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Apr 13, 2010

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." --Albert Camus

Upside of Depression

It's everywhere. As inescapable as the common cold. Every year, 7 percent of us will be diagnosed with the grey clouds of depression. But how well do we really understand it? Charles Darwin claimed that depression was a clarifying force, focusing the mind on its most essential problems. And the grey clouds hit him hard, leaving him "not able to do anything one day out of three." More recently, researchers say that depression has a secret purpose, and it's best to ride out, rather than conceal, the pain. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection, depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer- we suffer terribly- but we don't suffer in vain.