Dates like these are always kind of arbitrary, but it’s been three months. Three months since I was last crumpled up on my parents’ couch, since I cried for no reason at all, since I could speak of “being depressed” in both a present and seemingly eternal tense. Three months, and it already seems so… Continue reading Happy, At Any Cost
Recently I’ve been spending my days working frantically on my book, voraciously reading texts for my qualifying exams and—this is the best, and most exciting, part—talking animatedly about potential dissertation ideas with my colleagues. You could say that, after a two-year hiatus, I love sociology again. The only problem is that it took me getting… Continue reading Anomie Soup
Apparently if you want to get a big response to something on social media, write about depression. I’m not entirely sure why I decided to “go public” about my condition and the cascading failures it has led to, but the response I’ve received has been incredibly touching. In addition to the public support I’ve received—for… Continue reading Empathy
Telling a depressed person that things are hopeless is generally ill-advised.* And yet it is exactly what Buddhist nun Pema Chodron recommends in her book When Things Fall Apart (which is not a Chinua Achebe novel): “Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with… Continue reading The Two Paths
When your choices come down to interring yourself in a psychiatric hospital and traveling to Costa Rica, you are in the simultaneous position of being very lucky and getting a raw deal. And yet this was the choice that confronted me two weeks ago, as I endured my worst-ever meltdown days before a long-planned trip… Continue reading Pura Vida
I am not entirely sure how I first got on anti-depressants. It was the summer after 10th grade, and I had a summer internship with the Defense Department (yes, really) in Albuquerque. I was also, for the first time, plumbing the depths of sadness to a degree that surpassed normal adolescent angst. One day, a… Continue reading Little Helpers
“Well, do you at least know how to operate a pallet jack?” I hesitate. I have eight-and-one-third years of higher education under my belt. I really should have a good answer to this question. “I’m sure I’ll pick it up quickly”, I offer optimistically. Last Tuesday was my first day at my new job—my first… Continue reading Career Changes?
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 