Feeling blue is normal from time to time, but recent surveys indicate that as many as one in five teens suffers from clinical depression. This guidebook provides essential information on depression, but also serves as a historical survey, by providing information on the controversies surrounding its causes, and first-person narratives by people coping with depression. Readers will learn from the words of patients, family members, or caregivers. The symptoms, causes, treatments, and potential cures are explained in detail. Alternative treatments are also covered. Student researchers and readers will find this book easily accessible through its careful and conscientious editing and a thorough introduction to each essay.