The ‘terrible Sonnets’ of Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Spirituality of Depression

EPRESSION IS A VERY LONELY DISEASE. Sufferers are unable to see beyond the blackness enclosing them, even if they are surrounded by loving friends and by a supportive family. It is difficult for them to talk to people who do not share their experience, and difficult for those others to understand how they feel. Although there is evidence that depression has been experienced since the earliest times, it was only in the twentieth century that it began to be studied systematically and that its symptoms were classified for diagnostic purposes. Even today diagnosis is not easy: sufferers often do not consult a doctor or may present with physical symptoms, making it impossible to assess accurately what percentage of the population suffers from this disease. Estimates range from 3% to 12%. 1