
The age of unreason - prostoalex
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21657023-world-grows-richer-and-older-mental-illness-becoming-more-common-john-prideaux?fsrc=nlw|hig|9-07-2015|NA
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devindotcom
There's still a great deal of stigma around any form of mental illness, even
mild and transitory depression or anxiety. It's difficult, after centuries of
declaring people "mad," to think that one can be mentally ill as one is
ordinarily ill - with the mental equivalent of a cold or flu or allergies.
I've had to help friends and family with this idea myself.

Yet people eagerly adopt monikers like claustrophobic and OCD, and admit to an
irrational fear of heights or spiders. Depressed is a household word, but we
are afraid to use its real meaning. It's a strange conundrum.

An interesting historical perspective on madness can be found in Burton's
"Anatomy of Melancholy," more specifically the introduction.

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Chinjut
For clarification, what is the distinction between the household usage and
real meaning of "depressed"?

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PebblesHD
tl;dr people who say 'oh I've been a bit depressed lately' after having a bad
week may or may not be suffering from the mental illness known as depression,
which is characterized by long term feelings of sadness, helplessness etc. and
which generally interfere with the everyday life of the sufferer.

Depression in terms of the mental illness is much more than just 'feeling
sad', and involves many more psychological aspects and outward impacts on the
persons life.

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a3n
All true, but there is situational depression too, which isn't necessarily
_long_ term, as it goes way when the situation fades or dulls, but it is
nonetheless painful and dangerous.

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mcshicks
If you are really interested in this subject (how western societies treat the
"insane" as the societies themselves evolve) I would recommend Michel
Foucault's "Madness and Civilization", more recently published as "History of
Madness". It's a very long book and I must confess I only got through about
two thirds of it, but it certainly opened my eyes into how definitions of what
it meant to be "sane" have changed over time.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madness_and_Civilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madness_and_Civilization)

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CapitalistCartr
The first reference at the bottom is: Baron-Cohen, Simon, “The essential
difference: Male and female brains and the truth about autism” (2004)

He must hate Sasha.

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codev
They're cousins, they were both at Cambridge. Simon is a world renowned expert
on autism, Sasha on comedy.

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istvan__
Any chance to read the full article somehow?

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o_____________o
Print version:

[http://www.economist.com/node/21657023/print](http://www.economist.com/node/21657023/print)

Having Google as a referrer also works:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22IT+ALL+BEGAN+when+she+los...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22IT+ALL+BEGAN+when+she+lost+her+head.+According+to+legend%2C+Dimpna%2C+a+7th-
century+Christian+heroine)

