6 Things Everyone Seems to Get Wrong About Depression
Mental health experts share the most misunderstood aspects of the disorder, from the way we treat those suffering from it to the way we talk about it.
By Emma Haak
Photo: KatarzynaBialasiewicz/iStock
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Mistaken Belief #6: It's a personal failing—depressed people just need to buck up
The Truth—Every expert we spoke with cited this as one of the most common and damaging myths about depression, because while there are factors that can increase your risk (family history, trauma, a stressful life event, to name a few), mental weakness isn't one of them. "Telling a depressed person that they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps is like telling someone with pneumonia to do the same," says Stuart Eisendrath, MD, founding director of the University of California San Francisco Depression Center. "People don't understand that there's a physiological abnormality associated with, it just like there is with other illnesses."
Published 12/07/2015
