Lies about depressive illness are dangerous

Recently a movie star spoke out on a morning show against antidepressants and I found his comments completely offensive. He condemned Brooke Shields for taking antidepressants and seeking therapy for her post-partum depression, stating that she only masked the problem and didn’t really deal with it. This really got my blood boiling. Here is a brave woman that had the courage to share her story; that had the courage to admit that she felt like harming her child due to the post-partum depression she was battling. Thanks to her honesty and openness to treatment, other women suffering from post-partum depression will hopefully seek help. If more women get the help they need during this time, perhaps it will prevent possible injury or death to their children.

As I write this I think about Andrea Yates, the woman who murdered her five children while suffering from post-partum depression back in 2002. How might that situation have turned out differently if she had sought medical attention? ( http://www.meaning.ca/articles/news_commentary/andrea_yates_april02.htm )

What really scared me about the celebrity interview is that people might actually believe the lies; they might believe that depressed individuals are nothing be weak minded, pathetic people that don’t really suffer from a medical condition. There are already many negative stigma’s attached to depressive illnesses, I would hate to see society move backwards towards continued bigotry instead of forwards to understanding, compassion and empathy.

Let’s move forward.