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.
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