Joie di Vivre.

The pertinent question for which the depressive patient seeks an answer in successful therapy is not, "Will I become lovable enough so that mother will love me?" but rather, "Will I love my mother (or my wife or my child or my friend) even though I am not lovable?" The road to such maturity may only be through the fullest awareness of the deepest despair. The constant protest of the recovering depressive is that he has always suffered, and that now at last he is ready to experience some joie di vivre. If he continues in therapy beyond finding satisfying activities with which to defend himself more successfully against his preconscious or unconscious feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, and unlovableness, he may discover that an ability to experience the depth and wealth of all his formerly forbidden feelings will lead him to greater satisfaction even in the emotions he has found more acceptable.

- Clevans, E. The Depressive Reaction.