Melancholy, which came to be known as depression only in the twentieth century, continues to occupy a central place in psychoanalytic theory.The distinguished French psychoanalyst Jacques Hassoun offers here a brief but far-reaching treatise on the true nature and origins of depression, arguing that it is a matter of temperament, not a disease to by cured by Prozac or other drugs. Hassoun asserts that depression and all addictions are rooted in the same experience: a disruption in the weaning of the child from the mother that results in a profound sadness and an inability to experience loss. This disruption affects every aspect of the melancholic's life, and is at the core of his damaged existence.Hassoun believes that depression may be cured only by understanding the roots of the malady in early childhood. He analyzes the causes and manifestations of depression--using moving case studies from his own practice, literary examples (from Melville and Kafka, among others), and a framework based on the theory of the influential French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan--to illustrate the melancholic's inability to grieve. Hassoun reinterprets Lacanian Theory to make it both more accessible and anecdotal, and he offers evidence that enlightened psychotherapy can treat the melancholic's agonizing condition.At once incisive and deeply personal, The Cruelty of Depression brings a sense of new possibilities fro relief from depressive suffering. It is an important and provocative addition to the growing debate on the treatment of depression.