Depression might be an allergic reaction to stress

It's Monday, and that means that a lot of people likely feel as though they're having an allergic reaction to life itself today. But believe it or not, a compelling new scientific theory suggests that that's exactly what clinical depression may be -- A sort of physical, allergic reaction to the stresses of life itself.

Hamlet is one of literature's iconic depressives. William Shakespeare brought the melancholy Dane into the world a little more than four hundred years ago ... proof that humans have been having the blues for centuries.

But something's happened lately in the way science understands depression. In fact, new research suggests that Hamlet's affliction may not have originated from inside his own cranium.

Instead, there's a growing field of research into the possibility that depression is a kind of allergic reaction -- An allergic reaction to life, and its sea of troubles.

The idea has become a hot topic in the world of psychiatry lately.

Georgia Hodes is a Post-doctoratal fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Neuroscience in New York City. She has been investigating the connection between the immune system and depression.

A new understanding of depression, would seem to be cause for optimism -- It's an affliction that's troubled so many, for so long. But depression is a very complex condition.

Paul Garfinkel is one of Canada's leading experts on depression. He's a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a staff psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; and he is a former president and CEO of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. He's also the author of a new book, called "A Life in Psychiatry: Looking Out, Looking In."

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This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal.

Andrew Solomon: Depression, the secret we share

As scientists refine their understanding of depression, they may just be catching up with artists and poets who have been grappling with the subject for centuries. The author, Andrew Solomon, who has depression himself and wrote a book about it called "The Noonday Demon." He started a talk about depression by reciting some lines by the 19th century American poet, Emily Dickinson with her poem, "I felt a funeral in my brain."