[1] In my brief remarks, I will consider the impact of the "invisible disability" clinical depression within the context of the institutions in which we work and study. In doing so, I will draw upon my own experiences, both as a reflection on the dismal state of awareness in post-secondary institutions and as an encouragement to others that you are not alone in your struggles with the disorder and with your university about the disorder. Perhaps the awareness that someone else in our field has had experiences like yours can serve to empower or at least enhearten you.[2] An invisible disability (ID) is defined as "one that is hidden so as not to be immediately noticed by an observer except under unusual circumstances or by disclosure" (Mathews and Harrington 2000, 405). In 2006, 15% of the American population, or 41 million people, reported having a disability, with 6% indicating a "mental disability."(1) If most ID's are subsumed within the category of "mental disability" and the university community reflects tendencies in the general populace, about one out of sixteen faculty colleagues suffers from some type of invisible disability, with clinical depression leading the way.[3] As explained by Gotlib and Rottenberg in the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, clinical depression "is a syndrome, or constellation of co-occurring psychiatric symptoms, that affects about 20 percent of the population. Major Depressive Disorder, the psychiatric label for clinically significant depression, is characterized by at least a two-week period of persistent sad mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, and four or more additional symptoms, such as marked changes in weight or appetite, sleep disturbance, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, and concentration difficulties. People diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder show marked impairment in their social and occupational functioning; they also have an elevated risk of death from a number of causes" (Gotlib and Rottenberg 2001, 3511). These authors identify genetic factors as being decisive in a person's proclivity toward depression, but the actual trigger mechanisms reside in negative expectations or "schemas" from childhood, which "serve as filters through which stimuli and events in [the individual's] environment are perceived, evaluated, attended to, and remembered. The negative schemas remain inactive until the person encounters a relevant stressful event or experience. The stressful experience serves to activate the negative schema, which leads the individual to process information in a negative manner, in turn leading to ineffective coping, culminating in a depressive episode."(2) Within the academic career, significant stress inducers include tenure decisions, major administrative work, grant competitions, publication submissions, and even the twenty-first century classroom. The standard indicators of clinically significant depression for the professoriate are the same as those indicated above for the general populace, only academics may be more adept at hiding the symptoms. Nevertheless, a state of Major Depressive Disorder is especially debilitating for university faculty, since it first and foremost affects the mind: we are unable to concentrate, lose the ability to make decisions, and become pathologically fearful of speaking in public. In other words, seriously depressed academics are impaired in undertaking our basic responsibilities as researchers, administrators, and instructors. A worst case scenario would involve an inability to cope with even the simplest demands of our jobs, a state of catatonia in which the sufferer retreats from active life. The loss of pleasure in music is a particular blow for clinically depressed musicians, since performance and/or listening ironically represent what we normally consider to be "therapeutic" activities.[4] The traditional method of treatment involves a combination of medication and therapy. …