Last summer I met a friend for coffee. I cried through most of our hour together, as I was in the midst of a severe depression episode. At one point, she folded her hands on the table, looked intently into my eyes, and said, “It’s a hard time of year.” I started laughing … because...

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, depression affects more than 6.5 million of the 35 million Americans aged 65 years or older. Most of them have been experiencing episodes of depression throughout their lives. For others, depression has a first onset in late life—even persons in their 80s and 90s. However, those numbers—as...