[Samanthagreene]

I was trying to educate people about depression and suicide in a very non-official/non-presentation way and I was amazed how many people blew off data by saying "A surprisingly large number of people suffering from depression are trying to get attention" and "why should we help suicidal people if they just want to die?" I was so shocked to see such terrible stigma first hand I was actually speechless. I couldn't think of anything to say to retort so I just stopped.
I just wanted to share that because it was so surprising. I'd read about stigma, but always considered it that thing out there I didn't have to deal with right now. I guess not. It is very real.
-Sam

[Poppy Princess]

Yeah, I never talk about depression with people. I avoid the subject.

[shortandcute]

Yeah, I don't talk about it as much anymore for that very reason. But I know what you mean! Oh, I hate it when they say things like, "There wasn't depression when I was younger." Well, I don't believe that--I think people just kept it under wraps more at one time. Now, that we are trying to "come out of the closet," so to speak, people are just assuming just what you said--that we are just trying to get attention!

[IndieVisible]

Originally Posted by Samanthagreene

I was trying to educate people about depression and suicide in a very non-official/non-presentation way and I was amazed how many people blew off data by saying "A surprisingly large number of people suffering from depression are trying to get attention" and "why should we help suicidal people if they just want to die?" I was so shocked to see such terrible stigma first hand I was actually speechless. I couldn't think of anything to say to retort so I just stopped.
I just wanted to share that because it was so surprising. I'd read about stigma, but always considered it that thing out there I didn't have to deal with right now. I guess not. It is very real.
-Sam

I've heard both of those lines too. Most people just repeat what they hear and really don't know what they are talking about. It's like the myth that people only use 10% of our brain. That is so not true we use almost all of our brain yet this falsehood is repeated daily as fact lol. I just ask them where they got that information because it's simply not true. Most people don't want to commit suicide because they want to die, it's because they are in so much pain they feel there is no other alternative. If some one talks about suicide or says they are thinking about it, that is usually a cry for help not attention. They usually shut up. If they want to argue it further I just tell them they have peanut butter for brains, substitute peanut butter with that word we can't use here

[bluedolphin92]

The stigma and sheer ignorance surrounding depression, and mental illness in general, absolutely sickens me.You would never, EVER, walk up to a cancer patient and tell them to just stop having cancer. Why is it okay to walk up to a depressed person and tell them to just be happy?

Not saying that the two can compare in any way, just saying that people seem to understand that physical illness isn't something you can just "get over", why is it so hard to understand that mental illness is oftentimes just as difficult to "get over".

[bronzeowl]

Oh, I hate it when they say things like, "There wasn't depression when I was younger."

Every time I hear that I just want to face palm. Usually, it's from someone who is about my mom's age. Well, seeing as my mom has been battling depression since her twenties... I think it's safe to say they did have depression back then. (To add to this, there is a list of famous, well known individuals floating on the internet somewhere who had depression or displayed depression like symptoms from "back in the day")

I'm always afraid to mention my depression because of this stigma. To be honest, I think it was the reason I've been so hesitant on getting help for my other concerns. I've finally decided to but it took me many years.

The worst part is, so many people who repeat these blatant lies believe they are true so much that they speak as though they are experts on the subject. Experts who have no training in psychology, have never picked up a psychology book, and probably have not even taking the first basic psych class in high school or college. They're "experts" only because that's what they were told.

It's like the myth that people only use 10% of our brain.

Exactly this. Or the myth that everyone is either fully right brained or fully left brained and no one uses both sides. I will never understand where these myths come from or why people believe them. I want to know why, though. And I guess that's why I want to be a psych. major. (lol.. )

[too SHy]

The reason there "was'nt depression in my day" is because they (and a lot of other folks) were locked up or secluded at home!!!

[manwithnofriends]

Maybe I misread this somewhere but... apparently people stigmatize to create distance. They stigmatize what they are most afraid of. So perhaps that explains the attitude towards depression. "They ain't 'aving none of it".

[shortandcute]

Originally Posted by manwithnofriends

Maybe I misread this somewhere but... apparently people stigmatize to create distance. They stigmatize what they are most afraid of. So perhaps that explains the attitude towards depression. "They ain't 'aving none of it".

....makes sense to me.....

[turquoisesea]

I agree... too much stigma out there =( very very sad