Janet Street Porter on Depression - Jan Moir part deux..
SickPuppy21
Posts: 4,089 Forum Member
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1278510/Depression-Its-just-new-trendy-illness.html
Men with cases of depression is risible and karma.
Men with cases of depression is risible and karma.
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people who work in a factory in croydon dont get depression-how would she know did she go and ask them?
its people like this that put fear into people the buck up and get over it brigade-wher epeople are so afriad to ask for help they end up seriously ill
It took me years to seek help, following self harm and three suicide attempts. I was too afraid to consult my doctor, because I didn't want to be seen as a time waster.
but your friend thought they had depression whos to say in that 2 years it didnt get better? the pills might have helped aswell
dont dismiss everyone as making it up or not having it
JSP has always been full of herself and opinionated and I doubt any kind of reasoning with the woman would do any good. One thing I have learned throughout life is that people who have never suffered with clinical depression, or had a close relative suffering with it, have very little concept of its impact.....until it happens to them, and then they're the 'worst. I can confidently say that, having experienced a number of significant (physical) health conditions throughout my life, depression has been by far the worst. I've had one or two (note- 'had') 'friends' with attitudes like JSP's and they can be very destructive. I would say her article made me seethe, but not quite. Instead, I cringed at her ignorance.
She is now a "personality" you wheel out for extreme views and controversy.
There is more then a whiff of sexism and misandrism in her makeup.She shrieks discrimination in the workplace but makes herself so unpopular by attacking people that both sexes dont want to work with her.
JSP may not have experienced depression but she has certainly caused cases in her work colleagues.
She has absolutely no idea what she's talking about.
Only people who have suffered with real clinical depression know what it is actually like, and trust me - it is very real.
I myself suffered with depression around 4 years ago, am pleased to say I have been free of meds for a yr now, thats not to say I dont have bad patches, but Im definately through the worst.
Although she does come across as a total cow and is too extreme, I have to say i agree with her on some points.
There are too many people who see going through a bad patch as having depression and some GPs do tend to dish out pills too easily.
Having said that her ridiculous comments about people from factories n Croyden not getting it are just so ignorant and wrong!
My family are all in psychiatric nursing and feel the same about it as I do, they are dealing with real clinical depression and the affects of it daily.
I know I sound harsh here and I apologise if I offend anyone, anyone who trully does or has suffered with the illness will hopefully understand where I am coming from.
You see my experience with depression didn´t stem from anything going badly in my life.
I had just got married, had my own home and led a ´normal life´and then all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Its funny as I seem to cope ok in a crisis etc, but depression just pops up out of nowhere...for me personally that is.
Your comparison is wrong, because our society today is very, very different to that in the 1930s and 1940s.
In those days, there was a much stronger sense of community and there were larger families. Television was only in a few homes, and there was no internet. All media was very tame, and dare I say "sensible".
Some people were unhappy yes - but it wasn't spoken about.
These days, our society is geared around intense competition in all areas. Both men and women are constantly bombarded with media images from all corners expecting 'perfection' of one sort or another.
Advertisements run on TVs in every home in the land 24-hours a day, on every billboard and in masses of printed media which play to all our insecurities (particulary women's insecurities) to help big companies sell products.
Families are smaller and/or more fragmented and there is a LOT more loneliness and insecurity out there.
This is one reason why there is more clinical depression.
Janet Street Porter works in a profession and in media which is directly responsible for its part in the way society is today. And then, she has the nerve to deny that the problem it helps to cause - depression - even really exists.
She is vile and I hope that she is taught the error of her ways.
Although JSP telling us all we should just sort our shit out, that'll help :rolleyes:
i agree with this same thing for me no reason wotsoever its a chemical inbalance in the brain im not saying every single person has depression but saying years ago they just coped with it is ridiculous comparing it to now
yes they did u know why coz noone knew wot depressionwas! they couldnt go to the doctor and say they dont feel well even the dctor used to say get over it thats why it was never realised!
Agreed, ths is what I was trying to say I think....you worded it much better though.:)
I also agree to an extent. I would wager that there are a lot of people suffering from "depression" who are in fact self-diagnosed and do not actually have proper, clinical, depression. I think that these people are doing genuine sufferers no favours whatsoever
I do understand what you're saying, DG, and don't think you should be 'murdered' for your opinion. You've made some fair and valid points and I agree wholeheartedly with much of what you've said, especially about the wave of popularizing mental illness by so many 'celebs'...it is a bit of a bandwagon and turns my stomach.
However, in general, social cohesion and the structures in which we live are very different, now, from in past times. Aerology said it better, really. There are so many expectations of what we should 'be' and competing demands upon our time. The World Health Organisation has even acknowledged that depression and mental health issues are overtaking heart conditions and other prevalent illnesses. The reasons for this are complex, varied and definitely not 'black and white' but telling people to 'pull themselves together like they did in the old days' (certainly not what you said, DG, but I know of people who do hold that attitude!) doesn't help.
I think you're right to make some of the comments you have. People living with depression have to 'get on with it', too. Not everyone with depression spends days on end sitting in corners internalising. However, it is, for many, a real and debilitating condition and I'm sad to say that, across my 25 years of experience, social stigmas are alive and kicking as much today as they were when I started experiencing it as a child. It was a terrifying and overwhelming experience then. Luckily, I've had years to learn how to manage it.
Agree...and I think this is partially where the crux of the problem lies.
There is a world of difference between clinical depression and feeling stressed out and down in the dumps.
I also agree with you. I know that depression as a medical condition is real but there is a world of difference between sadness and depression. I think depression is the latest thing, alongside bullying and all the "phobes", "ists" and "isims" to be devalued
I have always thought so. Clever and determined perhaps, but she always sounds stupendously arrogant and dismissive of other people.
The problem with depression is that there is no clear demarcation between 'depressed' and 'not depressed' as there is with, say, a broken leg. If people are inconsolable after the death of their partner, is that a correct use of the word 'depression'? If people feel trapped in a job and marriage they loathe, can't see any way out, and start to feel that the future is wretched and hopeless, is that a correct use of the word 'depression'? Unlike a broken leg, it can be faked, it can be exaggerated, it is hard to define and it covers an almost limitless spectrum of severity. But to suggest that it is nothing but the indulgence of wealthy women is childish.
Of course people living in poverty suffer from stress and depression. Of course people in the past have suffered from stress and depression, albeit under different names.
That is quite extraordinarily ignorant. I don't know what generation is supposed to have baked Victoria sponges instead of suffering from anxiety and a gnawing sense of misery, but it is not a generation I recognise.
The opposite to depression is not 'just getting on with things'; it is 'just being ABLE to get on with things'. Depression is horrible, disabling, no more confined to one social group than any other major disease, and sneering at people who suffer from it is no more acceptable than sneering at people with diabetes or heart disease.
Goodness. How old are you? Do you suppose that people in earlier generations were not often crippled by grief and anxiety, or that bullying did not ruin lives?
I have suffered from depression for many years now and I am still seeing a clinical psychologist.
These people who trot out the usual "its not a real illness"...and "pull yourself together" rubbish....I hope they NEVER suffer from real depression....
I have lost my confidence, my self esteem and ultimately, my job (not sacked...medical retirement)...If it had not been for my wonderful hubby and fabulously supportive GP...I would not be here right now...