[lbo-talk] RE:economics of depression

joanna bujes jbujes at covad.net
Tue Dec 30 11:37:31 PST 2003


Marc writes: "anyway, to the person who recommended the szasz book, i was wondering what you got out of it because it gets pretty much trashed by a couple of reviewers on amazon who say the book argues that there is no such thing as mental illness and all the so-called depressed people should just get out of bed and get a job..."

It has been a while since I read it, but I remember thinking he made some very good points and no, he doesn't say depressed people should just get out of bed.... though he does spend a lot of time discussing the social factors behind much of what we call "mental illness." He was a shrink though, he also wrote a book called "The Ethics of Pschyoanalysis," so he believed and used the process.

It's winter. It's cold and dark. The lack of sunlight has a depressive effect on lots of people. Try some vitamin D and don't forget exercise. This is not to minimize the seriousness of depression, but in my experience there are many factors, and some of them can be easily taken care of.

Joanna



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