It was a beautiful day today -- the first warm day of the year. One of those days when it seems like the doors of the whole area have opened to let the winter-penned up people out for the sun and warmth. So my husband and I went to a nearby town to walk a bit, browse a bookstore and get lunch. As we at in the little cafe in this very small town on the coast of Maine, it was impossible not to overhear conversations. And while we were there, a man came in, a real Mainer with thick Maine accent, and started to talk to the woman who owns the place.
She asked where he'd been as she hadn't seen him for a while. And he began a recital of the woes of his past year -- his father had died, his wife left him, he had to sell his father's house and find a new place to live, and then he lost his job and ended up filing for bankruptcy. And just before his COBRA insurance ran out, he went to see his doctor for a check-up while he still had coverage. When he filled his doctor in on the events of the last year, the doctor told him he had at "8 of the leading factors for depression" and that he must be depressed. And he said he had laughed and said he's have to be crazy not to be kinda down but he figured he'd be all right because he always had been. And then after the doctor gave him a prescription, he said he learned from him that depression "isn't mental, it's chemical." and the woman he was telling this to nodded her head and sagely said, "Yes, just like diabetes."
Then he said what had really made the difference for him was that he had decided he needed to do something different so he traded in his car for a new bright yellow one and it cheered him up every time he saw it and drove in it. And the woman said, "That medication, it's a miracle."
So a guy who came through that year, sense of humor intact, already beginning to feel better gets told by his doctor he has a "chemical imbalance" and starts taking medication for what is an entirely normal reaction to a really bad year. He likely would have gotten better on his own but now he believes he has a chronic illness, "just like diabetes."
Isn't advertising wonderful?