Article re: treatment of depression

[pegkerr]

Happiness: Enough Already
The push for ever-greater well-being is facing a backlash, fueled by research on the value of sadness.

I am trying to figure out why this article upsets me so much. I guess because several members of my family (including me) are on medication for mood disorders. I read this as insinuating that perhaps we are just a little too eager to forego a truly authentic life in exchange for a surcease of the pain of depression. Well, actually, the article is talking about the pain of sadness, which it seems to conflate with depression.

Am I over-reacting? Your reactions?

Comments

[only-sound.livejournal.com]

I think the article is having trouble verbalizing a popular perception, that a lot of people who don't need depression meds use them because they don't want to be sad. I'm not sure if that's true, but I think that there's a definite possibility that as you remove the stigma from a group (which is great and amazing and fantastic from people who legitimately belong to the group!) you always get some people who identify with the group to make themselves feel unique or supported or just part of something, and that can sort of backlash on the group as a whole, with the group losing some legitimacy, and just a sense of irritation and being mocked "This is an actual serious condition that I deal with and you really shouldn't pretend or affect it just because you want attention.". All a very humble opinion on my part, because while I feel strongly I have no proof of any of this.

(I mostly think of this in relation to homosexuality and college girls who are nominally bisexual, and primarily when they're drunk... not to say that there aren't plenty of people who are bisexual and plenty of ways to express sexuality, but I feel like the phenomena I'm describing is legitimate and not just prejudice on my part... and I think that it exists in the area of mental health as well.)