If a person went to his primary care physician and complained of symptoms of fatigue, guilt, worthlessness, irritability, insomnia, decreased appetite, loss of interest in regular activities, persistent sadness, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide, I am pretty sure he would leave that office with a diagnosis of Major Depression Disorder (MDD) and a prescription for...

For most of my life I aspired to do one thing: write and publish my memoir. I had spent more than 15 years networking among editors and literary agents to make this happen. I invested more than a few hours designing a publicity campaign comprised of the media connections that I had virtually stalked over...

Bestselling author Anna Quindlen explained somewhere that she stopped writing about her kids when they got to the double digits. By the time they reached 10, she felt that she needed to respect their privacy and keep their inmost thoughts and struggles out of print. I have tried to do that—concentrating on my own battles...

The classic poem “Desiderata” says that if you compare yourself to others you will either become vain or bitter. I don’t worry about becoming vain—as my self-esteem is still beneath sea level. But bitterness? That one had a hold of me last weekend. I reached out to a guy with whom I was in regular...

The biggest challenge professionals face in treating bipolar disorder is medical adherence, according to Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. At the Johns Hopkins 21st Annual Mood Disorders/Education Symposium, she discussed the problem of bipolar patients not...