Why are so many middle-aged women cursed by depression?
Depression is in the news these days. We love to read and write about it and yet, whenever we discuss it, we offer the same routine disclaimer. Sufferers from depression, we are told, are too ashamed or embarrassed to admit to their condition. They are reluctant to seek help, although we all piously agree there is nothing to be ashamed of in mental illness. And we keep on repeating this to ourselves, despite the glaring examples of distinguished depressives who have been far from reticent about their state. These include Alastair Campbell, Stephen Fry, Professor Lewis Wolpert and, most recently, the highly successful novelist Marian Keyes, whose outburst of near-despair last week has provoked a good deal of commentary, both sympathetic and snide. She says she can’t eat, sleep, write, read or talk to people and that she doesn’t know when she will ever emerge from this darkness. She has told the world about this on her website, so she won’t mind my repeating it. So, is depression fashion
