Patton Oswalt And J.K. Rowling Join Forces To Respond To The Claim That Depression Isn’t Real

Depression isn’t something you can dust off. It doesn’t take a mental health expert to understand that a lifelong battle with depression can’t be “fixed” in 140 characters or less. (No matter what your weirdo uncle that sends you unwanted email forwards might think.) When kickboxer and Big Brother UK alum Andrew Tate offered some unsolicited advice for people suffering from depression, it didn’t take long for his comments earn a swift rebuke.

For context, here’s the beginning of Tate’s Twitter thread which is all about how depression is all “modern think bullsh*t” that people use as a crutch to justify their failures, etc.

https://twitter.com/Cobratate/status/905768225023123460

Naturally, Tate’s dumbass take on mental health was called out immediately. Patton Oswalt and J.K. Rowling (both of whom have been public about their struggles with depression) took the fighter to task for his simplistic and dismissive view on the subject. Oswalt broke down everything wrong with Tate’s opening pitch.

“1. False. 2. You’re not “sad.” You’re insane & can’t move on & need help. 3. False. 4. Energy drink tagline/bullsh*t. 5. F*ck you/no thread,” tweeted the comedian.

Meanwhile, Rowling gave her own perspective on what Tate’s tweet was really saying.

“This thread will teach you a lot about the defence mechanism of projection, but zero about the real mental illness that is depression,” said the Harry Potter author.

Provided you haven’t been waiting for Andrew Tate’s hot mental health takes to form your own view on the subject, this should serve as another reminder that taking care of your mental health isn’t a matter of just finding the right No Fear t-shirt to give advice.