by Michael J. Norden

About the author: Michael J. Norden is a psychiatrist and clinical associate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of the book Beyond Prozac,from which the following viewpoint is excerpted.

Mental illness now strikes nearly all of us, although with vast differences in form and degree. And the numbers are mounting steadily. In particular, serious depression has risen astonishingly in recent years, as emphasized by the late Dr. Gerald Klerman, a leading figure in American psychiatry. He termed the hunt for the mysterious cause of this epidemic “the search for Agent Blue.”

To claim that nearly everyone will suffer mental illness may seem absurd, for many of us still think of it only in its most extreme forms. But let’s recast the issue...