Just a few days ago, I saw a Facebook post that had a photo of a beautiful natural landscape, captioned "This is an antidepressant", and underneath it there was a photo of some Prozac capsules, which read "This is sh*t".

There is obviously a problem with how we view medicating the mentally ill, and a lack of respect for those receiving treatment. Let's chat.

There are, and have always been, damaging misconceptions about the fundamentals of antidepressants and their purpose. I've existed on both ends of the argument concerning their validity, and I learn more and more every day about just how wrong I was as a young adult. From starting regular therapy at the age of ten up until leaving for college, I firmly believed in the idea of mental illness as something that could be 'beaten' by the mere power of will. I thought the strongest people could conquer their disordered thoughts and behaviors with conviction and that medication was a short cut for weak-willed sufferers. I even wrote one of my personal statements for college applications about it. I took pride in the fact that I never "gave in" to starting medication, even though I definitely needed it.

See, that's the problem. Using antidepressants isn't a cop-out. But our society is so intent on bullying those with mental illness into just shutting up about it, that we end up invalidating the struggles at every step of the way. This can very well keep those from embracing their best chance at recovery.

I started on 25 milligrams of Zoloft for Generalized Anxiety and Panic Disorders (with co-morbid depression) just about two weeks before heading off to my first year of college. The placebo effect had me thinking I was cured within the first month of medication, but, very quickly, I realized that antidepressants just don't work like that. I climbed the ladder up to the maximum dose (200 milligrams) relatively quickly, and could no longer even entertain the misinformed opinions I had once held. By the time I turned 20 I was also on Wellbutrin for depression and Ativan for panic, so I had to change the fundamentals about how I felt about medical intervention for mental health. It had become pretty clear to me that antidepressants aren't "Happy Pills" that, by nature, make you feel light and joyful as they course through your bloodstream. In reality, antidepressants like Zoloft are slow-acting chemical balancers that simply work to normalize the interaction between crucial neurotransmitters in the brain. That being said, they wouldn't really do anything if there was no imbalance in the first place, so the effectiveness of these drugs has to be proof in itself of the reality that mental illness is a physical illness.

Fundamental misunderstandings are not the only force causing the proliferation of the stigma, though. The attitude that often surrounds medications like Xanax and Ativan (benzodiazepines), is one of party culture, which further invalidates their worth. Just as occurs with marijuana, the fact that some people use anti-panic drugs to get high makes it difficult for the entire grade to be taken seriously. The recreational effects completely overshadow the therapeutic benefits and leave many people wondering just how safe or necessary these types of medications are. The music and media presence of benzodiazepines comes almost exclusively in the form of cliched representations of those with anxiety disorders, which often works to shrink an entire complex issue into an image of a mild anxiety attack followed by someone "popping a Xanax". This media diet, mixed with a healthy dose of misunderstanding, causes our society to see mental health as a made-up problem with a super simple fix. It only further strengthens the idea that, if it's that easy to feel better, then we should just get over it and move on.

I've said it before, and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: Depressive/Anxiety disorders are not just normal levels of emotion that aren't being handled properly. They are chemical imbalances that interact intimately with physical, emotional, and even social aspects of each sufferer's life. Representing those of us who take medication for psychiatric care with a few over-simplified, sometimes glamorized, demonstrations only hurts us and further complicates the issue.

In reality, the idea of people taking "shortcuts" to deal with what is viewed as "common" suffering makes people mad, so of course they're going to judge the methods, and the slight information we are given makes it even easier for them to justify those feelings. Media image, as well as a lack of education and exposure to the facts, will only continue to feed the stigma against mental illness so long as we continue to remain silent about it.

And so, in conclusion: