“What is the cure for depression?” is the wrong question. Depression is the psychic equivalent of fever. Fever is a “non-specific” response to an enormous range of underlying physiological conditions, from the common cold to Ebola. Depression is likewise a non-specific response to an enormous range of underlying difficulties. It is therefore pointless to talk in the abstract about the cure for “depression” because depression, like fever, is not one thing but many things. Depression is an effect, not a cause. Effective treatment means understanding and addressing the causes, not just treating the symptom. Those causes, more often than not, are woven into the fabric of a person’s life. That means the solution requires that we examine ourselves, and how we live, and how we function, and how we relate to others or fail to relate. That is hard work—and what real psychotherapy is about. Without doing that work, the vulnerability to depression will always remain. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. But for most people most of the time, there are no quick fixes are magic bullets. For most people most of the time, depression is a message. That message is: we must change something about ourselves.