One of my favorite mentors often said “why is anything wrong in the human brain the only birth defect we blame on the person.” This resonated so much with me that I haven’t forgotten it.

If someone ends up being diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes do we say to the person “well, if you just tried a little harder maybe your pancreas would produce enough extra insulin so that you could be ‘normal’”!?

However, the point is… depression (or bipolar or anxiety or BPD, etc.) is a disease, not a character flaw.