I was thinking of writing an article on this very topic and I came across yours. I think you've worded it perfectly. In my opinion, which is totally based on my own experiences and I'm not generalising, I think it's all in the mind.
A doctor, who has spent just 30 minutes talking to you and ticked some boxes isn't the right person to label you as depressed. But you believe him when he tells you that you need help. Why give so much importance to someone else's opinion of you?
The only person who is good enough to label you though, is you. But the problem is, we let everyone else and their lives label us, but we never allow ourselves to think of what and who we really are.
Most of it comes from comparison. In this age of social media, we have let ourselves run into this race of comparison where we can't actually accept the fact that someone else is happier than us, and just be happy for them. We start comparing their instagram/snapchat stories to ours and end up thinking how sad our life is. We start comparing our salary to theirs. Our boyfriend/girlfriend to theirs. Our family to their family.
Now the thing is, the comparison itself is wrong. The only person you need to compare yourself to, is the person you saw in the mirror yesterday. And if the person that you are today is better than the person you saw yesterday, there is nothing to be sad about.
So I believe it's all about the way you think.
If you train yourself to start thinking if things differently, if you start looking at the glass as half full and not as half empty, it builds a certain kind of mentality and thinking which makes you defeat any kind of disorder. It's all in the mind. And no pills can control your mind, only you can.
Thank you so much for your thoughts! I completely agree that another person shouldn't have the power to label you. I also believe it has a lot to do with one of the Four Agreements. If you've never read into it I think you'd be fascinated by it! The one I think this connects with is basically about making Word into your Truth. If something you think is confirmed by even one other person this becomes your truth and you build your opinions and ultimately your life around that truth.
For example, say you're young and you sing for your parents, one tells you you're great and the other tells you that you aren't. If you decide to follow the opinion that you're great it will cause you to sing more, believe you can be famous one day, take the needed steps to improve because you believe you can be great. Or you can believe that you aren't great, this becomes your truth, and you never sing again and tell confirm that you are not. This is a rough analogy, but it's such a huge idea it's difficult to sum up in a comment, but I hope you see where I'm coming from with that!
I think a doctor confirming that you "have depression" justifies your emotions and gives you an excuse to continue on and hope someone else can make you "better."
I haven't read the Four Agreements yet, but I surely will in the coming days. Based on what I understood from the point you were trying to make, I remembered a short story that I read some time back.
So there is this 30 year old man, who is diagnosed with cancer. The doctor tells him, he is not going to live for more than 12 months. And eventually, the man dies in 12 months.
The same doctor now, in a similar case, predicts that a 5 month old girl, is not going to survive for more than 12 months. The girl lives for 5 years. And 5 years later, the girl dies, but not off cancer.
Now the difference between the two cases is that the 5 month old girl was too young to understand life, death and truth. Whereas the grown man, had accepted the doctor's truth as his truth and had made himself believe that he was not going to survive for more than 12 months.
And I agree, this is a huge idea. It could actually make or break your life.
YES!! I love that short story. That's exactly what I mean, it truly can make or break your life. Thank you for this!