I’ve heard a thousand variations of this problem: “My brother is depressed, but he also drinks a lot, which is probably causing the depression. So what do you treat first? The alcoholism or the depression?” The two conditions are so intertwined that it can be impossible to separate them. Just last week I met with...

Once a year or so I’m tempted to shave my head like I’m going through chemo to make my depression visible to others. I’m thinking if I pulled a Sinead O’Connor, people would take the illness seriously. I saw a commercial the other day for some leukemia association, and I was jealous. I know that’s...

I’m reading “50 Shades of Grey.” It’s come to that. I’m not very far, just at the elevator scene when they finally kiss. It’s the safest, cheapest, easiest solution so far that I’ve found to my problem: a libido that exists somewhere on the back of a milk carton (missing). This problem isn’t new, of course....

The other day a child psychologist was telling me about a very rigid, perfectionistic patient of hers. “I want to control what other people are thinking,” the patient explained. “How do you think you are going to do that?” the therapist responded. The 11 year-old brainstormed but couldn’t come up with a solution. Finally the...

I have a theory: Many people who suffer from chronic severe depression and anxiety are allergic to sugar and foods like white flour that the human body processes like sugar. Like most of my theories, I have tested this one on my 13-year-old son, because his brain is most like mine in our family (poor...