Peterson, Karen S, USA Today.  "Powell's candor helps bring depression out
of the dark", USA TODAY, Novembr 9, l995


Colin Powell put it so matter-of-factly during his news conference
Wednesday:  "My wife has depression.  She's had it for many, many years,
and we hve told many, many people about it", he told reporters.

"It is not a family secret.  It is very easily controlled with proper
mecication,jst as my blood pressure is."

Experts are applauding Powell for addressing the subject so openly.

"For the longest time, people have thought of deprssion as a character
weakness, a personal flaw", says psychologist Michael D Yapko, author of
Free Yourself From Depression (ROdale, $21.95).  "When they find out that
highly successful people, really good at what they do, talk about it, that
helps the public understand this is not about character.  Their talking
about depression makes it easier for everybody."

Psychologist Dennis E O'Grady says:  "I just loved his response.  I wish
more people would talk like that. "Go find somebody else to call sick!"

And adds psychiatrist Harold Bloomfield:  "This just does so much to take
away the stigma of mental illness.  His wife is so stunning, so filled
with love and grace.  To hear him speak so casually, so nondefensively -
it is just terrific."

About 30 million to 40 million Americans suffer depression, according to
Yapko.  The good news is that more tahn 80% of the time, the disorder can
be treated effectively.

Getting help was in Powell's message:  "I hope that peple ...who think
they might be suffering from deprssion make a beeline to the doctor,
because it is something that can be dealt with very easily."

Depression is more responsive to treatment than almost any other
psychological disorder, experts say.  "We have a really successful track
record," says O'Grady, author of Taking the Fear out of Changing (Bob
Adams, $14.95) "If you can just get over your fear of going to therapy,
you will get amazing results, feel better fast."

Major depression is caused by a variety of factors.  Usually there is a
family history of the disorder, Bloomfield says.

Harvard psychologist Jack Engler, author of the Consumer's Guide to
Psychotherapy (Fireside, $16) cites a "biological vulnerability, plus
environmental stress."

Bloomfield, author of How to Heal Depression (Prelude Press, $4.95) says
get help - the earlier the better.  Of those who don't, "more than 50%
will suffer at least one other major episode."  Otheres will slip into a
"chronic, low-grade depression that interferes with the quality of life."

The preferred treatment is psychotherapy plus, possibly, anti-depressant
medication.  The drug issue is touchy: Experts disagree aabout the need
for drugs adn about teh length of time they shuld be prescribed, if deemed
necessary.

Yapko thinks that while antidepressants "are a good tool", they have been
oversold.  "people think they can take a pill and their depression will go
away."  Treatment also involves "immunizing yourself against individual
and cultural factors taht keep it going."

If Alma Powell's depression is easily controlled with meidcation, "she is
very forunate," Engler says.  Finding the right dosage of the right drug
can be very tricky.  And if there is a second episode, the same pills
maynot work again.

But experts, as wellas those who have ben there, applaud Powell's candor.

Bloomfield himself was successfuly treated or a "major bout of depression
a few years ago...I had written books on this subject, so Ihadthis
personal sense of shame and humiliation, as if I were just a phony.  That
added to his depression."

As an expert and a patient, he is delighted to see depression yanked
further out of the closet.  "This helps give us permission to not make
depresion a big deal."  Powell's comments will help many "who have been
suffering silently," Bloomfield says.

Signs include physical woes:

Symptoms of depression :

- Despairing mood.  Hopelessness, despondency, anxiety and irritability.
- Loss of pleasure.  Loss of interest in usual pursuits.
- Negative thinking.  Feeling overwhelmed, worthless, helpless.
- Social problems.  Withdrawn, impatient, angry.
- Physical problems.  Changes in sleep patterns, appetite disturbances,
loss of interest in sex.  Also, headaches, chest pains, backaches, etc.