Casting Out the Demons

We do not really know what causes depression. Or what constitutes depression. Or why one person gets depressed as a result of circumstances that do not trouble another. Yet illness of the mind is real illness, with real physical symptoms. Depression is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for people over the age of five. A quarter of the world's population is affected by mood disorders. It seems endemic to modern life.

Hence the need to bring depression, and its sufferers, out of the shadows. Not that there's any shortage of material on the subject. Alongside...