Stigma and Depression

[Nahemah]

http://www.alternet.org/health/154915/h ... sufferers/

An excellent article and one that applies to other Western countries too,not just the US...

How Psychiatry Stigamtises Depression Sufferers.



"...Americans have been increasingly socialized to be terrified of the overwhelming pain that can fuel depression, and they have been taught to distrust their own and other’s ability to overcome it. This terror, like any terror, inhibits critical thinking. Without critical thinking, it is difficult to accurately assess the legitimacy of authorities. And Americans have become easy prey for mental health authorities’ proclamation that depression is a result of a brain defect. But what does science actually say about the brain defect theory of depression?

Science and the Brain Defect Theory of Depression

The reality is there is as no scientific proof that depression is caused by either a character defect or a brain defect.

Medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and anemia can cause depression, but the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), states that a patient should not be diagnosed with the psychiatric disorder of depression when the symptoms of depression are due to a general medical condition. The mental health establishment is committed to the idea that depression is a separate brain disorder, and it has declared several biological-chemical-electrical theories for it.

For nearly a generation, doctors and the general public have been told that depression is caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters, most notably serotonin. However, in the 1990s, this theory was disproved, but the National Institute of Mental Health made no serious effort to communicate this to the general public until 2007, and even today today, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, an influential U.S. institution that disseminates mental health information, keeps this truth buried..."