> > I took Zoloft in high school, and my friends
> >told me I was being weak for using a "crutch".
> >Meanwhile, they were cutting themselves with
> >knives and burning themselves with cigarettes to
> >take their minds off their own pain. Maybe you
> >could "handle" it yourself, but why? Get thee
> >to a pharmacy.
> >
>
> I don't think I've ever really seen it as a "crutch" or a "weakness". The only reason I stop taking my medication is sheer laziness and occaisionally the wish that I *could* handle it on my own, not really because of any percieved weakness, but because it just really SUCKS having to take pills every single day for your whole life.
>
> Seriously, how could anyone really see it as a "crutch"? We're not talking about occaisional depression brought on by stress or other actual depressing things. We're talking about a major and sometimes crippling depression that lasts FOREVER and is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. One that is often easily correctable with medication.
>
> People don't suffer through urinary tract infections today because they see penicillian as a "crutch", do they? So why should someone like me suffer through a lifetime of depression because anti-depressants are seen as a "crutch" by some stupid people? Bah.
>
> -- Dave

I've never been really, truly depressed, but I just cannot see depression any differently than all the other bodily afflictions out there. This doesn't mean that I trivialize depression, but I also don't see a difference between taking medicine for depression and taking medicine for a headache. I am more near-sighted than anybody I know, and I wear contacts (and glasses at night) to correct the problem. Is that a "crutch"? No. I'm simply making the most of what science has to offer me. The doctors who make my contacts are using their talents to help others. Saying that modern medicine is a crutch is a slap in the face of the doctors and scientists who have dedicated their lives to helping others. For that matter, I have a feeling the people who say anti-depression medication is a "crutch" have probably taken some sort of medicine at one point in their lives, be it Aspirin for a headache or prescription medicine for bronchitis.

I'll climb down from my soapbox now, since I think most of you probably agree with me, anyway. Dave, and all others who also deal with depression, I don't see you any differently because of it. We all have differences and none of us are anywhere near being perfect, emotionally or physically. If we were, wouldn't life be extremely monotonous?

Ell"Soapboxes are fun"myruh