It's my opinion that depression can be a result of mixed up chemical reactions in the brain. This is where pharmaceuticals can truly help, not in the simple 'feelings' type of depression.
It's likely that the chemical type of depression is the one from which Sylvia Plath suffered and likely what Nicholas inherited, since his sister said he'd been battling depression for years.
Thank you, SuziQ. I was expecting one of the first posts to say that he committed suicide because he didn't read the Bible enough, or some kind of malarkey (and I say that as a conservative, devout Christian). Too many people don't understand what clinical depression is.