Home > Anxiety, Depression, Donny Pauling, Dooce, Heather Armstrong > Everyone Should Read This

Everyone Should Read This

December 13th, 2007 Leave a comment Go to comments

One of my favorite blogs is Heather Armstrong’s Dooce.com.  Heather is a fantastic, witty, hilarious writer.  She can write about any topic she chooses in a way that will have readers laughing.  And the monthly letters to her daughter often make my eyes leak. 

She also has the courage to be transparent about her battles with depression and anxiety.  Today’s blog article was serious. Regardless of whether or not a person suffers from any sort of mental illness, it’s my opinion that everyone should read this article (click here). 

Categories: Anxiety, Depression, Donny Pauling, Dooce, Heather Armstrong Tags:
  • http://www.the-confessions-of-a-porn-addict.com/ Michael

    I agree that every should read that post.

    It is important to realize that mental illness is real and that emotional pain, depression and anxiety can disable some one from having a function, happy, and abundant life.

    It frustrates me that well meaning “Christians” blame mental illness and depression as a matter of not having enough faith or blame it on sin.

    That is a pathedic excuse based on fear and ignorance.

    Michael,
    http://www.the-confessions-of-a-porn-addiction.blogspot.com

  • http://www.the-confessions-of-a-porn-addict.com Michael

    I agree that every should read that post.

    It is important to realize that mental illness is real and that emotional pain, depression and anxiety can disable some one from having a function, happy, and abundant life.

    It frustrates me that well meaning “Christians” blame mental illness and depression as a matter of not having enough faith or blame it on sin.

    That is a pathedic excuse based on fear and ignorance.

    Michael,
    http://www.the-confessions-of-a-porn-addiction.blogspot.com

  • Adam

    I don’t understand why everyone feels that they HAVE to be medicated in order to survive. I mean sure it can be hard to deal with things, but isn’t that just a part of life in general, regardless of who you are?

    It’s almost like an alcoholic who needs alcohol, or whatever, you’re self medicated.

    Also, consider how much money is being spent on this sort of thing. Is it any wonder, people struggle to have enough to support our families, when so much of what they make goes towards drugs?

  • Adam

    I don’t understand why everyone feels that they HAVE to be medicated in order to survive. I mean sure it can be hard to deal with things, but isn’t that just a part of life in general, regardless of who you are?

    It’s almost like an alcoholic who needs alcohol, or whatever, you’re self medicated.

    Also, consider how much money is being spent on this sort of thing. Is it any wonder, people struggle to have enough to support our families, when so much of what they make goes towards drugs?

  • Jeff

    Adam,
    You’re misunderstanding the point of the blog. I get what you’re saying, that parents all too quickly will get their kids diagnosed as ADHD and put on medication simply to make the parents’ lives easier. Or some will get into a funk and think, “OH! This is depression….I MUST MEDICATE!!”
    But she’s not talking about that. I’ve read through her archives and she’s talking about something that is debilitating, that makes you completely unable to function normally.
    My wife had post-partum depression after the birth of our first child. I can’t convince you of it except to say….yeah, she did. She was a completely different person and she couldn’t deal with life. *I* didn’t even realize that that was what it was till she told her OBGYN about it. He knew it so specifically and he knew how to deal with it. And when she was on the medication, she was herself.
    I hope that helps you understand a little bit. Hey, this world is cursed, right? And since that is so, it stands to reason that some people’s wiring will be off from what God had originally intended. Thank God there’s medicine to help people to be what God intended in the first place!

  • Jeff

    Adam,
    You’re misunderstanding the point of the blog. I get what you’re saying, that parents all too quickly will get their kids diagnosed as ADHD and put on medication simply to make the parents’ lives easier. Or some will get into a funk and think, “OH! This is depression….I MUST MEDICATE!!”
    But she’s not talking about that. I’ve read through her archives and she’s talking about something that is debilitating, that makes you completely unable to function normally.
    My wife had post-partum depression after the birth of our first child. I can’t convince you of it except to say….yeah, she did. She was a completely different person and she couldn’t deal with life. *I* didn’t even realize that that was what it was till she told her OBGYN about it. He knew it so specifically and he knew how to deal with it. And when she was on the medication, she was herself.
    I hope that helps you understand a little bit. Hey, this world is cursed, right? And since that is so, it stands to reason that some people’s wiring will be off from what God had originally intended. Thank God there’s medicine to help people to be what God intended in the first place!

  • Adam

    Fair enough, but isn’t that something that would go away with time, as the child gets older?

  • Adam

    Fair enough, but isn’t that something that would go away with time, as the child gets older?

  • Jeff

    Adam,
    This is a 30-something year old woman. She has a 3-year-old, but it’s the woman who is the one that is getting help.

  • Jeff

    Adam,
    This is a 30-something year old woman. She has a 3-year-old, but it’s the woman who is the one that is getting help.

  • Adam

    No I get that, I mean wouldn’t that go away, as her child grows up and time passes? That’s what I meant.

  • Adam

    No I get that, I mean wouldn’t that go away, as her child grows up and time passes? That’s what I meant.

  • Jeff

    You think that her internal chemical imbalance is affected by Leta’s age? Or my wife’s based on an external source like my son’s age?

  • Jeff

    You think that her internal chemical imbalance is affected by Leta’s age? Or my wife’s based on an external source like my son’s age?

  • Adam

    Well I just thought that as more time passes, that postpartem depression would fade away, and not be an issue anymore.

  • Adam

    Well I just thought that as more time passes, that postpartem depression would fade away, and not be an issue anymore.