The former First Lady has given voice to a feeling experienced by many: long-term low mood brought on by world events

She and her husband signed a joint book deal to the tune of
of more than 65 million in 2017 -- and she feels sad?!
Oh! Sorry! I mean she feels long term low mood sad- So instead of laughing all the way to the bank, she whines her way there s-l-o-w-l-y ..

Thank you AGAA4
Thankfully the tablets have kept me pretty well, with blips, for years. Lockdown was difficult.
That’s why I feel well known people shouldn’t dabble if they don’t know much about mental health. It seems to be the latest buzz word, and whilst it’s good that it’s more out in the open, it can demean the reality, particularly of clinical depression and true anxiety, which makes people very ill.

Maddy clinical depression is a dreadful illness and I am sorry to hear you suffer with it.

I know it is good to bring mental health to the fore but I feel that people often think they are depressed when they are just down because of events in their lives and that feeling usually lifts. True depression isn't easy to shift without medical help.

Maddy, I just feel that when someone belittles another persons depression because it may not take the same form as their own we do them a disservice.

My mother died in our local psychiatric hospital having spent the last year of her life there and it wasn’t the first time she’d been a patient. I feel that by belittling something like the very real low grade depression it would be like me saying to someone with a different depression - depressed? What do you mean you’re depressed. How can you be? If you really were depressed you’d be in hospital with it like my mum was.

Thank you Elegran.

Bibi, it’s very difficult to describe isn’t it? But very real.

I think we do a great disservice to anyone experiencing very real depression regardless of what it’s called if we dismiss their depression by saying it can’t be real because I was depressed and it was nothing like that.

I’ve had about 5 periods of what’s called reactive depression over the last 25 years and I’ve been medicated/treated each time it happened. Yet each time I was diagnosed and treated my symptoms varied in their intensity and how they presented.

Who knows if it will happen again if the circumstances are correct but if it does happen I would hope no one would say - real depression is what I have and you don’t have a clue what it really is.

Is there really such a thing as 'low grade depression'? Surely, a person is either depressed, or not.

Hetty, low grade depression is very real.

As far as I’m concerned she’s still the First Lady!!

There’s a real difference between being famous/well known and being a celebrity. The latter is nothing to write home about, the former is a fact. MO is not a celebrity - that demeans her and her achievements/ contributions.

I agree absolutely with your first post Elegran and the last one of course.

FarNorth people who crowd together in pubs and on beaches do not have a mental illness, they are just plain selfish and thoughtless.

QQ predictable as usual. Why on earth would you wish that man on anyone? Never mind, don't answer that.
Anyway, I admire both the Obamas, they come across as respectful, calm, and articulate people who seem to have done a great job in raising two young girls in the weird world of USA politics. As many have said on here, it is, to my mind, a sign of mental illness if one is not worried about what is going on, where we will be this time next year, whether our children will still have jobs and trifling, but important things like will we manage another couple of trips over seas before DH is too old. It is all very uncertain, and I have to admit that my morning has been somewhat ruined by seeing a family member ( lives in another part of the Southe East) posting a photo on FB of him and his wife out having a great time with their mates in a pub garden, all hanging off each other's shoulders, grinning for the camera, not a mask in sight. They are both self employed, both in positions that involve them going into customers' homes. Irresponsible and foolish doesn't cover it. If I was a client I would cancel immediately. Sorry, a bit of topic, but this event has added to my anxiety, worry about my adult children who have to go out to work, travel on public transport, and mix with fools who care not a jot.

quizqueen

It seems it's okay to refer to Mr Trump as the Orange One but, if Obama was called the Black one, there would be outrage. Double standards on here, I think. I've read that she wasn't very nice to the White House Staff so I have no time for her. Maybe someone could write a book about that and and I hope Donald gets re-elected as well.

The fact that you can’t tell the difference and talk of double standards - speaks volumes.

It seems it's okay to refer to Mr Trump as the Orange One but, if Obama was called the Black one, there would be outrage. Double standards on here, I think. I've read that she wasn't very nice to the White House Staff so I have no time for her. Maybe someone could write a book about that and and I hope Donald gets re-elected as well.

Exactly, Maddyone When people describe normal human sadness at losing someone you love, or the normal human state of facing a possible danger and being concerned about it, as a "Mental Health Problem", they are devaluing the kind of pervasive paralysis that you describe in your post.

