If you have openly discussed your experience of depression, you may well have run into the problem of stigma. Some people I’ve told have been contemptuous, even angry that I “complain” and “whine” about the stresses in life that they say they’ve been able to handle. Others have avoided me altogether, or have... Read more
Although I’ve been fairly receptive to getting help for depression, I went through a long period of refusing to consider it and denying that I had a problem, even though I needed treatment more at that time in my life than at any other. When I read about the stereotypical behavior of men in dealing with their emotions, I have to say I was a... Read more
Once I was waiting for a train on a subway platform in Manhattan. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the rush-hour crowds had not yet arrived. A few yards away, there was an older couple with a young boy - clearly the grandson, and something about them seemed very wrong. The man was tense and kept eyeing the boy with suspicion. The boy, who... Read more
Once I was talking to a therapist about the trouble I had expressing my feelings, even to my wife. I had picked up one of the props he left lying about his office, just to have something to busy my hands with. It was an empty plastic one-gallon jug. Mindlessly, I turned it about as I spoke of my progress in becoming more open in talking to my wife... Read more
It took me a long time to realize how extensive the influence of depression was in my life. That was partly because of a set of aggressive behaviors that I never associated with the illness. Researchers have singled out exactly these symptoms as typical of depressed men and very different from those experienced by women.
A... Read more
