Because if it were that simple, we'd all be doing it, just like we'd all be millionaires as well.
It's a bit of an insult to tell a depressed person that they just "choose" to be happy, imo. I could go on, but I'm scared of saying something that I might regret. But you do not tell a person with a physical ilness to "choose" good health, a person in a wheelchair to get up and walk or a person with severe autism to get out there and party.
We need more empathy for depressed people. There is almost none.
Edited to elaborate: We also need more tolerance and understanding. We shouldn't be trying to "jolly" people up, to make them subtly or not-so-subtly feel bad and guilty for being a 'debbie downer' or a pain and a nuisance because - for numerous sociological and psychological reasons - they cannot pull themselves together. Depressed people hate themselves enough as it is; do we really need to give them further ammo for feeling inadequate and useless?
Everyone is at different stages of their depression journey. If you have recovered to the point that you are basically the same as a non-depressed person, ie not depressed and capable of being happy and optimistic, then good for you. You have basically recovered and I am glad for you. But not everybody is there yet and, for some people, it may take them years to get there. If they are living in a harshly unsupportive or negative environment, it will make it that much harder to recover. In fact, recovery may be impossible until the person's environment changes.
Not everybody has a loving partner, financial security, or supportive family and friends. Some people are single or have partners who do more harm than good: abusers, alcoholics, cheats, and so on. Ditto families: some family members will turn you into a psychological, emotional and nervous wreck. Money really helps: it gives you more options and the feeling of having options/choices is critical to recovery. If you are poor, you are far more likely to be unable to move out of a bad home (or even just take a sorely-needed break), afford therapy, get decent medical care and so on. Life is hard for us all, don't get me wrong: even multi-billionnaires have their (valid) woes. But if you're poor, you have so much less control and that's a severe source of stress in its own right. Even something as simple as noisy neighbours can be extremely detrimental to quality of life.
Having the courage to not be positive - to be negative and hopeless - is a good sign, imo. It may not seem like it, but it's better than not being able to express it at all and living a life that is a lie. I know two online people who committed ******. The kicker of it is that I never saw them post any thing except positive, uplifting thoughts. I don't know what was going through their minds, but whatever it was it was obviously something they felt they could not express publicly or even to their nearest and dearest.
I'd rather have somebody posting dark and negative thoughts but staying alive. I do appreciate there's a limit to free speech and not literally anything goes, but we don't have to go to the other extreme either. Sunny didn't break any of the forum rules, yet she still ended up feeling like she had done something wrong. She hadn't. Well, nothing other than being depressed that is.
Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 5/8/2014 8:09:30 AM (GMT-6)