it’s not about you

Dick Cavett writes a blog for the New York Times and this past Sunday, I found a piece he had written on depression. A few things popped out at me that had so much truth and understanding in them, I thought I’d post them here.

While speaking to a group of mental health patients:

“I know that everyone here knows that feeling when people say to you, ‘Hey, shape up! Stop thinking only about your troubles. What’s to be depressed about? Go swimming or play tennis and you’ll feel a lot better. Pull up your socks!’ And how you, hearing this, would like nothing more than to remove one of those socks and choke them to death with it.”

Some advice for those NOT struggling with depression:

Another tip: Do not ask the victim what he has “to be depressed about.” The malady doesn’t care if you’re broke and alone or successful and surrounded by a loving family. It does its democratic dirty work to your brain chemistry regardless of your “position.”

And quite possibly the best quote on the subject I’ve ever heard:

Apparently one thing I said on “Larry King” back then hit home hard. It was that when you’re downed by this affliction, if there were a curative magic wand on the table eight feet away, it would be too much trouble to go over and pick it up.

You can read the whole piece here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 am and is filed under Body & Soul, Blogworthy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.