Back before there were psychiatrists and therapists, way before the introduction of Prozac and Xanax, people were using mantras to calm their nervous systems and sooth symptoms of depression and malaise. In fact, the earliest mantras were used by Hindus more than 3,000 years ago. Employed by Buddhists, Christians, Taoists, and persons of most faith...

Dear Suicidal Person, I know you feel the only way out of your pain is to stop your pulse. That, unfortunately, is a fantasy. Swallowing the pills will only result in more pain. It is my theory that you will have to work out the gunk you’re running from in some alien world without a...

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain,” remarked the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Having started therapy a month ago, I...

It’s the elephant in the room. Your spouse stops eating with the family and begins to isolate. Your sister is solemn, no longer laughing at your jokes. According to the National Network of Depression Centers, one in five Americans have firsthand experience with depression or another mood disorder, and 50 percent of people with depression...

A reader recently asked me to give some tips for beating insomnia, so I thought I’d repost this piece. A few years ago, I experienced a terrible case of insomnia. I took the sleeping drug Lunesta, which afforded me a few wonderful nights’ sleep, until I realized it substantially increased my anxiety during the day....