It is a common occurrence experiencing a feeling of sadness or grief during certain life events. The occasional appearance of these emotional states is part of our normal functioning and in most cases our body has no major problem recovering in a short time.
However, when we talk about depressive disorders we are referring to a set of various symptoms which can be expressed very differently depending on the case. Perhaps for this reason, most people have tended to internalize the concept of “depression” under a series of stereotypical labels about depressed people, to make it easier to understand.
This fact has contributed to fueling a series of myths about depression which only serve to give a biased and unrealistic image of this phenomenon. Below we present some of these myths or stereotypes that attempt to describe people with this condition. mood disorder.
Common prejudices about people with depression
1. People with depression are always sad
It is true that The diagnostic picture of depression includes a feeling of sadness that lasts over timebut this does not have to be the case in all cases. Some people with depression are in a state of emotional flattening, meaning they do not experience any particular emotion, or to a very low degree. Anhedonia is also common, that is, the inability to experience sensations of pleasure, without falling into a state of deep sadness.
2. People with depression are depressed as a result of a traumatic event
Sometimes depression is triggered by a situation that is perceived as something very negative, such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a jobbut It’s not always like that. Sometimes, people with depression are unable to recognize an external event that caused the manifestation of this disorder. There may be cases in which a person with depression seems to have all the material conditions to live happily: money, good luck, many friends, etc.
3. Depression occurs as a consequence of poor decisions
This myth is a continuation of the previous one, and precisely for that reason it is just as wrong. People with depression are not so because “they have made mistakes in life”, they simply They are due to several factors that are intertwined in a very complex way.. Blaming these people for the disorder they experience is perverse and is a major error.
4. Depression is a sign of weakness
Depression, like many other forms of mental disorder, is strongly stigmatized even today. It is possible that part of the reason why this continues to happen is the cult of happiness which has become popular with the consolidation of welfare societies. Apparently we are all capable of aspiring to happiness and those who do not achieve it are showing themselves to be weak, they like to dwell on the misfortunes that happen to them and throw in the towel prematurely.
Sadness has thus been characterized as the opposite side of happiness and is something that should be avoided at all costs: the ideal is to never be sad. Obviously, This myth leads to confusion between sadness and depressionin addition to starting from a fundamentalist vision of what happiness is. Unfortunately, he also blames people with depression for an unrealistic way of life.
It is always confusing to talk about “mind” without clarifying what this word refers to, but despite this it is quite common that depression only affects people’s mood and their way of seeing things. Supporting this idea is, in fact, make invisible a large part of the effects that depression has on the entire organismand there are not a few: stress, sleep and digestion problems, pain in various areas of the body, fatigue, etc. Depression is not only about maintaining a state of mind, but also includes biological processes that run throughout the body and affect each other.
