Depression!

Sapolsky, in a way, agrees that definitions of disease are problematic. “I don't have a great definition. I've always liked the opposite definition, where health equals having the same diseases as everyone else,” he says. “The thing about ‘disease’ is that it's a moving target, often a social construct – and that's not just postmodernist babble.”

Still, Sapolsky holds to the notion that disease is the proper way to describe depression, and that it's more than just a debate about semantics. “I think it's vastly deeper, and not just some nonsense about whether insurance will reimburse it,” he says. “For far too many people suffering from major depression, or anxiety disorders or PTSD, it doesn't count as a disease in their head, and thus it's something approaching being some sort of Calvinist moral failing, something that someone should be able to overcome with some gumption and resolve – something which, if you're paralyzed by it, instead means that you're weak and self-indulgent. It's incredibly important that people realize that it is a biological disorder. It’s enormously harmful not recognizing it for being the disease that it is.”

If not a disease, how would Yapko label depression? “I prefer calling it a complex disorder and more heavily emphasize the social components as we find them out, as we learn about coping and problem-solving skills and that they have preventive value.” He says that learning those skills have been proven to help people “evolve perspectives that insulate them against depression. For all the money poured into research, I would prefer it going to prevention than to finding a magic drug. I can safely predict there will never be a pill that cures depression any more than there will be a pill that cures poverty or abuse or any other social condition."

“I am not anti-biology,” Yapko concludes. “I am just kvetching that biology is oversold.” However it's sold, depression remains a serious condition, and the importance of seeking treatment is one area all mental health providers agree on.