Any time that I’m home, my TV is turned on. I’m usually not watching what is actually on TV, it’s just background noise. There are so many commercials on TV that promote prescription drugs to help depression. I do believe in prescription medications, but I don’t like that some individuals, with no mental health experience, now tries to relate to what we go through with our diagnoses.
There’s a difference between sympathy and empathy. I don’t want anyone’s pity, but it would be nice to have others trying to understand. In my experience, only those that deal with the same things that I deal with, can understand how I feel. I don’t think it’s possible to truly understand what a person goes through unless you go through it as well. My family members do their best to understand what I deal with, and I greatly appreciate that because they do it without pitying me.
My Side of the Pole 
I hate the commercials. In little white letters near the bottom it always says “actor portrayal. Why not put someone who is really suffering from it on there? You’d see the true emotion of how it is to deal with depression or bipolar.
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I agree 100%. That really bothers me as well.
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I have depression and I actually think they do a good job of illustrating what it is like to have depression. The on with the mask when someone walks around with a mask in front of their face all the time – or the one where there is a cloud that follows the person – FOR ME ( i cannot speak for anyone else) I think these commercials conceptually communicate what depression is like – and I appreciate that at the end they don’t show a person “cured” with the sun shining all over the place – in fact the cloud is still in the picture- just not dark and hovering and close. IMHO it would not matter if it was an actor or a person with depression, I don’t think many of us could effectively communicate what we go through in 30-60 seconds in a way that others would understand what depression (or bipolar) is. Marketing companies work hard to develop those campaigns and make them respectful. I am not a marketer – I am just aware of and appreciate what they do.
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I see where you are coming from. That commercial is much better than others that I’ve seen over the years.
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