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11-26-07, 03:55 PM
I fully concede that chemical imbalances do happen, and are tragic.
And my point again...unless you suffer from it or you treat it, you do not know if the woman in this story suffers from a chemical imbalance or not (although, it would seem pretty obvious by the huge hairball removed from her stomach that something ain't right). And yet, you not only make the assumption she isn't, you go on to make broad generalizations about anyone suffering from depression. Honestly, yes, you are being brutish.
I have a 40 year old sister who still lives at home with my parents who has suffered her entire life from schizophrenia, and it has been devastating for her and my family in ways that cannot be measured. For the first five years of her disease presenting symptoms, she was told by all of us and others to just pull it together and "get over it" - "it" being severe depression, extreme anxiety, high mania, inability at times to function, hearing voices and having hallucinations. She damn near stabbed one of my parents with a carving knife before she was finally taken seriously and received the help she desperately needed. After years of blood tests, MRIs, CTs, behavioral panel screenings, etc., it has been determined that she has an extreme chemical imbalance that is the absolute basis of her disorder/disease. She isn’t faking it or using it as any excuse. Personally, I can't imagine anyone going through what she did just to have an excuse for not wanting to function in our society (i.e. check out and feel sorry for herself).
Never assume, and know that making light of it just perpetuates the "anyone can have a mental disorder" mentality that lumps all mental illness/chemical imbalance sufferers together as pathetic losers who are just using excuses for their behavior (I disagree that a majority of alcoholics use an imbalance as an excuse to drink, by the way - of course, I don't know the "majority" of them or what "excuses" they give themselves, so I'm not one to assume anything). Wow...it never occurs to me when I'm depressed, drinking too much, laying on my couch stuffing bon-bons in my mouth, unshowered and disheveled, watching movies with the blinds closed that I could also start munching on my hair. I'll keep that in the back of my mind, so that I too can claim to have a disorder to explain my behavior. :rolleyes:
And my point again...unless you suffer from it or you treat it, you do not know if the woman in this story suffers from a chemical imbalance or not (although, it would seem pretty obvious by the huge hairball removed from her stomach that something ain't right). And yet, you not only make the assumption she isn't, you go on to make broad generalizations about anyone suffering from depression. Honestly, yes, you are being brutish.
I have a 40 year old sister who still lives at home with my parents who has suffered her entire life from schizophrenia, and it has been devastating for her and my family in ways that cannot be measured. For the first five years of her disease presenting symptoms, she was told by all of us and others to just pull it together and "get over it" - "it" being severe depression, extreme anxiety, high mania, inability at times to function, hearing voices and having hallucinations. She damn near stabbed one of my parents with a carving knife before she was finally taken seriously and received the help she desperately needed. After years of blood tests, MRIs, CTs, behavioral panel screenings, etc., it has been determined that she has an extreme chemical imbalance that is the absolute basis of her disorder/disease. She isn’t faking it or using it as any excuse. Personally, I can't imagine anyone going through what she did just to have an excuse for not wanting to function in our society (i.e. check out and feel sorry for herself).
Never assume, and know that making light of it just perpetuates the "anyone can have a mental disorder" mentality that lumps all mental illness/chemical imbalance sufferers together as pathetic losers who are just using excuses for their behavior (I disagree that a majority of alcoholics use an imbalance as an excuse to drink, by the way - of course, I don't know the "majority" of them or what "excuses" they give themselves, so I'm not one to assume anything). Wow...it never occurs to me when I'm depressed, drinking too much, laying on my couch stuffing bon-bons in my mouth, unshowered and disheveled, watching movies with the blinds closed that I could also start munching on my hair. I'll keep that in the back of my mind, so that I too can claim to have a disorder to explain my behavior. :rolleyes: