Posted by GLYN on October 25, 2000, at 12:11:56
In reply to Men and Depression, posted by stjames on October 25, 2000, at 3:45:16
Thanks for pointing that out. What I liked was the personal point of view the article came from, however, I do have a few concerns with this guy's tack.
He seems to attempt to counteract macho notions of depression and other emotional illnesses (YES I do believe it is predominately an emotional problem which in turn kicks off a vicious spiral where emotions affect brain chemicals and vice versa) through adding weight to the recent trend to attempt to explain the origins of depression in purely chemical terms. I agree that an imbalance in brain chemicals perpetuates depression and prevents recovery yet I personally believe that the cycle is started by unresoloved emotional issues which for some reason we are unable to find peace from and so the feelings of sadness, lethargy and ultimately despair are effectively "locked in for the rot" as one guy described it.
Claiming a purely chemical or genetic source of depression and anxiety disturbs me for a number of what I consider to be rather important reasons. Firstly, it may be safe to assume that the reason why more women than men appear to suffer from depression is that women are altogether more willing to talk to a doctor about it and men may fin other means of control such as agression, sexual indiscretion or even addictions. Also, many men may still feel that it is a man's position to be strong and a leader of the family and that work is not an option for them and so they some how manage to go on regardless - even in a post feminist age there are some men who have these values I'm sure.
The question is, are we really helping these men by allowing there notion that any kind of emotional problem is a form of weakness or inadequacy? (Remember in The Sopranos how Tony wanted to avoid the stigma of being a "mental midget" - I love that show!) and enabling them instead to think of it as a medical problem in which chemcals are to blame and pills are the solution. I mean, what are the long term effects on our society if emotional problems are seen as illnesses and we invent further drugs to counteract them without at least also combatting the stigma which macho culture has attached to expression of emotion. Thats why I consider TV shows such as The Sopranos to be of immense value since we see a rare (but more realistic) blen of typical male tough guy and a Woody Allen type complex.
In all, I believe AD's to be of tremendous value in counteracting the destructive cycle of depression but I only wish I saw an equal emphasis on decostructing the destructive genderized notions of what it is to be a "good person" or "proper" man or woman. I have absolutely no evidence at all other than my own subjective experiences and perceptions of the world to make this claim but I suspect that, for men at least, further depressive episodes can more avoided by a radical re-think of how men are allowed to behave and whether expressing the full spectrum of emotions is reasonable and acceptable for the "man's man".
The other objection I have I will refrain from labouring too much for fear of causing offence to people on this site and would like to fist state that each of us needs to search ourslves and validate our "illness" without seeing ourself primarily as part of a "depression culture". In accepting depression as a purely chemical illness we are in danger of thinking of ourselves as a victim of it. I would imagine that it is rare for diabetics to challenge themselves to see if their illness was in some way caused by the society they live in and are "justified" by and wonder if their own notions of what it is to be a man or a woman havge in some way started off the problems and prevented them from being resolved to such a state that full on diabetes ensued. Of course, it would be ridiculous for them to suspect this and would be a sign that they failed to understand the genetic causes of the illness. HOWEVER, by attributing such causes to depression we may make it easier for people to seek out help and admit to their illnesses (and maybe even save lives) but we dont really challenge the ideas, values and social roles which may well be the root of the problem and possibly result in further episodes in life.
I might be wrong and I might be right but one thing is for sure, asking questions and pushing the boundaries of popular belief is not nearly as dangerous as being afriad to.
If, as usual, I have offended anybody, please forgive me and instead think of my opinions as a an expression of my screwed-up-ness and I urge you - no beg - to find your own answers and if they make you happy then seize the day as nothing lasts for ever - especially happiness. My mum used to say that "happiness depends on 'happenings' but joy and peace makes good and bad into a life well lived" - I confess I have no idea what the old bird meant but it sounded good to me.
Glyn
poster:GLYN
thread:47316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001022/msgs/47338.html