Highlights first synced by [[readwise]] [[September 2nd, 2020]]

• clinical [[depression]] is a semiregular visitor and anxiety disorder is my long-term abusive boyfriend. (Location 77)
• Sometimes the [[depression]] is mild enough that I mistake it for the flu or mono, (Location 78)
• There’s something about [[depression]] that allows you (or sometimes forces you) to explore depths of emotion that most “normal” people could never conceive of. Imagine having a disease so overwhelming that your mind causes you to want to murder yourself. Imagine having a malignant disorder that no one understands. Imagine having a dangerous affliction that even you can’t control or suppress. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Imagine the estate of John Lennon not suing me for using that last line. Then imagine that same (often fatal) disease being one of the most misunderstood disorders … one that so few want to talk about and one that so many of us can never completely escape from. (Location 112)
• When cancer sufferers fight, recover, and go into remission we laud their bravery. We wear ribbons to celebrate their fight. We call them survivors. Because they are. When [[depression]] sufferers fight, recover, and go into remission we seldom even know, simply because so many suffer in the dark … ashamed to admit something they see as a personal weakness … afraid that people will worry, and more afraid that they won’t. We find ourselves unable to do anything but cling to the couch and force ourselves to breathe. (Location 132)
• I can’t think of another type of illness where the sufferer is made to feel guilty and question their self-care when their medications need to be changed. (Location 932)
• And that sort of makes sense, because when you have cancer the doctor gives you the best medicine and if it doesn’t shrink the tumor immediately then that’s a pretty clear sign you were just faking it for attention. I mean, cancer is a serious, often fatal disease we’ve spent billions of dollars studying and treating so obviously a patient would never have to try multiple drugs, surgeries, radiation, etc., to find what will work specifically for them. And once the cancer sufferer is in remission they’re set for life because once they’ve learned how to not have cancer they should be good. (Location 937)
• And if they let themselves get cancer again they can just do whatever they did last time. Once you find the right cancer medication you’re pretty much immune from that disease forever. And if you get it again it’s probably just a reaction to too much gluten or not praying correctly. Right? (Location 941)
• The whole world could be cured with enough cake and antipsychotics. (Location 966)
• Then he got mad that I was going to spend money on bear arms, and I was like, “I have the right to bear arms, Victor,” and then I realized what I’d said and we both started giggling for a bit. (Location 1212)
• I don’t know what they have against face skin but apparently it’s very out of style. Much like pubic hair. And Gwyneth Paltrow.” (Location 1302)
• “Laura, they rub your face off using DIAMONDS. It’s like a giant FUCK-YOU to the homeless. Like, I’M USING DIAMONDS TO RIP MY OWN FACE OFF. (Location 1304)
• There are few things in the world that make me angrier than poverty, the lack of basic human civil rights, and the fact that most women’s clothes don’t have pockets. (Location 1375)