Bad Bad Therapy

Posted on March 17, 2006 in Depression Psycho-bunk

This guy announced at Bipolar Guy’s website that he had the cure for depression: a blog dedicated to stories of people who are worse off that you are. Yes, this is fantastic therapy folks. You’re in the grips of a severe depression. Along comes Ned Vizzini bearing multiple copies of his book and you learn that there is some !Kung bushman in Botswana who lost both legs and is still able to hunt antelope because he just had the right attitude.

How do you feel? Like shit for being a whiney-ass depressive who has both her/his legs and lives in American-style comfort.

This shows a grave misunderstanding of the nature of severe depression. Depression isn’t always triggered by events: for many of us it comes for no reason at all. It follows upon a mania, for example, or, one day, we just wake up feeling blue. It’s a chemical crisis, not a spiritual one nor a character defect. We’re not being punished, we’re not being stupid, and we’re not being selfish. (Often the opposite is the case.) Remember Ned is out to sell a book and, apparently, that book carries a guilt trip like most self-help books do.

What helped me was acknowledging that what I had was a disease and that it had nothing to do with character or karma or the wrath of God for earthly indulgences. I went to a psychiatrist after years of sloth and denial. I accepted the medication in absolute humility, knowing that it showed how tied I was to my body. And I began to get better.

Studies show that the most effective strategy for treating mood disorders is a combination of cognitive therapy and medications. And when I say cognitive therapy, I specifically talk about reframing in which you strive to offset the negativism (but not the reality sense) of depression. The cure is not blind optimism. The cure is not to say “This is real easy” (and why are you so stupid not to take the easy path). The cure is not comparing yourself to others. After the medications, you have a lot of work to do: reframing, eliminating bad habits, learning assertiveness, getting on a good diet, meditating, etc. There’s no one-two, no magic wand (not even the meds alone), no jump from depression to happiness unless, of course, you’re manic. To have our disease demands humility and dedication.

And avoidance of toxic therapies. When was the last time someone made you feel better by telling you how much worse off this woman in Brazil who had her head scalped and her eyelids removed by the last wild tribe of Amazonian Indians was? If you’ve ever experienced Depression (rather than the blues), you’ll understand how abrasive this patronization is. My advice: take care of yourself wisely. Don’t let myth-driven zealots playing on cracked dulcimers tuned by tired old folk practitioners sting your ears and your soul.