I came out of a nightmare 5-year period of anxiety and depression and I did it without taking any drugs. What frustrated me is that despite advances in understanding as to why people become stressed, depressed and anxious, sufferers are still told numerous myths about what causes their illness.This raises an important issue: How can people rid themselves of the pain of these illnesses if they don’t know what is at the root cause? Surely, if progress is to be made, understanding must come first? .