I got a request last week to play music by Susannah McCorkle. I have to admit that up until that point I really did not know who she was. I went out and searched for her music — luckily, Emusic.com is rife with it — and I really dug her sound. So, I will be adding her music this week.

I also went out and read up on Ms. McCorkle and discovered that she suffered from depression and took her life by jumping out of a window at the age of 55. Upon reading that, other names began to drift in and out of my head — Nick Drake, Phyllis Hyman, Elizabeth Hartman — all artists, all people who struggled with depression and lost the battle. Many believe that depression is a sort of phantom disease, a fabrication of one’s mind. “People who have it want to have it. Either that or they don’t have the balls or wherewithal to overcome it. And so they kill themselves. They take the easy way out.”

To be complete honest, I had no real idea of how devastating a disease depression can be until a few years ago. It can not only submerge the sufferer, but those who are even close to the maelstrom can be pulled in. It is not something that should be taken lightly or seen as a character flaw or a weakness or an attempt to avoid responsibility. For some, yes I do believe that they have the power to defeat it, or at least keep it at bay but choose not to. It can become a crutch just like any other debilitating disease. But for others…what man or woman in their rightest frame of mind chooses to leap from windows to ease their pain?

When I once told someone that I was going to see a therapist, their response was “I don’t understand this whole thing about going to see psychologists. In my day, when people got depressed, they just went to church and shouted a lot.” Sunday was for shouting, I guess. Monday through Saturday were the days for alcoholism, domestic abuse, extra-marital affairs — all the things that helped us along the way until we could return to church again on Sunday and shout it out. Then heart disease due to stress would creep in much too early and take us out of our misery. I’ve also read religious sites that seem to claim that depression is due to being too focused on oneself and not having enough of God in one’s life. However, if you read about the generosity and spirit of Phyllis Hyman, you know that can’t be true.

I can’t say I understand it completely. I can’t say that I know of the best way to treat it. Each one must follow their own path. I can say, however, that when people say, “It’s all in your head,” they don’t know the half of it.