Crucially, this emotionalism and inspirational discourse involve systematically regulating and denouncing “negative” feelings such as hurt, grudge, bitterness, sadness, despair, and (political) anger.

I’m beginning to think that unhappiness is one of the simple things in life: a pure, basic emotion to be respected, if not savoured. I would never dream of suggesting that we should wallow in misery or shrink from doing everything we can to alleviate it, but I do think it’s instructive.

“It was not being depressed that inactivated me in a political sense, but being well! [...] I think we should acknowledge that distress, depression, and other forms of “mental illness” are necessary components of social change. [...] Depression can be a tool that can be wielded; it can be a tool for insight, for passion, for action.”

Depression Is a

The subtext of these messages is clear: Misery is not an option. We must carry on looking jolly for the sake of the crowd. While we may no longer see depression as a failure, we expect you to spin it into something meaningful pretty quick. And if you can’t pull that off, then you’d better disappear from view for a while. You’re dragging down the