Reply to comment

 I think that there is a difference between the feelings experienced by patients that suffer from depression , schzophrenia and more in general mood disorders, and the feelings experienced by persons that are considered  "normal". However, this difference is not qualitative but it's rather  quantitative. We all face negative emotions in different set of circumstances and we all respond to them differently. However, I'm not feeling comfortable saying that we can always learn from suffering. A period of grieving, for example, after the death of a loved can help us to adjust to the loss; but constant feelings of sadness, hopelessness and apathy about life destroy various abilities of a person (like thinking,sleeping, working, eating) and his/her general health. The brain " becomes less an organ of thought than an instrument registering, minute by minute, varying degrees of its own suffering". We learn only when we change how we think about negative feelings and how we try to explain them in a way that allow us to perform our abilities. One could also argue that disorders, like depression, can enhance a particular ability of a person. In fact, many talented artists suffer/suffered from mental disorders. We cannot just appreciate the disability of a person only when that proves to be productive in artistic or other terms, but ignore the individual in all other contexts. A cure would not be aimed at changing the person itself, thereby eliminating a particular talent, but, on the contrary, at helping him/her flourish in all field of his/her social life.