Janet Street Porter Calls Depression a Trendy Middle Class Fad

[dizietsma]

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Sorry if I'm duplicating any threads here, but I've only just heard about this disgusting article.

Shock tactic bollocks, putting the acceptance of mental health issues back about 30 years into the dark ages of it being "shameful" and something not to be spoken of.

Stupid bloody woman.

Talk about self-congratulatory hype - "oooh look at me, my books tell everyone how to do it my the right way, they must be right, they've been printed in so many countries - I am a lifestyle guru and I don't believe in depression therefore it doesn't really exist."

I've always hated her.

weird she should have a go about depression, she's obviously deluded

Fuck me, I'd best give myself a shake and get over myself then shouldn't I?

Stupid, ill informed, raving old bint. Anyone with this point of view can just fuck the fuck off.

If for one nano second I could go 'hey, I need to pull myself together and get a grip..shit happens' I bloody well would. Because being on AD's, in counselling, on benefits and an LP is hardly the realisation of my life's dreams.

I hope she is satisfied with her smug, complacent diatribe. Perhaps she should tell such folk as she uses as examples face to face. Evil Witch.

When I was depressed I felt enormously guilty that I had no obvious reason to feel that way. I had enough money, a great job, a beautiful baby and loving partner, friends and family. Depression is an equal-opportunties illness and the factors involved are as varied as the people who live with it. I shudder to think how much more difficult my recovery would have been if I had had to cope with poverty or isolation as well.

Beenbeta - what do you think it was that made your mum better in the end.
(she says - always looking for happy endings to this horrible thing !)

kizzie - a very short answer is that a complete 100% change in every aspect of her life seemed to jolt her into a new mindset.

My Mum had a horrific childhood which laid the ground for her depression. On top of that, when I was a child, my parents were farmers, living in a very isolated place with very little money and my Mum hardly ever saw anyone or went anywhere for 20 years.

The change came, when they moved to a new farm , paid of all their debts and started travelling a little more. My Mum started to go out more and meet people. My Dad is quite a dogmatic character but he grew older and got injured and ill so he came to depend on my Mum more and she blossomed in that new role.

A 'complete change is as good as a rest' is the only way I can describe it.

Its lovely to read that your mum found her happiness

She is such an utter moron.

Hope she never finds herself on a psychiatric ward- silly woman.

News today is that men are now suffering from post-natal depression as well as women. There is already concern about the amount of medication children are being given to alleviate behavioural problems. Leaving JSP's deliberately provocative article to one side for a second, is there not a danger that if the current statistical trend continues the ultimate outcome is that we will all be diagnosed as suffering from one mental condition or other?

Chil1234 - we have always suffered from one mental condition or another, it's just that in recent years it has become medicalised and we put labels on things. Looking at the statistics is meaningless if a condition has only just been discovered (or invented, as the charming JSP would say).

But surely it can only be positive that we are now talking openly as a society about mental health, happiness, sadness and everything else that goes with being a member of the human race.

I think what she was trying to say is that the term 'depression' has been hi-jacked by some people to describe the normal 'blues' and feelings of being 'fed up' that we all go through periods of and which are nothing like the horror of real depression.

I agree though that she expressed her views a bit insensitively and certainly had absolutely no right to name individuals. Just because you're famous or talented does not mean that you are immune to suffering from genuine depression.

JSP seems to be fighting for a bit of attention here. She has built her reputation for being outspoken and provocative.

I think back when she was a young woman, depression was not talked about, was very much Taboo and seen as weekness.

Longer working hours, living away from family, and money being a main focus in many peoples lives also may be the reasons why depression is more apparent at this time.

She thins she is being refreshingly honest. In fact it is blatant ignorence.

I was really shocked by the JSP article too. I work as a GP with a special interest in mental health. Depression is endemic amongst the socially deprived, and I can't believe she tried to say the opposite - that social deprivation somehow protects women because they're too busy being poor! The first noble truth as per the Buddha is 'life is suffering'. That goes for everyone, at least for a proportion of the time. It is bloody hard work being human, and dismally sad at times, as well as soaringly joyful. To dismiss people's anguish in the way that she does is just so lacking in compassion. Depression has always been around, just as many here have said. I do think it's genuinely on the rise, however, because of societal factors. Be that as it may, there is no call for dismissing it so cruelly, and I am glad that Pearson mounted such a robust (as well as entertaining ) response.

