Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us

Eventually I came to accept my depressive episodes as existential in nature—part of my being—to be endured and not inflicted on others.

“Depression these days is curable,” people told me. “You take antidepressants like people take aspirin for a headache.” This is not true. Depression these days is treatable; you take antidepressants like you take radiation for cancer. They sometimes do miraculous things, but none of it is easy and results are inconsistent.