Depression isn't the word for it. We're talking about a condition that can take over your mind, rob you of your dignity, deprive you of all the joyful offerings of life, and leave you nose down in two inches of water, feeling totally abandoned by man and God. Brain crash is more like it, of the inside of the head throwing up error codes and sucking up energy and failing to accomplish even the most simple of tasks, reducing one to a state of utter despair, a walking corpse perhaps on the way to becoming a real one.

William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer, in his memoir of depression, Darkness Visible, had this to say:

"... all sense of hope had vanished, along with the idea of a futurity; my brain, in thrall to its outlaw hormones, had become less an organ of thought than an instrument registering, minute by minute, varying degrees of its own suffering."

In addition, one may experience: fatigue, weight gain or loss, loss of libido, loss of pleasure, lack of concentration, pronounced disinterest in one's surroundings and the world in general, and suicidal thoughts.

If you are depressed, the first thing you must know is: IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. What has happened to you is not the result of some kind of bad attitude or moral weakness. You are suffering from an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, and the key to recovery lies in correcting that imbalance.

The second thing to know is: TREATMENT IS AVAILABLE. There is no cure for depression, but medication can effectively combat its symptoms and restore you to a sense of wellness. There is a whole range of medications available, many which were introduced during the 1980s, with fewer side-effects than the old medications. New medications are coming on stream. Moreover, there are doctors and therapists who can assist you, not only in working out a medication strategy, but in helping change some of the thought processes that can make your brain go crash.

The third thing to know is: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. There is plenty of support out there. Some of the people around you have been through the same thing. There are group sessions you can attend. In addition, the internet offers the cyber equivalent of a shoulder to lean on.

Now for a dose of reality: Medications may take as long as six weeks to kick in, an eternity to someone experiencing hell. In addition, your first prescription may not be right for you. Either it doesn't work or it produces unpleasant side-effects, creating a sense of hell on top of your present state of hell.

Battling depression is not as simple as a few Prozacs down the hatch. We are all wired slightly differently and can experience different reactions to the same drug, which can turn the simple act of finding the right medication into a long drawn-out game of pill roulette.

Also, well-meaning but ignorant doctors or therapists may drive you to despair rather than give you hope. The same holds true for family and friends.

The good thing is that the mind takes part in its own healing. Many patients show signs of improvement before the medication they are on actually kicks in. We don't want to jump to conclusions, but this suggests that the simple act of seeking help might