Dear Bill: Let me preface this, MY 2 cents worth on
depression, by saying that I enjoy your comments/humor. I
would also like to say I'm glad you're not depressed
because Clinical Depression is a bitch. That said, let me
get up on my soapbox for a little lecture on Clinical
Depression 101. CD is a biological illness like any other.
It has a physical cause-the absence of necessary
neurotransmitters in the brain-and can be managed with the
correct medication. What makes it different from other
illnesses, like diabetes, for example, is that people don't
try to "cope" with their diabetes, or try to "tough it out"
They don't try to "deal" with it. They take their
medication and they feel better.
Ay, there's the rub. Depression is still viewed as a MENTAL
illness and I truly believe that's what scares people into
denial. One of my favorite jobs as a psychiatric nurse is
to run groups for my patients that teach them about their
disease. I try to empower them with the facts and the
knowledge they need to educate themselves-and hopefully
others-about the misconceptions about mental illness.
Sadly, most of my patients will never be able to do this,
but the people on this List are a well-educated group who
should not embrace misconceptions.
Anti-depressants are NOT "happy pills" They simply enable
you to climb up from the hell that is CD into experiencing
the "normal" highs and lows that we call life. They do NOT
have any more side-effects that any other class of
medication (think of the mind-altering drugs most PWPs take
on a routine basis)
Besides, why would anyone want to suffer from a disease for
which a cure was available? Get help IF you need it.
Depression kills. I've seen it.
             Carole Hercun, R.N.,C.  53/51/?45

--- "William A. Parrette" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>         On Mon, 8 May 2000, the digest contained:
>
> > Date:    Mon, 8 May 2000 07:40:10 +0800
> > From:    Dennis Greene <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: depression
>
> > I have had PD for 13+ years now and I am still sad
> occasionally - but,
> > thank God, not depressed - and certainly not clinically
> depressed ...
> >                ... the difference between sadness and
> depression, far from
> > being one of semantics, is profound ...
>         the symptoms
> > of PD (in particular the mask with its frozen, down
> turned, features ) make
> > us look depressed it is assumed that we are depressed
> ...
>
>         I'll  throw  in my $0.02 here and agree with
> Dennis.  Granted,
>      I've only been dealing with PD for 4+ years, I am
> far  from  de-
>      pressed.   Angry  at times, sad at  others, but not
> depressed.  I
>      have had bouts of depression -- what felt like
> profound  depres-
>      sion  -- back in my teens.  But, my current feelings
> are far from
>      what I felt back then.
>
>         As I described in my "journal" on my Web site,
> My  "mask-like
>      face" has been an issue most of my life.  And, I
> would really not
>      like to have this one feature be one of the things
> someone  used
>      to  decide  that  I  was depressed.  I like to call
> my "mask-like
>      face" my neutral face as it is there when  I  am
> not  expressing
>      emotion -- which is most of the time. :-)
>
>         I have heard some *incredible* things about the
> powerful drugs
>      used to treat clinical depression.  So, I  would
> like  to  avoid
>      those  drugs as best I can.  (As a side note, I was
> involved with
>      another on-line group discussion forum  a  couple
> of  years  ago
>      which had a number of people who were taking some of
> these power-
>      ful drugs.  I found it interesting that they they
> came up with  a
>      little  piece of jewelry -- a pin -- that they would
> wear so that
>      they could identify each other outside of
> cyber-space  in  real-
>      life.)  In fact, one of the things that contributes
> to *my* occa-
>      sional anger/sadness is that I have never been much
> of  a  "pill-
>      taker."  And,  now that PD has forced me to be on
> three different
>      "pills," in different combinations, four times a
> day,  I  get  a
>      little upset at it on occasion.
>
>         So,  yes, I understand that depression and
> clinical depression
>      can be a very difficult thing to endure.  But, I
> would  like  to
>      avoid  being  labeled as such based on PD and facial
> expressions.
>      It seems that there are many different  PD  people
> with  a  vast
>      range  of differences in their physical being, their
> personality,
>      and their symptoms and features.
>
>         Take care ...
>
> Bill--
>   ...who once saw a mime arrested and told he had a right
> to remain silent.
>
> (\
> ..___. William A. ....._..._ .......7177 Heritage
> Dr..(42?)\\_ _/(\ ------+
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