Dear Ann Landers,
am a patient in a mental hospital. I know I am ill, just as a person who has pneumonia is ill. I know, too, that my ill-ness is temporary and that I am getting better. One day, I will be a use-ful citizen and perhaps even contribute something to society. I am writing this letter in the hope that people who have friends and relatives in mental institutions will have a better understanding of the mental patient and his needs. More than anything, we need to know we are not forgotten. On the Fourth of July, we were served a lovely chicken dinner, and there was a movie afterward. I would gladly have exchanged the dinner and the movie for just one visitor. I have a daughter, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and cousins, but no one dropped by to say hello. I'm not the only person who waits week after week for a visitor. It's as if our people are ashamed of us and don't wish to remember we are here. We patients discuss this often-never in a self-pitying way, only with a feeling of sadness because others do not understand. The staff here is wonderful. What grand people they are-but we are so many, and they are so few. They do what they can, but nothing builds morale like a visit with family or friends. These links with the outside, more than anything else, speed a patient's recovery. Please print this letter. It is too long, I know, but perhaps you can trim it so it will fit in the paper. You could help so many by passing this word. God bless you. -A Patient Patient

Dear Patient,
Thank you for your beautiful letter. Yes, it's about twice as long as most letters that appear in this column, but I couldn't bear to cut a word of it. So here it is-as you wrote it. Depression strikes more than 17 million Americans each year. Unfortunately, fewer than half the people with depression actually seek treatment. Depression can result in serious disturbances in every aspect of life. Unlike sadness or "the blues, " depression does not respond to good news and can last for months or years if left untreated.