We used a content analytic methodology to search William Styron's memoir, Darkness Visible, for metaphors of depression, treatment, recovery, and psychological phenomena. Of the 1,383 metaphors identified, 55% dealt with depression. Treatment, recovery, and suicide metaphors represented 9%, 7%, and 6% of the sample, respectively. Inspection of Styron's metaphors suggested that he characterized depression and suicide as having a directionality that is down, in, and away and as a sequential process of suffering and adversity that is a form of malevolence and annihilation. In contrast, recovery is up, out, and through and characterized as a sequential process of return to a life of goodness and light. Our analysis indicated that the metaphor system of Darkness Visible is internally consistent: Metaphors for similar concepts show recurrent and compatible patterns whereas metaphors of opposing concepts contain opposing comparisons. Styon's metaphor system is also externally valid, in the sense that it reflects a number of interlocking cultural programs, including patterns of everyday thought, historical stereotypes of mental disorder, Western conceptions of emotion and mental illness, and literary traditions of the description of depression. We discuss the implications of our findings for public education about depression and for theories about the relationship between social cognition and social knowledge.To most of those who have experienced it, the horror of depression is so overwhelming as to be quite beyond expression .

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