Posted by Viridis on June 21, 2003, at 3:41:24
In reply to Re: People not understanding Major Depression, posted by Simcha on June 21, 2003, at 3:04:01
I do think that more people are beginning to understand that depression is a real illness, although of course many still just don't get it. I saw the results of a large survey recently (sorry, can't find the link) in which people were asked something like "Do you believe that major depression is a real illness that should be treated with medication"? A large proportion of people (around half, as I recall) said yes; this was compared to a survey from several years ago in which the vast majority of people said no.
About 12 years ago, when I started Prozac (not a very good drug for me, but that's another story), I was a graduate student. I confided to some other students and faculty members that I was taking it, and suddenly people started saying "hey, me too --but please don't tell anyone". It was almost like a secret society of AD users.
Not long ago, I was chatting with an administrative assistant in a major office at the university where I work. She complained about sleeping problems and anxiety, and we quickly got into a discussion of various meds that we'd used. She then added, well so-and-so (in the office) suffers from depression; she tried Zoloft but does better with Paxil, but then this other guy prefers Wellbutrin, but then Dr. so-and so prefers Celexa...etc. etc. It seemed like half the people there were on psychiatric meds and quite happy to talk about it. And, some of my colleagues will now say things like, "sorry if I'm a little weird; I just increased my dose of Prozac".
Maybe this is unusual, but a lot of the stigma seems to be lifting, at least among the people I interact with. I hope this trend continues!
poster:Viridis
thread:235211
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030619/msgs/235766.html