Article March 1, 2004 Issue

Invincible depression? I don't think so!

By Carol Cummings

Depression. It can pop out of nowhere and take over your life. Like the evil, life-extracting dementors in the Harry Potter books, depression sucks away your happiness, and leaves you limp and not much good for anything. But depression is also not the invincible power it seems to be.

For many years—from about the age of twelve until my mid-fifties—I felt like depression's helpless victim. Although I was never diagnosed with depression, my brother was. And our grandfather committed suicide when he was in his early forties. Depression ran in our family.

As for me, I constantly struggled with gloomy, heavy, sad feelings. Hypersensitivity characterized my relationships. One fleeting expression of disdain from anyone would make me dissolve in tears. I often found myself humming the bigband-era song, "What's the matter with me?"

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