Dear Readers,
Melancholia, called depression today, is one of the most insidious and prevalent of all mental illnesses. Characterized by sadness, loss of interest, insomnia or excessive sleep, appetite problems, intrusive thoughts and low self-esteem, depression can ruin lives. It"s a major contributing factor to suicide. Depression can be chemical (caused by faulty "wiring" if you will, in the brain) or it can be situational, caused by painful life events.
In Colin"s case, he has mild hormonal depression, but the majority of his melancholia is caused by habitual sadness and stress. His father"s abuse contributed to his intrusive thoughts, but just as Colin discovered, depression lies. To the sufferer, those lies feel absolutely true and real, and it"s difficult to convince one"s self th
