Depression or Melancholy, Getting Through Pain, and Virginia Tech

Trent announced an interesting article that is published in the May 2007 issue of Harper’s magazine that has a provocative premise: “true depression is actually an extremely rare event and the prevalence of depression in America is manufactured.” Three factors that were listed included 1) people who are melancholic were often diagnosed as depressed, 2) the fallacy of tests currently used to diagnose and measure depression, and 3) an often visible placebo effect in depression treatment when compared with the actual medication treatment.

Trent shares his tips for managing a melancholic state without drugs and much financial investment. For me, medication was an important jump start in my depression treatment, but I have also had subsequent good results with non-medication modalities, and have been doing well over the past few years on a regular routine (sleeping enough, eating regularly, getting enough sun, and having some social interactions all helped me).

Scott writes very thoughtful articles about depression, and his personal experiences give his articles a compassionate tone. In “What to do when it hurts,” Scott remembers a painful experience and how he was able to get through it. Scott also wrote a series on how to tell other people about your mental illness, a timely article given the recent events at Virginia Tech that may have triggered knee jerk reactions from some people toward the mentally ill.

In light of recent campus events, I received several entries relating to the Virginia Tech Massacre. I personally view this event as a mental health “systems failing” rather than an issue of gun control, and while both issues can be controversial, the gun control stance is more sensational and may have gotten most of the attention and debate. In Cho’s case, we may also want to examine cultural attitudes toward mental illness, and how culturally-based stigma can create a situation resembling a ticking time bomb. Being of Asian (Chinese) descent, I know that we culturally are still very uncomfortable talking about mental illness. This must change.

Cynthia shared a series of articles she had written about trauma, including Acute Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress, and Secondary or Vicarious Trauma. Dr. JC tried to put some perspective on these events, and made a poignant and pertinent conclusion: “If I look back in my own past to individuals that I thought were disturbed, troubling, or mentally unstable, I wonder where they are now. At every stage from childhood to college, I do recall people that I didn’t know well that were ‘outsiders’. Most of them slipped through the cracks socially and in school and athletics. Each one of them could have turned out successful and healthy. Or perhaps they could have turned out to be very dangerous people. It’s too bad that I was so self-consumed with my life that I didn’t take time to notice them or reach out a hand.” This puts personal accountability on each one of us to reach out to someone who may be an outsider. We never know when we may be the one to help a person change his or her course of action. GrrlScientist wrote two related articles on the subsequent response (some say overreaction) to what is now considered “disturbing” in the classroom as well as society’s treatment and attitudes toward the mentally ill and mental illness.

This concludes the edition of the mental health journeys carnival. You may submit future carnival entries here. Please keep in mind that I may not be able to include everyone’s entries, but I visit and read each submitted article and appreciate the time and effort you spend to write and submit your articles.

Until next time,