I have been depressed a significant fraction of my adult life. I am also a biologist who abhors the medical description of this problem. I don&#x27;t even like the word &#x27;mental illness&#x27;. This shit is not an illness, its a normal response to a fucked up life! Can I get at least some acknowledgment of this fact?<p>The sine qua non for me was an issue of Nature a few years back that focused on depression, talked about how prevalent it is, how it is a &#x27;drain on productivity&#x27;, etc. Included therein was a graph of the worst affected populations, topping the list was Afghanistan. This passed without comment. How about: &#x27;hey, the cause of depression seems to be human misery, like war, unemployment, alienation, etc.&#x27;<p>But you can&#x27;t sell a fucking pill to cure war and alienation, so ...