Depression is a Choice

From the article: "a feeling of hopelessness about the future..."

It would be nice if it was that simple. Beck pointed out in the 70's that depression tends to make people devalue themselves, their future and their environment in a triad that builds on itself. Saying to yourself "hey, I'll just try to think better thoughts about the future," isn't going to get you very far.

Also: Article title is full of fail, even if she is quoting the title of another book with a suck title. Some vaguely CBTish advice in the article itself, but who would CHOOSE to feel like crap all the time? That's like saying, "Hey, you CHOSE to kill your kids in a fiery car accident because you just HAD to go to the store."

After flipping through Curtiss' book with the same article title (turns out the library here has it) I agree with the negative reviews and the Publisher's Weekly critique. It's essentially a book that could have been written by Human Spirit, if one day his paranoia about drugs drives him to ditch his responsibilities and family and go slumming in India to seek out the secrets of the ancients (who had no need for Prozac, of course!)

The book is filled with unrelated (and often untrue) generalities, straw-man arguments, and red herring. The damned thing is a chore to even skim through. Her notions of choice are downright offensive... I'm sure she would say people choose to be poor, too, since obviously some choices they made throughout their lives had some impact on their poverty. But what else can you expect from someone who advocates a black / white dualist belief system?

For a pretty good review of her book (for lack of a better word), along with a personal response from the author: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php...

ring-2 wrote:

From the article: "a feeling of hopelessness about the future..."
It would be nice if it was that simple. Beck pointed out in the 70's that depression tends to make people devalue themselves, their future and their environment in a triad that builds on itself. Saying to yourself "hey, I'll just try to think better thoughts about the future," isn't going to get you very far.
Also: Article title is full of fail, even if she is quoting the title of another book with a suck title. Some vaguely CBTish advice in the article itself, but who would CHOOSE to feel like crap all the time? That's like saying, "Hey, you CHOSE to kill your kids in a fiery car accident because you just HAD to go to the store."

Have to second the motion on your comments. Well said, indeed. People who've never had depression should keep their unlearned opinions to themselves.

I think, depression can be a choice in some scinerios, but if it is really severe, it's not. If you are depressed cuz you don't like your jeans, I mean cmon, that's a choice. But if it has really affected your life, oviously you can't help it.

People don't get depression because of their jeans, lovers ar something else. Depression is a desease. As any psychiatrist you get to know.
Feeling depressed and having depression is not the same.
Everyone feels depressed sometimes. But when you have depression you feel bad all the time even though you understand that there is no reason.
As for me I know that there are people who truly love me, but when it goes really bad I say that nobody loves me, that I am a useful thing, that nothing changed if I died and so on. Somewhere deep insife my mind says it is not true, but it is what I feel. It is difficult to try to keep rational, when you feel so bad all the time.

Anyone who think depression is a choice is a moron. The moron that said this has obviosuly never been as depressed as I am. I hope you are some day so you can se what a stupid staemtn this was.