The 5 most common myths about depression

What baseless stereotypes do people hold about depression?

It is a common fact to experience a feeling of sadness or grief during certain episodes in life.. The occasional occurrence of these emotional states is part of our normal functioning and in most cases our body has no problem bouncing back in a short period of time.

Five myths about people with depression

However, when we talk about depressive disorders we are referring to a set of different symptoms that can be expressed in very different ways depending on the case. Perhaps for this reason, most people have tended to internalize the concept of "depression" under a series of stereotypical labels about depressed people, to make it easier to understand.

This fact has contributed to fueling a series of myths about depression that only serve to give a biased and unrealistic image of this phenomenon. The following are some of these myths or stereotypes that are intended to describe people with this mood disorder.

Common prejudices about people with depression

1. People with depression are always sad

It is true that the diagnostic picture of depression includes a feeling of sadness that lasts over time, but this does not have to be the case in all cases.But this does not have to be the case in all cases. Some people with depression are in a state of emotional flattening, which means that they do not experience any particular emotion, or to a very low degree. Anhedonia, i.e., the inability to experience feelings of pleasure, without falling into a state of deep sadness, is also common.

2. People with depression are depressed as a result of a traumatic event.

Sometimes depression is triggered by a situation that is perceived as very negative, such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job.but is not always the case.. Sometimes, people with depression are unable to recognize an external event that has originated the manifestation of this disorder. There can be cases in which a person with depression seems to have all the material conditions to live happily: money, good luck, many friends, etc.

3. Depression occurs as a consequence of poor decisions.

This myth is a continuation of the previous one, and that is precisely why it is equally wrong. People with depression are not depressed because they have "made a mistake in life", they are simply depressed because of several factors, including they are so because of several factors that are intertwined in a very complex way. Blaming these people for the disorder they experience is perverse and a major mistake.

4. Depression is a sign of weakness

Depression, like many other forms of mental disorder, is heavily stigmatized. stigmatized even today. It is possible that part of the reason why this continues to happen is the cult of happiness that has become increasingly popular with the consolidation of welfare societies. Apparently we are all capable of aspiring to happiness and those who do not achieve it are showing themselves to be weak, like to recreate themselves in the misfortunes that befall them and throw in the towel before their time.

Sadness has thus been characterized as the opposite side of happiness and is something to be avoided at all costs: the ideal is never to be sad. Obviously, this myth leads to confusion between sadness and happiness, this myth leads to the confusion between sadness and depressionIt is also based on an integralist vision of what happiness is. Unfortunately, it also blames people with depression in favor of an unrealistic way of life.

5. Depression only has effects on the mind

It is always confusing to talk about "mind" without clarifying what this word refers to, but despite this it is quite common that depression has an impact only on people's mood and their way of looking at things. To sustain this idea is, in fact, to make invisible a great part of the effects that depression has on the whole organism, and which are not few: problems with the mood and the way of seeing things.The effects of depression on the whole organism are not few: stress, sleep and digestion problems, pain in various areas of the body, fatigue, etc. Depression is not only the maintenance of a state of mind, but also includes Biological processes that run through the whole body and affect each other.