The Bell Jar Cancer versus Depression

Integrated into the story of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a "case history" of a depression patient, from it's subtle beginnings to it's terrifying consequences to it's shaky resolution. On the subject of this depression, there is an article written by William Styron which, in the course of describing his own dealings with the disease, he compares it to cancer. It is my own firm opinion that this assertion is perfectly valid, and …

…used to consider depression. We can see that an individual suffering from depression is no more responsible for her situation than another individual suffering from breast cancer, and so a depression patient should be treated accordingly. Most importantly, however, in the last example, we see how an individual who submits to either disease may as well have never lived at all, because of the essential aspects of life he comes to neglect. Bibliography not applicable