The Murky Politics of Mind-Body: "Depression Is a Brain Disease" 101

I am perplexed by many of the comments to which you refer. Over the time you have written Beyond Blue, you have made it abundantly clear that you employ a variety of approaches to managing your disorder. Never have you advocated medication alone, to the exclusion of other therapies. Some of the "hit and run" crowd seem to be determined to ignore what I believe is a very balanced, very sound approach to maintaining mental health, and construct a straw man argument, or attack you personally, (you whiny white woman!).

For anyone who takes the problem of depression and its attendent issues seriously, these people add nothing to the discussion. They accuse you as a shill for the drug companies, but it is clear to any frequent reader of this blog, that THEY have some sort of ax to grind.

I find it personally offensive to read the personal attacks to which you are subjected, and the misrepresentation of your position. The only comfort I think you can take in it all, is that you are speaking for those who don't have the same facility with the language as you do, or a forum with which to present the issues as you see them. As such you are a lightning rod for those who won't have a conversation that is civil and thoughtful.

Thank God for all those like you and Peter Kramer, who are willing to put themselves and their reputation on the line in the persuit of truth.

I thought the comments on the J.K. Rowling box were generally disgusting.

(And in that, I include my first comment about Harry Potter's wizard. I realized I had been far too hard on her and tried to be more nuanced in my second comment -- but nuance seemed to be lacking on that comment box, for some reason ...)

I was diagnosed with Bipolar 10 years ago, although I suffered terribly from depression, most of my life before that, I did not know it at the time, I just thought, that was "life". And, even though I have gone to therapy on and off for the last 14 years (and, it has helped my tremdously), I continue to struggle with life in gereral. I can't seem to move forward. I am 38! years old now. What in the world, should I do for myself, that I obviously haven't. I want so desparately to love and appreciate my life, at least MOST OF THE TIME. Something doesn't seem right! I'm a mom of 3 wonderful children, that I love dearly, I'm active in my church (although when I get hit with the blues, I'm nowhere to be found, but in bed of course), oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, I'm also a wife, when I make myself be, my friend and family love me very much, and my faith in, God has increased, dramatically (in the last 3 years). What else could anybody want. I just feel so stuck. Is this it or can I do more to help myself (and, what)???
By the way, I love reading your articles and the info that you give. And, I really love this website. Thank you, for dedicating yourself to doing this. I, too, am intrigued with learning about mental illness, it facinates me!
T.L.F.
Melbourne,FL.

Yes, yes, all well and good. I do at times, find some entertainment, with the stigmatic opinions of those that really believe mental llness is "all in our heads" but I am mostly saddened, by the shallow depths the modern american mind swims in. We are the poorest, third world country in are ideals with death, mental illness, and our isolated, drug-ingestd homeless We live in a poverty stricken society of denial.
I know why, they havn't been living with or loving someeone withmental illness Mental health is opinions and conclusions of others, about how they have supposedly won by their own personal battle, by conquering their minds and emotions, how they have mastered their weaknesses, with some positive thinking, increased prayer and a new excercise move. In some pretty diary they write their feelngs, they suddenly saw the truth and the light, which brought them the ultimate inner peace, which made them free to live each day to its fullest. How they snapped back into reality, mastered their life/work balance, and of course, with some positive thinking, we too, could find "the answers" to life's "tough questions". If we would just followed the rules, or tried a little harder, and get a better atttitude, and stop feeling sorry for ourselves.

with some easy how-to's and being able to be one's self, one with nature. All it really takes is some good old fashioned self-control, bringing us back into normal behavior, to attain positive and productive living through dicipline, self control, the mind-over matter, mantra. That healing takes place by a special little prayer, and some good-old, god-given, common sense, you will get back in the saddle, and live successfully, againsuccessful advice, coerce others to believe they truly know and have mastered the weaknesses of mankind, and if only those other, misguided, low self-esteem, weak-minded people, you know the ones, that won't pull their boot straps up, or the selfish, introspective wound licker,cop-outs, would just try to believe that this life can completely be understood, and there is a logical answer to all things manknd must face. That we are in controll of our destiny, even dodging death, even when we deny (try)
hard enough. I love how our priorities in million dollar athletes, american idols, are real to us, but people that are pretending to be sick n the head is unreal and all made up. It feels good when people whisper and snicker, I love the attention. Respect and care is for our plasma, hdtv, our new corian, granite, Dooney & Bourke & we need more juicey, and wang. but don't waste tax dollars on special projects for the homeless, they choose to live that lifestyle being high, and drunk, what pain. Mental illness is when the mind is consistantly being inconsistant. To study how gas becomes exhaust, to study cellular respiration, to watch zygotes become bald headed babies, can you write sexual attraction as a mathematical equatio?
These are common daily occurrences, normal patterns that are happening, within, around and to us, non stop, do we control them, understand the process, can they be completely described and explained easily, if there is any small change, interuption , or factor added or taken away what will the outcome be? Our brain is more intricate and complex than these above normal everyday occurances. How dare we say anything regarding the mind and how or not how it functions. Lets take a scenerio. If you were standing on home plate and you were in between a baseball and the swinging bat of Barry Bonds explain the pathophysiology of a head injury and the contol of your actions after the injury has accurred. Why is it your thoughts can't be controlled by you? Your brain is affected, but your thoughts are not organs like your heart, or liver or your skin they cannot felt or hit with the bat, they should not be affected, why would you act differently than someone else with the same exact injury?. To rush and judge human behavior and dysfuncton is to fully understand these terms. Look these words up in Tabors Medical Dictonary once you research them, write ther function, and how they are interrelated to each other n a normal and an abnormal brain Find a PET scan picture see the color of the normal brain vs. abnormal why it a diferent what makes it different
show your work. Neuro-glial pathway, synapse, dendrite, gray matter.

maybe with some good old homework on the brain and maybe the next time you see a crazy person, they might not look the same.
mental illness looks better than ignorance, and yes, I am mentally ill
with a dash of manic and a spoonful of anger to balance it all out.

I have BiPolar and need a wholistic Doctor. Can any one help me. 1-321-914-3250 Melbourne Florida Cell 1-321-266-0405