Ray Charles Clinical Depression?

Q: I could not read the complete article, because my reading was causing me too much pain and sadness to continue. The part I did read mentioned bipolar illness (periods of deep depression, followed by periods of great energy). I do not know if she tried to treat her illness. If she did not, then her death becomes, to me, so much more the tragedy, because both bipolar illness and unipolar depression are largely treatable disorders.

A:Yours is a very clear and accurate response. Depression is pure psychic pain that blinds one from seeing the rest of existence. The only thing I would add: there is a sub-set of illnesses that are classified as treatment resistant. I.e. nothing works to alleviate the pain and misery of these people and the mental health system is painfully impotent for these poor souls. From the article, she was trying different meds and therapy; but for whatever reason, they weren't helping her much. And even being under the care of a compotent doc with a supporting family wont prevent future episodes from occuring; and for some this knowledge is too much. She may have been treatment resistant and may have grown weary of the battle, as the last line of her note said. It sounds like she may have

had bipolar disorder or psychotic depression. That is, without a doubt, the best description of what a major depression is like that I have ever read. I've been there. I know exactly what it is ... I've used the roller-coaster description myself. Life being like a carnival ride with ups and downs ... but for the depressed person, it's all downs. Level sometimes, but always down. I expect that depression will some day be an illness for which there is a permanent cure. It will probably come piecemeal, as "depression" isn't a simple illness that arises from a single cause, but a label given to a collection of symptoms that likely arise from many different causes.