Storied Mind

Some Rights Reserved by ComputerHotline at Flickr Depression is a natural enemy of close relationships. It helps build tension and conflict as a once-loving partner either withdraws into emotional isolation or turns angry and blaming. I suppose that’s inevitable since the loving support of a long-term relationship doesn’t fit the depressed view of an undeserving [...]

Some Rights Reserved by gutter at Flickr. What is it about depression that draws people to search for the benefits it brings to its lucky victims? Since I’ve been writing this blog, many writers have had great success with books and articles describing its positive role in life – giving people a creative edge, helping [...]

Some Rights Reserved by Andy Saxton at Flickr The question continues to puzzle me: How did I get over depression? That deep change began about 18 months ago, and it’s been a year since I knew for sure that something fundamental had shifted. The nemesis wasn’t after me anymore. In fact, I couldn’t find that [...]

Some Rights Reserved by http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ivan_Akira at Wikimedia Commons Here’s something that caught my eye – a highly original classification of the emotions. This image is the work of Robert Plutchik, a psychologist who saw emotions, apparently as Darwin did, as playing a role in the evolution of animal life. He posited that all animals, including [...]

Some Rights Reserved by Tom(hmm a rosa tint) at Flickr When I started getting a diagnosis of “depression” years ago, I found myself assuming that this was the name for a permanent condition rather than one dimension in the changing nature of an unfolding life. Later, the term became more formalized as “major depressive disorder [...]

Some Rights Reserved by pedrosimoes7 at Flickr The ongoing revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has provoked prominent psychiatrists to declare that the next version (DSM-V) is in danger of medicalizing normality. Since “normality” covers quite a few people who don’t think of themselves as mentally disordered, I thought it would [...]