Life, Friends, Is the Pits

Psychiatrist Kevin Turnquist gave an excellent response, conservative and correct, to important questions about “depression” and related issues [“The Doctor is In,” April].
I find that the word “depression” nowadays is loosely used and over-used by the general public. Where once we were “unhappy” or “down” or “moody” or “low,” now we are “depressed.” This buzzword too often gets us directed—unnecessarily—to a mental-health practitioner for treatment.

Life is not a bowl of cherries; it has its pits. When we feel “low” or “down,” by no means does this mean that we need professional treatment for depression. Talk with a friend. A relative or religious leader can help us when we feel “low.” So will a vacation, change of scene, another activity, or merely time itself. If our happiness interferes not with our work, social life, or our physical well-being, then (in my view) we are only “unhappy”; we are not mentally “depressed” such as to need treatment.

Unfortunately, in these times there is a pervasive attitude that no discomfort, mental or physical, is allowed—and an immediate treatment or a pill is called for. And we forget that sometimes the “treatment” is worse than the “disease.”