I agree, but you do sound kind of like an apologist for people with disorders and an inability to conform to society’s norms.
Certainly in the most extreme cases, mental disorders “all the shots as to what we do and who we are.” But I wonder how often people make that same excuse with depression or their addictive personalities? It seems to me, in too many cases people aren’t making the effort to progress in their lives. We see even normal people that make excuses, so of course it is no surprise that people with emotional problems will do the same.
I do believe that when someone puts themselves in a position to be depressed, they tend to make excuses to not do the right things and the beat themselves up while telling themselves they are depressed. When this happens, of course there is a chemical imbalance. From what I understand, people by nature are habit driven and our system will eventually feel like it needs these chemicals and the problem can become self perpetuating.
But, the cycle can be broken without drugs, and like all things in life it takes hard work.
For most people, it takes socialization, eating better, drinking more water, working out, getting more Sun and just living better. It isn’t an easy thing to do for a lot of people.
Now, I don’t want to overgeneralize. I think there are a lot of people that seem to have it all, and for some reason are depressed or anxious.
Once again, I think hard work and possibly some important realizations are the key, and instead of worrying about how to deal with chemicals (most of the time with drugs) I think counseling is the best avenue most of the time.
To make clear, in dealing with mental and medical issues, as with other burdens, we all have a responsibility to do what we can to deal with our problems. No matter how often we stumble and fall, we have to keep going.
Nevertheless, our bodies have limits and defects. We cannot sensibly pretend that the blind can see and paraplegics can stand up and walk if they will themselves to do so. Neither can we suppose that serious mental problems can be banished through an effort of will. We must instead take measure of those problems and look for treatments and cures. And, no matter what, we keep going as long and as well as we can.