I just didn't want to interrupt the other thread with this debate, and seeing as it will most likely go on for a bit longer, I am making a new thread. Here is what's been said:



posted by wfaulk:
"And [censored] you, for not having the strength in your heart to pull through. I've had doubts, I have failed, I've [censored] up, I've had plans, doesn't mean I should take my life with my own hands."

I know these are not your words, but they piss me off nonetheless. I'm not familiar with Staind any more than to know I have no real interest in listening to them, and this just galvanizes that point.

Whoever wrote those lyrics obviously has never dealt with depression. Maybe they've experienced sad points in their life that made them depressed, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about full-on medical depression. Kurt Cobain was obviously a manic depressive; you can tell just by how he moved and acted. Manic depressives don't really have the option of ``pulling through''. It doesn't end for any good reason. It just ends. And sometimes it doesn't.

Kurt should have been on anti-depressives. But if he had, he would never have made that music. It's a trade off. You can feel like [censored] for no reason and be talented, or you can take the drugs and be as normal and untalented as everyone else.

As a friend of mine once put it, when you start talking about depression, all of a sudden everyone becomes a Christian Scientist. ``Just get over it.'' It just doesn't work that way.

And I speak from experience. My father was manic depressive my whole life. My wife is clinically depressive. So is my best friend. They are all on drugs. I am, too, but I'm not bad enough that I need to take anything. Also, I'm scared of it. I know how much it changes you, and I'm not going to do it until I absolutely need it. Hopefully, I'll still have enough sense about me (or someone else will) to make sure it happens.

Kurt was too far gone and obviously didn't have anyone. I don't know about Layne.

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posted by Yz33d:
It's really just all in your head. You gotta take control and not let the demons mess with your mind

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posted by tfabris:
I hope you meant that as a joke. Bitt is right about depression. And many of the same things that can be said for clinical depression can also be said about addiction. In fact, those two often go hand in hand, as the genes which give you a tendency toward depression will also give you a tendency towards uncontrollable addictions. Only recently are the mechanisms for these conditions beginning to be understood.

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posted by lectric:
Agreed (with Tony, above). Chemical imbalances are a powerful force to be reconed with. I was diagnosed with adult ADD a few years back, started taking medication (legal amphetamines, cool) and you would not believe the difference it has made to me. There are plenty of people that think that the problem is "just in your head". I had to go to three different doctors just to get an appointment with a clinical psychologist so I could get the meds I need. (HMO's blow). Anyway, just knowing you have a condition is simply not always enough. It is a phisical condition, not a mental one, that causes mental side effects. The same way you can't fix a broken arm or bad acne just by thinking about it, you can't cure an imbalance by wishing it were gone.

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posted by Yz33d:
No, it's in your head. It's not a disease or a virus. It's a state of mind. You can call it clinical or scientific, but it's something everyone's gotta deal with.

Tell me, what's the difference in taking some of these happy-pills and drinking alcohol? They are both drugs that can be taken to acheive a certain state of mind. Which is fine. But it only covers up yourself. It doesn't cure- only you can do that. Otherwise, you could give a psycho serial killer some morphine and 'cure' his 'illness'. Or you could shoot a tranquilizer into a raging rhinoceros and 'cure' his problem.

But I could be wrong. Go with what works.