Nov 19 2012
A little over three years ago, I arrived at Northwestern as a freshman completely unprepared for what was about to happen.
I don’t mean the difficult academics, the new social structure, or the challenges of living away from my parents, although those certainly had a learning curve.
What I mean is the intense stress I suddenly had to deal with, the complete lack of a support system, and the shame and stigma of admitting “weakness” or “failure.”
Nov 14 2012
Last week I wrote a piece called “Onset,” in which I described the way I first became clinically depressed about nine years ago. That was the first time I’d ever written about that or told anyone other than a few close friends, so the many positive responses I got were really encouraging. One commenter responded …
Oct 26 2012
Earlier I decided to write a series of posts about depression beyond the DSM diagnosis. The first post was about trust. Here’s the second. Throughout my life, I have been exposed to two diametrically opposed views on openness–how much people should share with their partners, friends, and acquaintances about themselves. The first view, which my family taught …
Oct 17 2012
A fellow blogger has provided me with this guest post about the psychology of ambition and happiness. Enjoy! Imagine there’s a big project at work and you decide to come in on the weekend. The length of you stay is entirely up to you, but you’ll get paid overtime for each hour. After six hours …
Oct 17 2012
I’m going to do a series of posts on what it’s like to live with chronic depression, beyond the DSM symptoms that you always hear about. I want to help people understand. I’m in a particularly good position to do this now because my depression is technically in remission, which means that I no longer …
Oct 12 2012
A few days back, I wrote a piece titled “The Dharma of Depression,” wherein I talked about the experience of depression and the way my spirituality has interacted with that. I must confess myself quite overwhelmed and flattered with the response that it’s gotten.
Oct 09 2012
I’ve been seeing a disturbing tendency among atheists to compare religious belief to mental illness. Sometimes this comparison is made explicit, as in this article. Other times, however, the comparison is more implicit–for instance, when words like “crazy” and “delusional” are used to describe religious people or their beliefs (hi Dawkins). These comparisons are inaccurate …
Oct 08 2012
My friend Seth, who has guest-posted here before (read it, it’s awesome), returns to talk about depression and Buddhism. Note: The following is a transcript of a speech given at the weekly College Meeting for Worship at Earlham College. Good afternoon, and thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me that people …
Oct 04 2012
It’s been rather quiet around here lately. I’ve just started my senior year, and with that came a lot of reflection–what I want this last year to mean, how I can improve on the years that came before it, and, perhaps most importantly, why it is that my time at Northwestern has been so fucking …
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