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Why do we feel like we need to treat depression?  Mostly I believe it is because the people with depression feel like they need to be treated.  Although depression may be described as “wanting to want” something, where does the line between wanting to want to be happy cross into wanting to be happy?  There is still a source of discomfort in the patient, so why shouldn’t that discomfort be addressed?  Antidepressants, including SSRI’s, may not be the only effective course of treatment – maybe a long European vacation will do just fine – but why shouldn’t we use them, if we know that they work at least some of the time, and might give a placebo effect if they are not actually working?  Why shouldn’t we be researching what they do, so that we can have a greater understanding of the mechanisms of depression?  This is not to say that we should stop all other avenues of research on depression, simply that we should not give up on one that we’ve found that seems to be leading somewhere.

We’ve described depression as something that diminishes what a person adds to their society, which is perhaps the reason a depressed person feels uncomfortable with their depression.  However, I do not believe that is necessarily the case.  Depression is an uncomfortable mental state, with or without the judgment of others.  It seems almost impossible to take life on a case-by-case basis, to change our culture to suit the needs of every individual person.  Our culture exists the way it does because we have found an equilibrium that suits most people, or at least fills the needs of more people than not.  We have a culture for a reason, and it would be impossible to have a functional society without any sort of culture.  We could get rid of written language to make life easier for those with learning disabilities, we could change the structure of education to make it more conducive to those with ADHD, and we could eliminate social interaction for those who are depressed and don’t want to interact with others, but without our standards, society would fall apart.  As human beings, we have evolved to live in groups and to interact with others.  Culture is the only way to ensure stability in these groups.