Having recovered from major depression after 10 years, I couldn't agree more with this. Your client is correct- depression is not an adequate word. I've had people ask me what depression is like and can't even begin to describe it well enough for them to understand. I've even had a couple friends who, while intellectually understanding that something serious was going on, also could not figure out "what the big deal was". I often tell them to think of how they felt when someone close to them died- and multiply it by ten. I personally do not think even that comes close to how I used to feel but it's doubtless still a useful conceptualization. They are so horrified by the suggested intensity of negative emotion that they often do not want to make the effort to imagine it but they do have a different view of depression and those with it afterwards. I'm not saying that depression and grief are qualitatively the same in terms of emotional nuance; however, I think the two are similar in negativity and sometimes in intensity, and that is primarily what I wish for people to understand- the crippling intensity and negativity of depression. It is simply not a feeling one can know or really "get" without experiencing it, but to be able to link it to something perhaps more familiar may help to increase others' compassion for those who just can't seem to "get over it".

Your obviously one of the smart ones and emotionally sophisticated. Looking forward to more thoughts among the thoughtless. Sincerely,David

I thought you were from the school of thought concerning Peter D. Kramer. After reading your Bio I see your not. I would like to retract the above statement. Sincerely,David

The tragic misunderstanding is that people think that the "cure" of depression is to make it go away and that we don't have the capacity to understand it. Those of us who choose to understand depression instead of avoiding it learn that it loses its power over us as we learn to function while depressed. Intensity of experience does not have to be crippling. As we learn to function in lower levels of depression we find that we can function normally in states that we previously found impossible. Over time we find that we can function normally in deeper and deeper states. We are free of depression when we can function normally in the most intense states of depression, not when we accept a diminished life in fear that some day depression might return.

When we have the perspective of depression in order instead of in disorder, we see it as an advantage to be able to have such experiences and find great richness in all moments of our lives. There is a website at www.depressionadvantage.com that is about turning depression into an advantage instead of an illness. Their ideas may change your life.

Thanks, Karen, for the provocative comments; but I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully disagree. While there is certainly much to be said for promoting adaptive functioning in the presence of dysphoria (sadness), I do not consider it either clinically nor neurologically plausible to speak of "functioning normally" DURING an episode of severe depressive illness. As I mentioned in the blog post, such episodes are neurotoxic and debilitating, and thus the clinical goal is to bring them to an end as quickly as possible and to prevent their recurrence.

I will wait to see what you believe before I comment further on your thoughts. I'm unsure how you see caused Depression as opposed to born with Depression. When chronic,I believe,medicine is the only way for the Depressed to function normally,along with therapy if possible. You seem to believe in a cure without medicine. Hope I'm wrong. Sincerely,David

While antidepressants have certainly helped many depressed individuals, if we attend to the published outcome data we find they bring about stable recovery for far fewer than half the patients who try them. This will be the subject of an upcoming post . . .

Depression can truly last for years. It has taken so much out of me and my life and affects not only all that I do but every relationship. Ironically, depression is still stigmatized and pushed off to the sidelines. I think I would have more acceptance and help if I were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Depression will eventually take everything out of me, I believe in the end, it will win.

I have suffered from bipolar disorder since 1992, and the depression was truly living hell. I, too, have felt that the name given it only serves to trivialize it. I thought that if the name, suppression, were substituted for depression, it would demarcate a point on a line where normal mood swings turn into debilitating mood episodes. Simply, the depressive state is the suppression of the production of the neurochemicals and normal transmission of brain messages within the brain. This suppression doesn't occur in the brain during the normal mood variation of 'depression'. Suppression does say it all to me. All activities, input, output, ability to interact with the world, and positive thoughts truly were suppressed.

I agree that the depression that comes with Bipolar Disorder is terrible and for me, much worse than the mania most of the time. I agree that suppression seems like a more accurate term because it describes exactly how I feel when I am depressed. A simple homework assignment that would normally have taken 30 minutes would take two or three hours and became completely impossible to complete eventually. I just couldn't function or think positively. It was as if I had no memories of ever being "happy." But the same was true for manic states when I had no understanding of how I felt when depressed. Each time I am either depressed or manic, the opposite feelings seem impossible to comprehend. It's really confusing.

I agree... Depression needs a new name... The same goes for Trichotillomania... I've suffered from both conditions but I am not a "maniac"... So many people don't like talking about "Depression"... It's treated by many people I've come across as if it were a character flaw and not an illness.