Vote for the Candidate Who Seems the Most Depressed

Can depression be good for you–or make you more creative? Or is the whole depression thing a big hoax? It’s been discovered that some of our greatest leaders were severely depressed people. We can understand why people become depressed AFTER taking power, but it turns out that most of the powerful people of history were depressed BEFOREHAND.

For instance, Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, was a victim of depression and once was even under a suicide watch. Winston Churchill, who played a major role in the UK’s defeat of the Nazis in World War II, had recurring episodes of severe depression, and was even suicidal at times. In the July 30-31 Wall Street Journal, Nassir Ghaemi writes that "even into his later years, he would complain about his ‘black dog’ and avoided ledges and railway platforms, for fear of an impulsive jump."

He quotes Churchill as saying, "All it takes is an instant." Ghaemi writes, "Mildly depressed people see the world more clearly, more as it is. In one classic study, subjects pressed a button and observed whether it turned on a green light, which was actually controlled by the researchers. Those who had no depressive symptoms consistently overestimated their control over the light; those who had some depressive symptoms realized they had little control."

In the upcoming election, should we choose a candidate to vote for according to how DEPRESSED he or she seems? Depression was also part of the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., both of whom made suicide attempts as adolescents. As Ghaemi says, "Their weakness is the secret of their strength."

So if you’re depressed–about the climate or the economy–there’s only one thing to do: Seize the day! (And while you’re getting into gear, don’t forget WE’RE here, because all the power WE have comes from YOU!) For instance, when Whitley learned about climate change from the Master of the Key, he decided to write a book about it. Now you can get a copy of the book that started it all–"The Coming Global Superstorm"–from our NEW Whitley Strieber Collection that comes with a special bookplate signed by Whitley!