Recovery, resilience, and life after treatment — staying well over time, navigating workplace mental health, and care for specific populations including seniors and post-treatment readers.
Marcus was forty-two, an emergency physician in Atlanta, holding his three-year-old daughter on the floor of her bedroom while she screamed because he had cut her toast wrong. He had been awake since four for a hospital shift. His chest was tight. He could feel the old, familiar voice rising, the one that sounded exactly … Read more
Marcus was forty-two, an emergency physician in Atlanta, holding his three-year-old daughter on the floor of her bedroom while she screamed because he had cut her toast wrong. He had been awake since four for a hospital shift. His chest was tight. He could feel the old, familiar voice rising, the one that sounded exactly … Read more
Tomas from Houston had been on three different antidepressants over two years, with each one producing partial response and intolerable side effects in some combination. His psychiatrist, before adding a fourth agent, took an unusual side road. She prescribed pharmaceutical-grade ethyl-EPA fish oil at two grams daily, alongside the existing medication, and asked him to … Read more
Tomas from Houston had been on three different antidepressants over two years, with each one producing partial response and intolerable side effects in some combination. His psychiatrist, before adding a fourth agent, took an unusual side road. She prescribed pharmaceutical-grade ethyl-EPA fish oil at two grams daily, alongside the existing medication, and asked him to … Read more
Rachel, a 38-year-old graphic designer in Portland, Oregon, came home from the emergency veterinary clinic on a Wednesday night without her cat. Mochi had been with her for fourteen years, longer than any romantic relationship, longer than any apartment, longer than any job. Rachel cried so hard in the parking lot that the vet tech … Read more
Marcus from Tucson had tried three antidepressants over four years. His new psychiatrist did something the others had not. She wrote a real exercise depression prescription on a pad with her DEA number at the top: “Moderate-vigorous exercise, 150 minutes weekly, four sessions, beginning week one.” She also referred him to a behavioral health exercise … Read more
Marcus from Tucson had tried three antidepressants over four years. His new psychiatrist did something the others had not. She wrote a real exercise depression prescription on a pad with her DEA number at the top: “Moderate-vigorous exercise, 150 minutes weekly, four sessions, beginning week one.” She also referred him to a behavioral health exercise … Read more
Jenna was thirty-four, an attorney in Austin, when she finally got the diagnosis that explained two decades of half-finished projects, lost keys, and panicked all-nighters. The psychiatrist prescribed a stimulant, which helped, and then said something Jenna did not expect. He said the medication was the floor, not the ceiling. He said she would still … Read more
The Question Patients Ask at the End of Therapy By the time someone has done meaningful mental health care and is approaching the end of a treatment chapter, the question hovering over the last few sessions is rarely “did this work?” It is something more anxious: “what happens when I stop?” The implicit fear is that everything … Read more
The Question Patients Ask at the End of Therapy By the time someone has done meaningful mental health care and is approaching the end of a treatment chapter, the question hovering over the last few sessions is rarely “did this work?” It is something more anxious: “what happens when I stop?” The implicit fear is that everything … Read more