Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

[Rebel101]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Couple of problems though. Many people get very offended when someone denies clinical depression. I don't say it doesn't exist, I say what do we do about it? Because it seems the vast majority of drugs available just block one symptom and bring about many other worse ones, all the while not solving the actual problem.

So even if we do acknowledge that they are illnesses, I don't think the drugs currently available are a good cure as opposed to support from families, friends, and/or psychiatrists/counselors. So when that's taken into consideration, it ceases to matter exactly whether or not you qualifiy it as a disease or not, when you see the symptoms, you just do your best to deal with them.

Acknowledgement is what opens doors for recovery.

True, drugs alone are not effective or have lots of side effects both known and unknown, however, with depression for example, drugs works on restoring chemical imbalance, add to that environmental and lifestyle changes along with love, support and understanding from loved ones and the chances of full recovery increases by leaps.

[Strive]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Cos they are fools, fools I tell ya.

[Magic.]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Not happy does not mean mentally ill.

Depression is caused by chemical imbalance in the brain. Depression caused by tragedies are normal and part of life. We alk experience them, some more severe than others; unlike with depression caused by chemical imbalance, it's easier to recover.

I'm just talking to those that claim depression doesn't exist. And I wouldn't be surprised if many Muslims in Syria are suffering from mental health issues.

[AbulUthman]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

I've come to realise that this is actually quite common.
Please explain to meh.

Same with schizophrenia. Why do they say it doesn't exist?

:scratch:

People don't care lol, whatsoever!
Strange, though!

[علي]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Acknowledgement is what opens doors for recovery.

True, drugs alone are not effective or have lots of side effects both known and unknown, however, with depression for example, drugs works on restoring chemical imbalance, add to that environmental and lifestyle changes along with love, support and understanding from loved ones and the chances of full recovery increases by leaps.

I'm not convinced when it comes to the drugs though, and the question "is it clinical depression" I feel translates to "do we use drugs on it?"

If the solution clinical or otherwise involved everything else you listed, i.e. love and support without the drugs, then it ceases to matter since we would not be using those anyway. The question in the OP becomes a non-issue.

[Rebel101]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

I'm not convinced when it comes to the drugs though, and the question "is it clinical depression" I feel translates to "do we use drugs on it?"

If the solution clinical or otherwise involved everything else you listed, i.e. love and support without the drugs, then it ceases to matter since we would not be using those anyway. The question in the OP becomes a non-issue.

How can support be there if people are in denial though?

[Rainyday]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

I assume people who claim depression doesn't exist have never suffered from it themselves.

[Strive]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

I assume people who claim depression doesn't exist have never suffered from it themselves.

Yeah probs if you have you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy.

[علي]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

How can support be there if people are in denial though?

No denial though, if they recognize the symptoms they're not denying them, it's just whether or not they consider it worthy of drugs or not. That's the issue I think the question asks about, in the very end.

[F_R]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Isn't there a dua for this? So doesn't that mean it does exist?

[neelu]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Some people are just full of kibr (arrogance), so if they haven't come across something personally or experienced it themselves, then it doesn't exist to them. Whether the issue exists in reality, whether it can be proven etc means nothing to them- they are really that thick that if it doesn't fit in with their ignorant narrow paradigm then they assume it doesn't exist, or that it's "because of a lack of iman"- again due to arrogance that they believe their iman is oh so great cos' they haven't experienced such things. There are some people in their own narrow minded little petty world where they think anything related to mental illness "it's a gora illness" because "it doesn't exist where we come from". These illnesses exist all over the world. Severe depression is rife in Palestine, I'm sure many have it in Pakistan and other countries- it's not just a 'Western' thing it's just that Western nations don't hide it or pretend it isn't there the way other communities do.

I am suspicious of Drs being too quick to rely on drugs for these sorts of things, but I do think medications have their place too. Sometimes a case of depression or schizophrenia could be due to jinns, I wouldn't immediately be dismissive of that possibility, nor would I assume that ALL cases are due to jinns. These conditions can be triggered by a number of different factors and depending on those factors, different treatments would suit different people.

[AhlulQuran88]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Some people are just full of kibr (arrogance), so if they haven't come across something personally or experienced it themselves, then it doesn't exist to them. Whether the issue exists in reality, whether it can be proven etc means nothing to them- they are really that thick that if it doesn't fit in with their ignorant narrow paradigm then they assume it doesn't exist, or that it's "because of a lack of iman"- again due to arrogance that they believe their iman is oh so great cos' they haven't experienced such things. There are some people in their own narrow minded little petty world where they think anything related to mental illness "it's a gora illness" because "it doesn't exist where we come from". These illnesses exist all over the world. Severe depression is rife in Palestine, I'm sure many have it in Pakistan and other countries- it's not just a 'Western' thing it's just that Western nations don't hide it or pretend it isn't there the way other communities do.

I am suspicious of Drs being too quick to rely on drugs for these sorts of things, but I do think medications have their place too. Sometimes a case of depression or schizophrenia could be due to jinns, I wouldn't immediately be dismissive of that possibility, nor would I assume that ALL cases are due to jinns. These conditions can be triggered by a number of different factors and depending on those factors, different treatments would suit different people.

Depression exists everywhere the idea that is a western thing is a fable. That it is more prevalent in the West is a fact.
Medication is suitable for some and for other it is not. Some people just want people to listen to them others need psychiatric help.

but this illness is lower in the muslim world because there idea of qadr but it is on the increase as muslims turn away from allah.

We have to be careful not to look at western medicine and accept everything as if it's Quran.

My neighbour had a dog and when it died she went on anti-depressants for 6 months, that would not have happened in Somalia.

A lot of western cases for depression are strange and certainly some cases are really legit but let's be fair and balanced it is all doom and gloom.

Mental problems in general are a huge problem in the muslim world

[neelu]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

Akhi that's ridiculous a person should not need anti depressants after the death of a dog nor even a human being. I think one problem in this society is that it is not structured to accept grief as a part of life. When a person goes through a bereavement, he should have been given time off work, been around supportive family or friends, or else gone away somewhere to clear his head for a while- have a good cry and return home a little more able to get on with life until some time passes and things return more to some form of normalcy.

Grief after the death of a loved one (even a pet) is a normal part of the range of human emotions. It hurts, it's unpleasant, but it's part of life- no one should be medicated for it. It's like that story 'brave new world' where the people were put on a drug called 'soma' to suppress their emotions and people were led to believe that they lived in a happy society when really it was just a mundane and depressed society that just suppressed their feelings with prescription drugs.

These days society is so driven by 'productivity' that it doesn't allow people to take time out from their lives to contemplate death and come to terms with it. They're expected to get over it and jump back into the rat race. What would be really unnatural is if your neighbour lost a loved one and didn't feel grief at all.

Anyway that's a separate issue, the weird thing about depression is that so often it affects people without a specific reason. You'd expect someone to feel depressed at least for a while after a bereavement, trauma or family tragedy, but it's become increasingly common for people to get depression without anything like that going on. I know of two particular cases of this; one is definitely jinn related but the other one isn't.

[petals]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

They probably do not suffer from any sort of mental illness for themselves; so may just be unaware of it.

[Rebel101]

Re: Why do some people say depression doesn't exist?

No denial though, if they recognize the symptoms they're not denying them, it's just whether or not they consider it worthy of drugs or not. That's the issue I think the question asks about, in the very end.

I didn't quiet understand OP in that way.

She seemed to be asking why people deny mental illnesses and gave examples of such illnesses

:confused:

But since you bought up the drug aspect, I personally believe some drugs are effective and even worth the side effects.