Depression affects millions around the world. Former Lt. Governors Weston and Alexander lost close family members to depression. Michael Wilson lost a son. Former Premier Roberts took his own life. Depression is an illness where the patient often suffers in silence to avoid the stigma and fear of rejection. Dr. Alastair J. Cunnigham, author of The Healing Journey and several other books and articles invites us to participate in a healing journey where self-help plays an important role in the context of cancer treatments where many patients suffer not only physical pain associated with cancer but also from depression. What is depression?

Signs and symptoms

Clinical depression can present with a variety of symptoms, however almost all patients display a marked change in mood, a deep feeling of sadness, and a noticeable loss of interest or pleasure in favorite activities. Other symptoms include:

by Gillian Downes,

Your work day is done. It's ten days before Christmas on a grey, blustery, miserable afternoon. As usual, you have opted to join your many fellow, slave-to-the-job-type Torontonians and zip home on the subway. You've decided that it's too cold to do the after work drink-thing with your friends, and besides; you haven't even made it halfway through your Christmas Shopping List. Somehow that seems to be a lingering priority that haunts you as you stare anonymously from your seat on the subway.