Mental disorder, thy name is life

Having suffered from depression for months at different times in my life, I am wont to believe that it’s a mental disorder that people do get. Whether it’s from a chemical imbalance, lack of sunlight, poor diet or simple stress, however, is another matter that I think varies from individual to individual. In my case, I know that overexertion coupled with no sleep was to blame not one, not two, but THREE times in my life (fool me once, and all that), and another time was due to the death of a loved one. That doesn’t mean that some people do have a chemical cause of a chronic condition and don’t need treatment.

I do really believe, however, that we are rapidly becoming a nation on pills and that this is, in fact, preventative at best, unnecessary at worst. I know so many kids whose personalities vanished once they were medicated, and I know plenty of adults who are on medication who probably don’t need it (of course, I know a couple who might be better off with it—but there are much more of the former in my circles). This article about life itself becoming a mental disorder from which so many people feel they need to escape is making its way around the web, and I thought I’d share it as food for thought.

Think about it—our ancestors had just as many hours in a day as we have (more or less) and they spent these hours running from predators (or catching them as food), pioneering across the country in wagons as they lost loved ones, developed new territories and grew their own food, and generally coping with much more stress than we have. We have cell phones that do everything but cook us a meal and we are SO stressed! How did this happen? Sometimes I think we all need to spend a week doing the big Pioneer Experience or something to really appreciate how easy most of us have it.

And for those who don’t, my heart does go out to you.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia