Depression Makes You Sexy

The best articles show you unexamined contradictions within your own thinking. Take me. I view depression as a disease, but on some level I also buy all of the following: (1) depression gives you greater insight into the world; (2) depression means you're not a heartless bastard; (3) depression makes you more creative; and (4) depression is not something like poverty that can be eradicated. (Not sure I ever thought depression gets you chicks, though.)

This article in the New York Times Magazine is a kind of cultural history of how the West has viewed depression. It forces you to take a stand. Is depression a disease that should be eliminated or an intrinsic, valuable part of the human condition?

Peter D. Kramer (NYT Magazine): There's Nothing Deep About Depression