Vaccinations: Causes of illnesses or Scapegoat?

When I was nine, I went through something that most people will not go through their entire lives. When it occurred, I became depressed. I got PTSD before I was 10 years old and this caused parts of my brain to shut down. As I grew older, the effects of depression and PTSD caused issues such as short-term memory loss, anxiety, lack of math and science comprehension and more. I was prescribed medications that I would take to try to right the chemical imbalance that was causing my depression, because of what happened. About a month ago, I was sitting in a waiting room at a business and the subject of vaccinations came up. The mother I was speaking to will not vaccinate her child, and I made the comment that my daughter was fully vaccinated like I was and I will continue to make sure she gets her shots. The mother, in horror asked me if there was anything wrong with me and I said "Not at all, I mean I have depression but who doesn't these days." The response I got was astounding:

"Vaccinations have been proven to cause depression!"

Yes, I know your eyebrows just shot up 10 feet on your face! Lower them because the next part will just make you face palm so hard it'll hurt. I told her that I'd been battling depression since I was nine, to which the response was:

"You receive vaccinations when you're nine years old! I bet you anything the vaccines caused your depression!"

It was very hard to leave that building without laughing, shaking my head, rolling my eyes, and telling this woman that she had to be the most idiotic person I'd ever met. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion but...come on. Really? This is where we're going in society today? I have realized something in the last several months that I know many agree with:

Your child does not get depression or a genetic disorder from a vaccination, HELLO!

Now look, I'm not saying there aren't risks to vaccines, because there are. Fevers, swelling of the injection site, there's a chance if you get a flu shot you're going to get the flu. But my daughter gets a flu shot every year and gets the flu. I don't get a flu shot and I get the flu. She gets over it in 3-5 days whereas I'm dying for two weeks! Right there is proof, vaccines may suck, but they help. Why on earth would you say depression or Autism is caused by vaccinations? I know nothing of Autism so I won't speak of it here but I will speak of depression. A shot in my arm did not cause me to get so depressed I was having emotional breakdowns over English projects printing out wrong. A shot to keep me from getting Polio did not cause me to begin forgetting all the time if I said something three minutes prior. Things happen, life happens. It's just the way your path was set when you came to this world.

My life has not been easy, it has been one hell of a struggle. Even when I was over-protected by my Grandmother after what happened in 1993 that in turn crippled me as an adult and I still struggle to adult at times because of this. I have the kind of life that if I wasn't as strong as I was I could be one of those people with law suits against the state of Texas and trying to get disability and money from the Government relying on my clinical depression and my learning disability and seeking pity all the time. But I don't, when I speak of the horror of what happened to me I can do so without looking for sympathy. I am a survivor and I will continue to survive. In NO WAY would I turn around and blame my issues on a freakin' shot! I just ...I can't even write that out without starting to laugh! 

My depression was caused by a mad man with a gun! Not a vaccination! Just like many genetic disorders such as Autism, ADD/ADHD, Down Syndrome, and other things are not caused by small injections done in a leg or an arm. I just don't understand why in this time with society it's easier to point the blame to everything around you than say "My child was born different." Why is that a bad thing? I will admit I am grateful that my daughter has nothing to be concerned of at this point. Her laryngomalacia CAN be a concern if she runs too much but lately at soccer I haven't heard it so I think it's fine. I know many people who grew up with ADD and took medications and as adults they have said to me they would rather handle it on their own than pop a pill (and good for them on that!). At no point have I ever heard them, or their parents turn around and blame someone else for this. There's no one to blame for Autism, there's no injection that causes this. There is nothing wrong with your child if they have something that makes them different or unique from another child. It's like our society is so afraid of not having a perfect child they want to blame everyone when the child isn't perfect (in THEIR eyes).

Vaccinations are good, they protect children from getting the severe side effects of an illness. No, getting a vaccine for chickenpox will not keep you from getting chickenpox. Any child can still get it, BUT that vaccine will lower the time frame of how long they have it, and the severity of the side effects and keep them from dying from it. Granted it gives you Shingles later in life but that's another problem altogether! 

Grow up society, really. Stop blaming everyone else and just accept that everyone is different and unique. If you really believe a 2 second shot is causing your child to have a problem...then the problem isn't the injection...it's you.

Elizabeth is a work at home Mother of a sweet and beautiful daughter. She is a wife of seven years and a blogger for some time now. When she isn't spending time with her "Livvybug" she is looking for new review opportunities and writing or singing along to classic rock and pop music!