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In reply to the discussion: Mentally ill flood ER as states cut services [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)it is valid to be depressed when your nation's politicians function solely for the benefit of a few and so many suffer because of this.
if this sort of depression continues for long enough, it is considered a mental illness - but what made you ill is the insufferable situation you are asked to put up with - a system w/o humanity or justice. THE ENVIRONMENT in which you are forced to live can make you depressed.
If you cannot change that environment, you can develop long-standing depression.
I have family members with genetic mental illness - I don't take this post to mean that depression is not a mental illness.
But some types of depression spring from circumstances - a death, for instance. Depression is a normal part of emotional life in such a situation. When someone cannot come out of that sort of depression, it's considered something for which medical treatment may be useful.
Some types of depression do not spring from environmental situations.
And society is not nice, for the most part, about people who deal with either situation.