Almost everyone has to deal with depression—if not personally, at least with a family member, friend, or acquaintance.

It is a serious, and sometimes deadly, biological disease that will strike an estimated 33 to 35 million American adults at sometime in their life. Depression is often a genetic disorder that runs in families, as it did in mine. Few seek medical treatment because there is a stigma associated with mental illness that produces feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Of those that do seek psychiatric treatment, anti-depressant medication is the therapy of choice in most cases.

The greatest movie ever made about depression is the Academy Award-winning “Ordinary People” (1980) starring Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Southerland, Timothy Hutton, and Judd Hirsch. This powerful drama chronicles the devastation of a family trying to return to normal life after the attempted suicide of their surviving teenage son, who blamed himself for failing to save his brother’s life after a boating accident.
Conrad (Timothy Hutton), tormented by depression, guilt, and trauma, has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital, and is alienated by friends and family. His mother Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) always loved the elder son more, and blames Conrad for his death. Father Calvin (Donald Southerland) awkwardly struggles to connect with his son, and is falling out of love with his wife because of her coldness and rejection of Conrad. At this point, Calvin decides to see Tyrone Berger (Judd Hirsch) who is a psychiatrist.

Stepping out of the story line, in my mind, the hero of this drama is Berger and the best actor is Hirsch, who plays the deeply caring psychiatrist that becomes a friend and mentor to Conrad, and by sensitive mental therapy saves his life. Berger characterizes what psychiatry should be—but often is not—in today’s world.
Berger does not coddle Conrad, and often their therapy sessions are stormy. At one point Conrad, in a suicidal mood, calls Berger in the middle of the night and they immediately meet at the doctor’s office.

Finally, Berger is able to draw out the fact that it was Conrad’s older brother Buck who convinced him to go sailing in the stormy lake by their home, and when the sailboat capsized Buck insisted on swimming to shore after Conrad begged him to stay with him and cling to the boat. Berger convinces Conrad that Buck was reckless and irresponsible, and Conrad was not responsible for his brother’s death. Eventually Conrad is cured of his depression and reconnects with his family.

Many of us carry the seeds of depression within our minds, just waiting to be triggered by an incident. In my case it was the belated result of the death of our oldest son and a series of business problems piling up.

When depression hits, life goes on “hold” and it becomes a struggle just to get out of bed and face the day. I tried psychotherapy but the doctor only wanted to put me on tranquilizing drugs that made me sleepy, and did nothing to lift the listless feeling of depression. At that point, I discontinued the medication and started to do some research.

The biggest revelation was learning that depression can be a genetic disease, and that my father had been affected by depression. Gradually, continued reading and research enabled me to talk my way through this debilitating situation, and one day I “snapped out of it” vowing never to let the demons invade my mind again. That was over 20 years ago.

The February-March edition of 55 Plus carried my article, “Dealing With Depression: Snap Out of It.” It received critical acclaim, mostly from the psychiatric community, challenging the concept of “snapping out of it” and warning that it could be dangerous to suggest to a depressed patient that he or she just snap out of it.

Certainly, not everyone can research and talk their way through depression, but my personal experience proves that it can be done, and therefore it must stand as a viable alternative to drugs and the suffering that depression brings