"Oh Carla you're just as important if not more important than X"

[morrigirl]

Like hell I am.

Why is it that people can understand if an individual in extreme physical pain wants to die, but if someone is in extreme mental pain and wants to die, they think he's nuts? Mental pain can be just as strong and debilitating as physical pain. Can we say double standard?

Comments

[irishelf.livejournal.com]

i would say no, because in scenarios that a person is suffering from extreme physical pain and wishes to die, it's usually a symptom of a terminal illness that canNOT be cured. however, it has been shown that mental pain as a symptom of, say, depression, is not terminal, can eventually be cured, and isn't as constant as a terminal physical illness.

thus, no double standard. you can get through it.

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

Clinical depression is just that: clinical, AKA chronic, AKA for the rest of your life. And while one can certainly learn how to manage recurrences it is by no means "curable." The clinically depressed look down an interminable tunnel of mental pain, with no idea when, where, and with how much force the next cycle will hit. Nor do they know how long any given relapse will last. When it comes to chronic cases, relapses can last for years. My current one is entering it's fourth year. The last relapse I weathered lasted eight. That's twelve years total, almost 50% of my time on this earth spent "managing" my depression, a process that is inexact at best, never uniform, and never guarenteed to work. Not to mention the fact that it interferes with your ability to function on even a basic level.

So let's review - major depression: an incurable illness that may or may not respond to treatment. It effects every aspect of your life and severely interferes with your ability to function on a physical, mental, and emotional level, and markedly decreases the quality of your life.

"in scenarios that a person is suffering from extreme physical pain and wishes to die, it's usually a symptom of a terminal illness that canNOT be cured." If your only basis for saying there is no comparison is the argument that depression is curable you are wrong. Chronic depression is incurable.

[skoriaan.livejournal.com]

Hi.

::hug::

Miss talking to you.

Its been a while.

M.