I could not disagree with you more, @NatureLover. I reaffirm every word of my post.
My ex-psychiatrist took me, in a most broken, shattered state, in the depths of depression and with a very tangled personality–I had no idea who I was–and he unpicked my maliciously damaged personality, and rebuilt me in the manner that was true to my identity, my potential, my social position. He gave me my true self–my intellect, education, direction, strength, values, and a role-model I will treasure all of my days. And role-models can re-create us.
He threw out all he had been taught because he knew it was wrong. I was his guinea pig. He had the skill, and I had the need and the time to follow it through to completion. I once asked him how he got through his exams when he must have had to tell them what they wanted to hear, not what he knew to be true. I have found in my psychology course that I am faced with the same dilemma.
He cured my depression because he knows what causes it and he told me, because educating me was important to him as he knew psychiatry was where I am most in my element. Not with any psychiatry, with his psychiatry. When he speaks, you know it is true because it 'rings' true. It stands proven.
I did not fall into depression during this past trauma because I understood the mechanism and was able to avoid it. That was the worst trauma I have ever been through and there had been a wide range, and I only resorted to half a tablet for a couple of nights to recalibrate on several occasions. I no longer suffer depression and I never will again.
I am sorry you believe that your condition can only be managed. That will ensure that it will be ever so.
Unlike you, @NatureLover, I do not believe that only milder conditions can be cured. My ex-psychiatrist would not shy away from the most severe of cases because he revelled in the challenge. And so do I. And a little bit improved is not acceptable to him or to me. Total cure was always his objective and no challenge would be too great. He actually knew what he was doing, not just going through the motions. It was magic to watch him work and I will treasure the memories always. He has an intellect I will never see again. He is a freak of nature.
Edit: As you know, I swing from thinking him a demon to a wonder worker, then back again. This was written when I was in the wonder worker frame of mind. I'm now back in the other perception of him. He did this to me with well-planned malice after luring me into his web by his good deeds. I'm stuck here. Perhaps I was more his 'fool' than his guinea pig.