JenniferEccles. I agree with most of what you say but, I think it highly probable that Prince Harry has suffered a genuine clinical depression, triggered by his mother’s death, while he was still a child and already dealing with his parents’ divorce —all this taking place in the public eye and the undoubted cruelty of some of the press. There is a condition known as traumatic or complex grief.

No, I am not a particular fan of M & H.

I have suffered from clinical depression (as described above) and it absolutely is not feeling a bit low. It’s a feeling of nothing, emptiness, emotionless at times, other times sad indescribably sad but can’t cry to relieve it, no appetite, no interest in anything, an inability to concentrate on anything, a need to sleep and never wake up, no needs at all, it’s thinking about suicide. It’s really difficult to describe, but it’s not feeling a bit low.
Whilst my antidepressants control it mostly (I recovered and went back to work successfully) I have noticed these feelings begin to return during lockdown, especially first thing in the morning. They are not nice feelings. I keep taking the antidepressants, they help me feel well normally. Without them, I think I would have succumbed to full depression again during this difficult time.

Elegran nailed it. And I especially agree with no-one is ever merely fed up, feeling a bit low, a bit pissed off, now it's 'anxiety'. You can't even be "shy" anymore, you now have "social anxiety".

Is there really such a thing as 'low grade depression'? Surely, a person is either depressed, or not.

Do people now expect to be happy all the time? Perhaps they need to know that's not 'normal'?

Elegran is quite right. The world is in a sorry state so it's quite normal to be sad or anxious about it. 'Mental health issues' seem to be buzzwords right now!

eazybee

Well then, time to use her much vaunted achievements to set a positive example.

I think she is. Both Obama’s are warning against another a Trump term.

I like Michelle Obama, I think she was a great First Lady. However, she is now a celebrity, a well known person. As I understand it, both her and her husband have trodden the well worn path of giving speeches, appearing at dinners etc and they command huge payments for these services as I understand it. It’s the same speech circuit that Meghan and Harry would like to break into to turn themselves into multi millionaires. I don’t know whether Michelle Obama has ever suffered from depression herself, but I have.

About 17 years ago, I suffered a life threatening illness which prevented me from working for over seven months. I was just going through the menopause at the same time and the combination of menopause and illness made me severely clinically depressed. I was treated successfully for the depression, but as time wore on, I realised that when stressful events occurred in my life, the depression returned, and so for that reason I stayed on the antidepressants, sometimes moving the dose up or down according to how I was at any one time.
I have found this period during lockdown and continuing after lockdown very, very stressful. The worry about my daughter and her husband and children was extreme as they are key workers, and exposed to Covid19 patients. The general situation, worry about my elderly mother of 92 who was receiving no visits at all, worry about my family, the not knowing when/if it will end, the uncertainty of everything, a serious tooth/gum problem that I was unable to access proper care for for over two months, but mostly I think, the lack of my normal life. No family visits, none of our usual childcare and interactions with grandchildren, no social life whatsoever, the cancellation of holidays. I can no longer increase the dose as I am now 67 and over 65s should not take the higher dose.

I’m saying all this because if Michelle Obama does write another book, or speak out about mental health during lockdown, I can’t help feeling cynical about it. I sometimes think people in public life think they are more important than they are. On the other hand, maybe it will highlight the mental health difficulties that many have experienced during lockdown and beyond.

Now it is referred to as a "mental health condition" I see a world of difference between justified concern and anxiety on the one hand and neuroses and psychoses on the other. I don't like them being lumped together.

Exactly, no-one is ever merely fed up, feeling a bit low, a bit pissed off, now it's 'anxiety' etc., the world is a money maker for the 'therapists' who must be the happiest people going.

Well then, time to use her much vaunted achievements to set a positive example.

She describes her feelings as low grade depression, and this mood will chime with many people in the USA and indeed in the U.K. at the way events and the sharp move to the right has unfolded over the past few years.

Barack and Michelle must be so frustrated living under the madness of the US buffoon.

Maggie I would go as far as to say those who selfishly carry on flouting the guidelines are the ones with the - mental health issues - not those like ourselves who also care about others! Listening to some news clips of why they feel justified doing what they want, they appear completely unaware they are responsible for their part in spreading the virus, beggars belief.