poorer countries with limited medical access are more likely to die at a younger age. There's also the fact that Western medicine is hardly standardised across the world, and in many cases these will be diagnosed as 'possession' et al. Again, I don't necessarily like the 'removal from nature' aspects of today's society, but I also don't think that you can proffer a simple cause-and-effect explanation for '21st century illness'.
About the 'man-up' approach, I'm just saying this life can get tough - tough as hell, it can... - but we need to be strong, strong as fk, that's what life is all about. You all have the strength in you, you just need to tap into it, and sometimes a good shakeup in your life is just what you need. I hate this saying coz it's so cheesy, but "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger", fkn cheesy but still true. Each time something rough happens to you, it's a blessing, because you don't improve from emotional inertia; everytime something bad happens, that's one more thing you'll overcome and can call personal conquest.
But look, sometimes you've got a really rough period to go through, and you run into something on TV or online, and then you go 'you know what, thank God...things could be tons worse. Maybe what I have is real, and very very difficult, but fk it, I'm gonna man up. I'm gonna fight more and complain less and fit in with everybody else like I've got nothing.' Just check out this guy a little bit talking about his Progeria condition and how he actually manages to stay happy:
God, or life, will impose tests on you. This is it, you don't get another fight. This is life and if you've got a real problem, show your mettle, it's your chance to beat the wrong: confidence and self-esteem, all that stuff is in your head. It's not real.
I'd say that depression and the act of getting through depression can be a learning, cleansing experience. However, I will say that simply the act of surviving a depressive episode IS 'manning up' (I ****ing abhor that phrase). If you are able to function relatively normally during one, then great, so long as it's not detrimental. However, it's not always the case - simply surviving depressive episodes is a massive challenge and, quite frankly, your advice is tantamount to telling someone with a broken arm that they're a pussy for having a cast.
I cannot impress on you enough the degree to which one's cognitive faculties are compromised at the time and the fact that depression is nothing to do with weakness and strength, it's a state that just IS and can occur at any time, whether it's triggered by events or whether it's simply random. It's not a case of just engaging the brain and just getting on with things, it's not something that can be pushed through. Have you not considered that, for some people, depression IS one of 'life's tests' for them? That that is the hand that they've been dealt and one of their life tasks is learning how to manage it? Ultimately, depression is a set of conditions that aren't cured, only managed. The way to deal with it is to build your support when you're not and to be able to survive through it when you are. The only thing you can do during depression is try to remove yourself from triggers that will worsen it.
