Betty,

        You need to familiarize your self with the writings of a man called
Thomas Szasz. He wrote "The Myth of Mental Illness" and other works.

Bobby


>In a message dated 11/07/1999 1:31:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< I was wondering how many of us have depression due to our disabilities and
> take medicin? Now I'm taking Zoloft 50mg and talk to my doctor twice a month.
>  >>
>
>I keep wondering -- for those of us who have, or have had depression -- how
>much of that is due to our disabilities, or society's response to our
>disabilities?
>
>I've noticed two distinct emotional experiences (my personal anecdotal data)
>that can be called depression, but I take umbrage with the patent
>classification of clinical depression in one experience.  I qualify that
>doubt by saying if the depression is due to society's response, then I wish
>to assert my opinion that it is not entirely productive to make the depressed
>person the target (e.g., "YOU are depressed.  Let's treat YOUR problem").  In
>short: The buck does not stop here.
>
>In that vein, I also wonder if a psychologist or other mental health
>professional who is not in tune with disability awareness issues, and who is
>not "teachable," is truly qualified to treat the patient.
>
>I would ask you to bear with me.  My account is not about CP, but it seems
>that depression is a good discussion topic and I'm hoping that this will be a
>positive inclusion.
>
>Part of my disability experience is knowing that physical change is the
>constant.  As soon as I become accustomed to one "level" of disability, I
>have an exacerbation and have to adjust to more loss.  Most of the time it's
>not as serious a change as it was in the first year.  Nevertheless, I have
>noticed that a temporary bout of depression accompanies each change.  It's a
>stark reminder of an uncertain future.  That's one type of depression I
>experience.  It's always temporary, and never serious in my estimation.  I
>have sought treatment for that in the past, and I am glad I did.  I will seek
>treatment in the future if necessary.
>
>The second type of emotion that can come under the heading of depression is
>the "bad feeling" I have due to the change in the way I am regarded in the
>public eye, and by former friends.  I was part of the "other world" for 38
>years, and I can safely say that I am treated differently than I was treated
>before.  Learning about the wall that society seems happy to maintain has
>caused me great anger.  Not knowing it existed before I was disabled causes
>me great anger toward myself -- how could I have been so stupid?  How could I
>have wasted all those years when I should have been fighting for the rights
>of all people?  Then I remind myself that the mainstream media, and former
>friends with disabilities, didn't tell me that there was a fight to be fought
>-- as I tell anyone now who will listen.  Then I feel anger about that.
>Sometimes that anger turns to depression, because the fact that this fight
>exists -- to the degree that it must -- is absurd on the eve of a new
>millennium in this our "enlightened" society.
>
>I ask you: Is that clinical depression, or an expression of intelligence?
>Cogito Ergo Doleo.  I think therefore I am depressed.  I have no intention of
>medicating, and therefore suppressing, the emotion that kicks me in the butt
>and makes me fight for the independence of our children with disabilities,
>and our adults with disabilities who's voices have been suppressed through
>forced institutionalization and lack of communication technology.  That
>"depression" -- as much pain as it causes personally -- coerces me to keep
>communicating to others that the technology we have today can allow the
>majority, if not all of the disability community, to experience meaningful
>employment, and thus hold our rightful place in society.
>
>I'll be damned if I'll medicate that.  The target for treatment in that case,
>in my opinion, is society.
>
>Any thoughts about that?
>
>Tribal blessings (and tribble blessings, for those of you who noticed a
>previous subject  line misspelling),
>Betty