Julian Simon was depressed for 13 long years, living each day under a black cloud of sadness and pain. Simon consulted psychiatrists and psychologists of several schools, and read widely and critically in the psychological literature, desperate to find some therapy that would banish his depression. Eventually he began to find help in the writings of cognitive therapists. Simon cured his own depression within weeks, and remained depression-free for the rest of his life. He made innovative contributions to the cognitive approach, resulting in his own distinctive technique, Self-Comparisons Analysis.