ABSTRACT
It is generally thought that the low, restless, tired, worn-out, tearful, gnawing anguish that we call depression is grief at the bad thing that has happened to us. The chapter shows that these feelings arise not only after private personal losses and deprivations but are also a consequence of the sense of loss and deprivation that comes to people when they contemplate the effect on them of social inequalities. It considers people who are in trouble because a loss or a deprivation is impairing their joy and vitality. People with a social disadvantage or a depression may blame not themselves, which is a very depressing thing to do, but others. People all too easily engage in conspiracies of silence—the more so if they have been made to deny their own fears and griefs. Creativity is the best, of all boosters of self-esteem, the most powerful anti-depressant.
