One of the chapters of my memoir, Beyond Blue, is called “The Least Harmful Addiction.” I explain that will power is, regrettably, a finite thing. We have a limited amount, so we must preserve it for the most harmful addictions we have (i.e. When desperate, we should inhale chocolate truffles over geting wasted on vodka)....
Sometimes the best way to learn a subject is to teach it. That was certainly the case last weekend. I took a group of 10-year-old girls to see the movie, “Heaven Is For Real.” I walked away from the big screen inspired that maybe there is no anxiety and depression in the afterlife, that if...
Renown psychiatrist Peter Kramer once said that the opposite of depression isn’t happiness. It’s resilience, the ability to bounce back from tragedy, to regain a healthy sense of perspective after traumatic or stressful experiences. In my recovery from depression and anxiety, it is calm— more than excitement or joy or contentment–that I seek. I want...
A friend told me the other day to stop overthinking. “Bah ha ha ha!” That’s like telling the pope not to get on his knees, my daughter to stop craving sweets, or a teenage boy not to think about sex. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who didn’t need a second longer...
A good friend of mine describes her depression as an elevator that takes her down to an unfurnished basement with toxic mold, the stench of cat urine, and no windows. When she is there, she has difficulty believing that there are any floors above her. What she sees and smells, she surmises, is the sum...
