James Gordon, the author of Unstuck: Your Guide for the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression, can bite me. Oprah Magazine's Cathryn Jakobson Ramin can also bite me.
This may be a sign that I have amorphous unresolved anger issues. I don't. My anger is very specific and resolved. Currently, it is directed at the folks who insist that severe depression is simply a failure of will and that all that it needed to combat it is a cheerful attitude. Each and every one of you can bite me. Line forms to the left.
Blogger Terese J. Borchard sums up both Gordon and Ramin's arguments. Borchard is a much kinder woman than I -- but we (and the NYT's Judith Warner) agree that taking meds is not the "lazy way out." Nor is it a failure of character. Depression is a biochemical disorder, not a sickness of willpower.
Something finally became very clear when I read Borchard's post: women with depression are such easy marks for people like Gordon and Ramin because they are disinclined to trust their own brains and bodies and will easily hand authority over to Oprah Magazine.
Stop it.
They can bite you, too. Say it out loud a few times, if you need to, just to get the hang of it.
Bite. Me.
(If you are looking for a way to move anger into action, click over here. But only if you want to...)
