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Existentialism

Authenticity & Treatment For Depression

Alisa Anokhina on how the quest for authenticity can help in treating depression.

Colloquially, the word ‘depression’ is often used for listlessness, extreme sadness, or a profound sense of loss. It’s no wonder that so many people with a diagnosis of depression struggle to be taken seriously: to the unaffected, the problem sounds akin to a diagnosis of ‘sadness’. But sadness, in fact, is not the only or even the main complaint: a clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder requires at least five symptoms, and only one of those refers to a ‘depressed mood’. Depression is exhausting. Feelings of listlessness and fatigue saturate life, and everyday tasks become laborious, as though wading through tar.

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