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...

Major depression is nearly twice as common in women as in men. About 12 million American women experience an episode of major depression at some points in their lives, but only 6 million American men. According to the National Institue of Mental Health (NIMH), nearly 30 percent of women in the United States report depression...

Research suggests, especially in women with a history of depression or a susceptibility of mood disorder, that reproduction-related hormonal changes in women raise the risk of depressive episodes. A few recent studies have concentrated on the perimenopausal period (when women experience skipped and irregular periods), in particular, and found that women in the menopausal transition...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most controversial treatment in modern psychiatry. Many people envision “shock therapy” a violent procedure such as the one portrayed in the movie, “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest.” Today, however, the treatment is safe and painless, although not totally without risk given the possibility of memory loss. Among the people...

Although depression affects approximately 6 million men in the U.S., many of them don’t get the care they need because their symptoms differ from the classic depression symptoms of women’s. Furthermore, men feel shame admitting certain symptoms because depression, in general, is regarded as a women’s illness. What does depression look like in men? Here...