depression: illness or emotion? Options

[mono_logue]

If it's an illness to be sad for an extensive amount of time than why isn't it an illness if you are happy for an extensive amount of time..

therefore if the conflicting argument isn't an illness than neither are.

they are just simply moods that come and go with time.

[*mipadi*]

If it's an illness to be sad for an extensive amount of time than why isn't it an illness if you are happy for an extensive amount of time..

Well, it sort of is... Happiness isn't a bad thing per se, but the manic aspect of manic depression is associated with a "high" feeling (as opposed to a "low" feeling), which is symptomatic of a disease.

But happiness isn't considered an illness because it doesn't affect one's lifestyle. People function quite well when they are happy, but they don't function well at all if they are truly depressed. Depression actually interferes with one's lifestyle, whereas happiness doesn't really keep one from living his life.

[MrStrife]

I think it's an emotion that can trigger a lot of bad things in your body. Also, if you don't do anything about it, it can become an illness; ultimately a part of you.

[mai_z]

I definately agree with mipadi's idea of it being particularly susceptible to depression because of chemical imbalance, but triggered by environmental effects. Generally, in the psychology field, both nature and nurture aspects are aknowledged, but it's a matter of looking at which affects the condition more, and which parts are affected by which variable.

Oh, and one idea to throw into the mix:
What about the placebo effect? some patients have shown dramatic improvements from taking placebos

[shortnsweet88]

I personally believe that, just like ADD and ADHD, depression could be either one of the two. Sometimes you just have a person who is sad or upset or so much has happened that they feel depressed therefore, its an emotion. Although...I do believe, in rare cases, there are people with chemical imbalances.