A friend of mine posted the following reflection by her nephew in Group Beyond Blue, an online depression community on Facebook. I asked her if I could share it here because 1) I think it’s important to be reminded that life and light do return after debilitating symptoms, and 2) it’s refreshing to hear a...

I sprouted early as a kid. In the fourth grade, I towered over many of my classmates, and especially over my two best friends. Lining up for school processions, they gathered at the beginning of the line, while I was the second or third person from the last. I recall one Saturday afternoon coming back...

According to Cigna’s U.S. Loneliness Index, nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feel alone.  A quarter of Americans rarely or never feel as though there are people that understand them, and a fifth report they rarely or never feel close to people. The report says that finding a balance of work, exercise, sleep,...

I publish a variation of this article every year on January 24 because it seems to make people feel better. The Axis of Evil According to Dr. Cliff Arnalls, a British psychologist with Cardiff University, a number of factors coincide to make January 24th the most depressing day of the year: It’s dark. Not as...

In the fourth grade, my grandmother sewed Halloween costumes for me and my twin sister. I went as a nun and she as a jailbreaker. The costumes were appropriate then and for the next three decades. I followed every rule and she broke them. At age two, when she was still in diapers, she packed...