[stylist] Writers and depression

[EJ Kobek]

Hi, there, Vejas,

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm so glad you are pulling through this
process and am inspired by how well you know yourself and what you are
facing that hurts and has hurt so much. I'm with you on not ever wanting to
be medicated....weird subject to wander into on a writer's list, yet it's
not....people are constantly medicated out of feeling, rather than WRITING
about it!!! :-). Keep up your inspired efforts, your clear view, your
fire-strong nature!

Warmly,

Helen

On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 11:00 AM, Vejas Vasiliauskas <
alpineimagination at gmail.com> wrote:

> Helen,
> I think that your point makes a lot of sense.
> I feel that people do not really understand the degree to which one is
> unhappy because they can't step into your head and really understand it.
> The last half of junior year, for various reasons I did not like going to
> my school (meaeaning the particular high-school campus I attend), and I
> hated/dreaded going back after taking a vacation but always went in anyway.
> Well I've pulled through, still go to the same school and am happier with
> it, but if my family really knew how unhappy I was at the time, I think I'd
> be at this school today.  Much of it just had to do with what was going on
> there at the time.
> I'm just giving this example because people know you are unhappy, but just
> don't know HOW bad.
> I want to be an English teacher and an advice columnist for a newspaper,
> and like reading Dear Abby in my spare time.  If someone wrote about being
> unhappy, Abby would just advocate medicating them.
> Honestly, no matter how badly that I am feeling, I would never want to be
> medicated.  I would be perfectly willing to talk out my problems but no, I
> would not want to use medicine that would change me into some mechanical
> person.  I've also heard that medication stalls your creative writing.
> I think that some of the time when we are unhappy it is about one specific
> issue and if that issue is resolved, it is better.  But sometimes when we
> are unhappy about multiple things, they all blend so much that it is hard
> to know the exact reason.
> Vejas
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: EJ Kobek via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 17:33:35 -0500
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Writers and depression
>
> If we're thinking about depression = unhappiness, then writers' heightened
> consciousness could be an element.  Consciousness of injustice, suffering
> (ours and others')....
>
> As Alice James was quoted as saying in her journal, however, (included in
> my book *Everyday Cruelty) *"Ah, those strange people who have the courage
> to be unhappy! Are they unhappy, by-the -way?"
>
> I know there are biological underpinnings (I.e., neurotransmitter problems,
> poor uptake, adrenal gland burn out, thyroid issues, etc.) *sometimes* to
> unhappiness, but I think our culture far too often labels mere misery
> and yawning consciousness as depression, thus neutralizing our voices,
> relegating those such folks to, oh, "mentally ill," instead of aware and
> articulate.  Another favorite quotation, related: "Societies honor their
> live conformists and their dead rebels." Something like
> that.....Medicalizing unhappiness is a superior and effective way of
> silencing people's deep and true voices.
>
> Oh, joy.  Sob.  Whimper.  Sigh.  Be okay.  Be fine.  Be great.
>
> Helen
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site
> http://writers.nfb.org/
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> stylist:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/alpineimagin
> ation%40gmail.com
>