Priya Ramaswamy, a thirty-four-year-old graphic designer in Minneapolis, came home from a five-day inpatient stay with two pages of discharge paperwork and a recommendation that she enrol in either “the day hospital program at the medical centre” or “a PHP through her insurance network.” She spent most of an afternoon trying to figure out which … Read more
The Three AM Question It is three in the morning. You cannot sleep. Your chest feels tight. Your thoughts are spiraling. The anxiety that has been building for weeks has finally become unbearable. Or maybe it is not anxiety at all. Maybe the depression has shifted into something darker, something that makes you wonder whether … Read more
The Three AM Question It is three in the morning. You cannot sleep. Your chest feels tight. Your thoughts are spiraling. The anxiety that has been building for weeks has finally become unbearable. Or maybe it is not anxiety at all. Maybe the depression has shifted into something darker, something that makes you wonder whether … Read more
Rachel, a 41-year-old corporate attorney in Chicago, sat in her office at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday and realized she could not remember the last day she had felt anything other than tired. She had spent fifteen years climbing to senior associate at a top-fifty firm. Her billables were strong. Her reviews were excellent. Her … Read more
Rachel, a 41-year-old corporate attorney in Chicago, sat in her office at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday and realized she could not remember the last day she had felt anything other than tired. She had spent fifteen years climbing to senior associate at a top-fifty firm. Her billables were strong. Her reviews were excellent. Her … Read more
Tasha Williams had been carrying the weight of her promotion in a quiet way. A 34-year-old senior project manager in Atlanta, she had been the first Black woman in her division to make director, and the recognition came with sleepless nights, a tight chest, and a feeling she could not name. Her primary care doctor … Read more
Tasha Williams had been carrying the weight of her promotion in a quiet way. A 34-year-old senior project manager in Atlanta, she had been the first Black woman in her division to make director, and the recognition came with sleepless nights, a tight chest, and a feeling she could not name. Her primary care doctor … Read more
When Marcus Whitfield opened the denial letter at his kitchen table in Cincinnati, his hands shook so hard the paper rattled. Three weeks of intensive outpatient therapy for severe depression — denied. The reason cited by his employer’s Anthem-administered plan: “not medically necessary.” His therapist had warned him this might happen. What she did not … Read more
The Quiet Fear After the Final Session You have done the work. Weekly therapy sessions for months. Maybe medication management with a psychiatrist. Perhaps an intensive outpatient program or a partial hospitalization stay when things got really bad. You have learned coping skills you never knew existed. You have confronted painful truths. You have spent … Read more
The Quiet Fear After the Final Session You have done the work. Weekly therapy sessions for months. Maybe medication management with a psychiatrist. Perhaps an intensive outpatient program or a partial hospitalization stay when things got really bad. You have learned coping skills you never knew existed. You have confronted painful truths. You have spent … Read more