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> Mental health issues are hard for some people to understand if they haven’t experienced their own challenges.

Bingo. This is the root of the problem IMHO. We're really good at recognizing and empathizing with a gaping physical wound, but if we can't see it/touch it/feel it/etc it's hard to grok.

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Reminds me of this other comment I made on an old thread discussing this point in a way which hopefully others can relate to at-least a bit.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27909275

I think the biggest issue comes from thinking that since it's in the mind and not in the body, you can just cure it by yourself: be happy, not depressed! Which is obviously wrong and comes from ignorance.

As someone who has experienced a lot depression myself and with family, I think the chemical/body mechanism is grossly overstated.

It is a mind problem, but that makes it harder, not easier to address. The only real solution IS "happy, not depressed", but it is terribly difficult to do if you have poor tools and learned patterns.

Medicine can help break up patterns.

Right. The phrase "it's all in your head" takes on new connotations because hey, guess what, I live in my head 24/7. Yes it is in my head. It's inescapable. Medicine is tools and technology, and it's a wheelchair for the mind's broken legs.

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