"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -- Albert Einstein

Oh the joys of social media! Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr....the list goes on & on. Where would we be without it? How would we share all of our personal moments, pictures and video? What the heck did we do before social media?

I love my Facebook. I love my blog. I love being able to share what I want to share when I want to share it. Though, I realize that anything you put on the web is public information. I realize that prospective & current employers often peruse Facebook and Google people's names to glean information. I realize stalkers have a much easier job thanks to social media. Thank you. :) In light of that, I tend to share innocuous, vague tidbits about my day....and only my "real" friends on FB know what the heck I'm talking about. And even my blog...I don't share overly personal information on here. Though that may change with this post.

This morning, while I was enjoying my first cigarette and Diet Pepsi, and trying to get the cats from swarming me, I heard that a woman in Canada was being denied disability coverage because the insurance company saw some pictures of her on Facebook. The woman has disability for severe depression. Apparently, the photos on FB showed her smiling.

*gasp*

Read more info here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jo36kPKynkgEGHOyNdSuSRdAGHuQ

Now, regardless of whether or not this is true (I highly doubt an insurance company would be stupid enough to base a denial soley on pictures on Facebook....though maybe not), it pissed me off. Initially. Because I've been there. And how dare you look at a moment in time, one picture, and claim that suddenly a person is no longer depressed. What? Depressed people aren't allowed to smile once in awhile? Do you not think depressed people have small, very small, moments of-- not joy, certainly-- but minor happiness? And can they not express that? Aaargghh.

I haven't had a bout of severe depression for years. And I praise the Lord for that. But I am still, to this day, scared to death that it will return. Every day I wonder. Am I depressed? Am I happy? Am I content? Is this the "coming-on" of mild depression? It is not a pleasant experience. Severe depression literally sucks the life right out of you. You experience nothing but hopelessness, worthlessness, profound sadness for no reason at all. You pull away from everything. You have no desire, none whatsoever, to even function. Ugh. I never want to feel that way again. AND, even with treatment, it still sucks. Medications take away your capacity to feel anything. Sadness, joy, any emotion whatsoever. Gone. Talk therapy? I'd rather shoot myself (I don't really mean that, but a depressed person would). Talk therapy never did me any good. It just made me feel like a bigger worthless piece of crap on a weekly basis. "Amy, let's take a long, deep look at why you are the way you are." Let's not and say we did.

It irks me to say the least that-- even if it's just perception-- an insurance company would deny coverage based on a picture of a depressed person smiling.

If I experience that sucky phase of my life again, I'll be sure to never be caught smiling. Heaven forbid.