interesting thought...not comfortable, though...

[acroyear]

The Uncredible Hallq: Depression and the definition of disease

"[a Slate article on depression as a disease] ends by mentioning the influence pharmaceutical companies have on our ideas of the ideal. We may be heading for a world where our idea of the perfect mind is every bit as controlled by corporations as our idea of the perfect body."

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seen all of the shiny happy people holding hands out there? even more so than car commercials, cosmetics, or the music industry, the drug companies are definitely the ones out there in the forefront of telling us what "normal" is, all the things that "everybody else is doing and you aren't".

all i have to say (to the #1 image in most commercials i've seen so far) is i haven't thrown a frisbee in about 8 years.

and i think that's normal.

Comments

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

When I was taking medical anthropology, I did my "critical book review" on a work entitled "Speaking of Sadness." This was a sociological study of depression, in which the author determined that depression does not commonly exist outside of countries like the US, which has a Judeo-Christian cultural assumption of guilt combined with a Horatio Alger "keep your troubles to yourself and get over it" ethic. There are a few other cultures in which depression is prevalent, but in societies where people commonly discuss their troubles with friends, have built-in regulations against absurd amounts of work overtime that prevent having a social network and require people to take time off for vacations and so on, the illness is nearly non-existent.

I am finding that I don't need to take a tranquilizer on a daily basis now that I'm no longer working in an abusive environment. Why? Because the panic attacks are slowing down. Sleeping? Why, yes thanks, I am sleeping again ... without aid of sleeping pills.

I think that there are indeed some folks for whom depression is organic, but I think it is being treated as organic in way too many people for whom it is not.

[mizjawnson.livejournal.com]

I thought the frisbee was an Advair commercial. The one where it's a guy walking his dog and won't go up the stairs with the dog. Then he gets on Advair and *BAM!* (apologies to Emeril) he gets a son and a frisbee.

[dawntreader]

i want to take the allergy med that gets me a beagle.

also, drinking beer will attract girls in bikinis. or didn't you know that?

[dawntreader]

i frisbeed last summer. not this most recent summer, but the summer before. but then, i'm one of those abnormally shiny happy people.

i have often thought that being "too happy" is the opposite chemical imbalance of being depressed, actually. everyone "normal" falls somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, but everyone wants to be really happy.

just like being naturally "too thin" is the opposite of being naturally "too overweight." most people (on a normal diet regimen and exercise plan) will fall in the middle but everyone wants to look thin.

dunno. i was just thinking about this happy vs. sad concept this morning on the way to work and it's funny to me that your post triggered that thought again.

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I haven't thrown a frisbee in longer than that and I never could do it right. Guess frisbees are latest trend. Boston Terriers were the "in" thing for a while too.

Personally, I think normal is something you have to figure out for yourself. Ideals have existed since the dawn of time. Mass media just makes it easier for the ideals to get ingrained into our heads.