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I want to preface this with the fact that I have never experienced depression.

I understand both the argument that depression is awful and useless, AND that it is something that can allow growth and be quite helpful. The analogy that popped into my head during class was that depression might act like a terminal illness in that it can add perspective to a person's life. Would I wish a terminal illness on someone so that they could experience this "growth"? Of course not. But, sometimes people find that they start living only AFTER they find out that they are dying, and wish that others could live with that same sense of intensity in their everyday lives. Maybe depression can help give people some of that intensity and maybe working through depression can allow some people a chance to gain more perspective on life.