My uncorrected eyesight is terrible. I started wearing glasses in second grade and contacts in third grade. My optometrist had me wear rigid contacts in the mistaken hope that it would keep my eyes from continuing to degenerate. At this point I am nearsighted enough to need nearly eleven diopters of correction. Without my glasses the world looks like something Monet painted while staggeringly drunk.
In all the time I’ve been wearing glasses and contacts, no one has ever suggested that I should go without them. No one has said, “You should let your genetics have their way.” Sadly, that’s a common attitude towards mental illnesses and the like. Today’s example is fantasy author Robin Hobb, whose view is “You have to be who you genetically are.”
To be blunt, that is a stupid, damaging view. It minimizes real problems, discourages people from getting help, and adds external disapproval to an already large reservoir of internal anguish. For instance, look at the third comment on her post. “Do I panic and put my daughter on Ritalin to avoid a similar path? I am not going to do that.”
Hobb expresses a number of problematic views in her post. She buys into the romantic myth of artistic temperament including depression and bipolar behavior. She’s not comfortable with people taking drugs long-term to fix brain chemistry imbalances. As an aside, she dismisses ADHD, placing Ritalin on the level of chugging cans of Red Bull to stay awake. She’s even peddling “don’t meddle in God’s domain!” in new genetic clothes.
Mental illnesses are real, and it doesn’t help when people dismiss them by saying that they’re just fine and dandy. Being depressed is not the same as depression. Being scatter-brained is not the same as ADHD. Depending on artificial aids for the rest of your life is not a sign of failure, and to claim otherwise is to do real and lasting harm.
Consider Type I diabetes. It’s likely got a strong genetic component, and you have to monitor your blood sugar levels and administer insulin for the rest of your life. Should we expect diabetics to do without insulin, then, in order to be who they genetically are?
Look, mental illness isn’t something you can think yourself through. You can’t will yourself better any more than I can will my eyes to work normally. Just because you can’t necessarily see the effects of a mental illness doesn’t mean the illness doesn’t exist. It’s nice that Robin Hobb has been able to live with the minor mental quirks her genetics have provided to her. But shame on her for deciding that everyone else should then be able to get by without treatment.
I really like the way this post links the topic of your nearsightedness with Robin’s Hobbs myopic views on mental illness.
Well played indeed.
Thank you for posting this. I struggle with depression, ADHD, and PTSD, and more than that, I struggle with these romanticized views of the “melancholy artist.” The idea that medications are evil and we should all be in love with our beautifully damaged minds is one that’s heavily perpetuated in artistic circles. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been derided for turning to medication and talk therapy for help. In turn, I often question the legitimacy of turning to science to help me with my issues.
Thank you also for equating mental illness with physical illness and stressing that mental illness should be treated with the same care and concern as physical illness. I wish more people took this attitude.
I’m glad you posted this 🙂 I come from a family that views seeking help with stuff like this as “weak.” And although my parents have become much more supportive in later -years, there are still times when I take my medication that a little bit of self-loathing creeps up, telling me “stop bitching and grow up, ya wimp. You ain’t got it so bad.” Like I’m too weak to handle everyday life. But then I come to your house and you and Misty make me feel better again!!
I dunno…. maybe I could get a prescription for Science! You make it better a lot! 🙂
Wow! This is really well written, and I was really just poking in for other reasons and read this post. Really my only comment is to add that people have very mistaken ideas about what depression is. It’s not a matter of being “sad.” It’s a matter of disconnect. Nothing matters. Nothing. Family worried about you? Eh, they’d be better off without you. It’s not as if anything you do matters. Job? A monkey could do what you do, so what does it matter? Even to the point of thoughts of suicide. Why bother? It wouldn’t matter anyway. You can’t just “decide to change your attitude” and be happy because it’s not about attitude. It’s not just “in your head.” You can change your attitude all you want and you’re still depressed because…it doesn’t matter. It’s truly insidious in how it works into everything you think, do, or want.
Anyway, I think that’s more than 2-cents, eh?
Couldn’t have said it any better myself! Not that that is saying all that much! 😉
I have seen so many people flush themselves down the toilets because they think their depression is “good” and “natural.” Would you tell that to Poe as he lay dying in the gutter? “Congratulations! You have a decent body of work on which to perish!”
Frankly, Lindholm’s remind me of several other groups– Scientology and new age homeopathy. Both are obsessed with natural potential, and yet both create a pattern of subservience and ignorance. Coming from a family chock full of mental illness, the thought of going untreated… heh, it drives me bonkers.
