Oooh, yet another article in Popsci about depression as a disease!

Well, I have another reason to be pissed off now: Popsci discussed 'brain diseases', and lumped depression in with autism, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimers, and stroke.

The first outrageous part is that Parkinson's disease, Alzheimers, and Stroke are in the same league with Autism and Depression. Parkinson's, Alzheimers, and Stroke are real, diagnosable physical illnesses that can be identified ACCURATELY by physical tests. Severe autism is iffy; it may be a largely developmental disorder, and there has been significant evidence that antibiotics that contain Mercury as well as other materials may contribute to it or even cause it. No surprise that such was omitted from the article. Sadly, severe, easily recognizable autism has been blurred with this 'Aspergers Syndrome' crap, and severe "social anxiety disorder" so that often they are thought of as one and the same. However, I am not saying that autism is an actual medical condition, as it is still 'diagnosed' on the basis of behavioral observations, and the passage explains that "scientists" still don't know what causes it but tries to push it as a biological problem. I'm simply saying that it sometimes has a better possibility as a developmental/physical disorder than others, because of the Mercury link and because it often comes at a young age 'without reason'. Nonetheless, abuse needs to be looked into as another possible factor. Lastly, it's presence has exploded in the first world in the last 50 years, which might also further hint at Mercury-related or even societal factors.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/1/autism_mercury.htm

Keep in mind that autistics sometimes resemble "savants", who might be of great value in certain areas but not in mainstream society.

Now, onto depression.

"What goes wrong" described depression as a function of stunted cell growth. This is utter bullshit because it proves absolutely nothing. The brain adjusts accordingly to circumstances; being artificially happy and disillusioned could be said to be as much of a 'disease' as 'depression'. Since depression is not a real disease or specific pathological condition, and we consider the brain's intricate functioning normal when someone is content with society, but flawed when they are not content and miserable (this is highly inaccurate but the brain, as I said, does adjust to circumstances), we cannot determine that this is due to abnormal growth of any sort.

"Leading cause of disability worldwide".

Depression itself does not cause the disability. It starts as a turning point in someones' life usually, but goes horribly wrong when nobody is there for the person and they are cast away.

"If scientists can figure out a way to make stronger, chattier brain cells, then the world will be a happier place. One promising strategy on this front is to inject genes into the brain that spur the growth of brand-new neurons; this technique has been shown to improve spatial memory in rats."

More ignoring a social perspective. This passage implies that depression is BECAUSE of these 'defects', rather than these 'defects' appearing because of a negative environment. To be fair, these supposedly 'scientific' tests are only conducted on those who are already depressed for other reasons, which does not prove anything other than that the brain adjusts to circumstances, again. The world will be a happier place when the rat race falls and people learn to critically think more.