Depression is hardly a fad, I have suffered with it on and off since i was a teenager, but after my second child i suffered badly with postnatal depression.
As usual, she hasnt got a clue what she is talking about, having suffered with depression (and still going through it now) it is one of the worst things you could suffer with and you have no control over it. JSP should shut her face, as my nan used to say, if you've got nothing nice to say then dont say anything at all

I'm glad I didn't read her article this time last year. I was so low then due to the demands of work, three children, a strained relationship with DH and a forthcoming house move that I had a recurring fantasy about lying on my bed and allowing some benevolent stranger to administer a lethal injection to just make it all go away. Luckily, I got myself to therapy and my life has been utterly transformed. I've learned to challenge and rewrite the script I was given in childhood and to start living a life that works for me. I hope Alison Pearson et al find some peace of mind and that JSP starts to write about stuff she understands.

It's already been predicted that mental health issues will be the biggest health problem in developed countries by 2020.

I started this post about 12 hours ago so it's probably well out of touch now but hey.

Nobody chooses to feel depressed, they just are, they cannot help it. Believe me, if they could help it they most certainly would. People just don't get depression, it's shit and no one on God's earth would ever choose it, let alone as 'the new black' ffs Janet you silly old unsympathetic bint.

"Witless media nonentity ridicules vast, complex subject they are manifestly ill-equipped to understand, never mind critique"

Strictly in the dog-bites-man category of news; most of the DM's output could be described like this...

I'm going right against the grain here. I think it was a very informative and utterly true article.

Swanandduck is correct. The word depression has been hi-jacked by everyone who feels a bit blue or down and out.

They go to the GP after having an arguement with partner and say they are depressed.

Depression is an utterly debilitating place to be.

When you see a beautiful popular newsreader jump off a cliff because of depression and a very handsome popular actor in a long running show commit suicide for the same reason you understand the seriousness of depression.

My GP tried to get me to take anti-depression medication when I was going through a very stressful time in my life.

I had to tell him firmly that I was NOT depressed. I had anxiety issues and high levels of stress at work but that did not equate to depression.

I had cognitive therapy for ny anxiety and changed my job and the stress disappeared.

there is a difference between being depressed and having depression. They shouldn't be confused.

I agree with swanandduck too. I'm not clear what JSP's take on it really is as the article was so poorly written, but she does at least make a distinction between 'genuine' (medical) depression and those who are feeling down for some - possibly very good - reason. I think this is right and that there are some people who use the term "depression" when actually they may be depressed but there are constructive things they can do to help themselves (I understand that this is pretty much impossible when in the grip of 'medical' depression).

The trouble is, how do you tell one from the other? (And does it matter anyway?) I'm not sure there is a way so I work on the basis that being in either state is deeply unpleasant so the sufferers deserve sympathy. To me, the important thing is that they receive the correct treatment, be it cognitive therapy, meds or whatever. That can only be decided on an invididual basis so generalisations like JSPs are utterly pointless.

There are, of course, people we all know who genuinely do just need a kick up the *rse because they have the 'victim' or lazy mentality but the danger of an article like this is that it attempts to pigeon-hole the 'sort of people' that might be making a fuss about nothing (well, that's the DM for you) whereas I think this thread has well and truly shown that this is impossible.

Terribly damaging to all those suffering though. DM should be banned.

this sort of thing really saddens me,i have suffered with different forms of depression since about the age of fifteen,i was bullied mercilessly at school,so much so that i had a nervous breakdown,i have suffered with post-natal depression twice,once with my second little girl,and i'm in the midst of the second time now after having my fifth child. will we ever live in a society where depression is truely looked upon as an "illness"? i have lost count of the amount of people that have said to me "cheer up" or told me it could be worse.....i do consider myself very lucky,i have five wonderful children,all of which are happy and healthy,but no amount of money or luck or whatever you want can make depression just go!! we are skint most of the time,but i often wonder if i won the lottery or came into a large sum of money somehow would it make me feel any better.....i suspect not.
i would hope that JSP has never had to feel so desperatly depressed that they want to take their own life,that it has no meaning....i wouldn't want my worst enemy to ever feel as desolate as i.

Its a trend that has been going on for some time isnt it? Silly bitch.

Just re read that, and what I meant to say is its hardly a trend as its been around forever.

Hi Sarah - I'm so sorry to read that you feel as you do and I suspect you're right that it's not about the lack of money etc. There's also nothing less helpful than being told 'it could be worse.' Are you getting any help now with your current bout of PND?