Lastly, who is Robin Hobb? The article you linked says Megan Lindholm.
Robin Hobb is a pen name for Megan Lindholm (which, confusingly, is also a pen name).
It’s this kind of attitude that makes people afraid to get help. Shame on her.
Amen! And thanks Stephen, on behalf of all those who struggle with brain disorders. This one is close to home for me. My sis and were blessed to recently find a course, Family to Family, through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (http://www.nami.org/) that helps family members learn more about mental illness. They sponsor a similar course for those with disorders, called Peer to Peer, as well as support groups for both.
The denial, shame, guilt, anger and stigma that accompany mental illness are so hard to overcome… by the sufferers, their families and society. To advocate embracing “who you genetically are,” when it comes to brain disorders, is doing all of us a great disservice. Lack of treatment for mental illness has physical, as well as psychological effects. The most severe of which is death.
I realize there are some medical practitioners and parents who would stuff a child with meds rather than deal with common behavioral issues proactively and I don’t mean to dismiss that – such abuse should be addressed. I have no cites to back up this statement, but I can’t help but believe their numbers pale in comparison to those who are genuinely helped by prescribed psychotropics.
Mental illness is no more shameful than any other physical problem. Your analogies were excellent. But, we receive so much input to the contrary. I endured my father’s condemnation of my use of antidepressants, and his admonitions to “get off of them as soon as possible,” even as I watched him spiral ever downward with an anxiety disorder for which he refused to seek help. He suffers from the disorder, and its physical affects (sensitive stomach, irritable bowels, inability to concentrate, disrupted sleep) to this day and refuses to acknowledge there is anything wrong.
I truly believe my sweet, bright, loving bipolar niece would not be with us had her mother not sought help as soon as she noticed something was “wrong.” Even with actively managed treatment, she attempted suicide when her body adapted to her “cocktail” of meds and they stopped working as they had before… a gradual and insidious change that she, her family and her therapist did not recognize in time. Fortunately, she is now more aware of the signs and alerts her therapist immediately when she notices changes.
Managing many brain disorders is not simply a matter of “popping pills.” Meds often are one tool in a treatment program that requires discipline, tenacity, the wherewithal to advocate for yourself and, well… work! If only people realized that simply staying on meds can require incredible strength of will when you consider the side effects that often accompany them.
Sadly, the stigma of mental illness is so great may of us don’t even admit to our own family members that there is a problem. My niece had been in treatment for years before I knew. I didn’t tell anyone else for years, especially after experiencing my father’s negative reaction. My sister and I literally wept for the time we struggled alone, ashamed, and afraid to speak of it openly. No more.
I really didn’t mean to make this a book when I started this comment… maybe it was other commenters sharing and the determination to hide “no more” that made me want to share my family’s story. Again, thank you for the post, Stephen.
And thank you for being willing to share all of this.
I won’t go read that article. My blood pressure doesn’t need it.
There is a reasonably good amount of evidence that argues for mental illness having a higher prevalence amongst creative types. It’s hard to know if correlation equals causation, though.
As a bipolar II depressive, I can vouch for Lisa’s commentary about managing mental illness being about more than taking medication. I take a mood stabilizer, which does quite well for me handles my symptoms better than any SSRIs ever have. Took us over two years to get to this medication regimen. That said, it’s still a lot of other things I have to watch. For me, it’s being really conscious of my sleep patterns, both on the insomnia and the somnolence sides. Neither is a good thing. I’m also finding myself have to become far more routinized than I’d ideally like: as an ENFP, this is hard for me. That said, I will take having to suppress some of my instincts and desires to keep out of that deep, dark well that Robert describes above. When it comes to depression, it is indeed more about being sad. There are two whole weeks of last June that I just don’t remember, at all. I also don’t remember a whole lot of May before that, other than being so depressed that my bosses told me I needed to take time off of work. Depression is about a hell of a lot more than being sad.
Ah this woman is a dingbat, seriously.
I suffer BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) and if I were to follow her theory, I’d be, well I wouldn’t be typing here, let me tell you. I take medication, I am under a psychiatrist and a psychologist, I have a case worker AND I am doing DBT (dialetical behavioural therapy) and it’s helping. I have weeks where I am so distraught I can’t even open my eyes to face the day when something goes wrong, or something changes that I didn’t have control over …
Your post was very well explained and written and I enjoyed it very much.
Thank You 🙂
I’m sorry to tell you that there ARE people who think that wearing glasses makes eyesight worse, and if you just did their nifty little exercises …