October 2007 | November 2007  Why Are Lawyers So Unhappy? |  December 2007
A Contemplative Approach to Depression
Sister Kathryn James Hermes, F.S.P., entered the Daughters of St. Paul in 1978 and is the author of the book, Surviving Depression: A Catholic Approach. Here she offers her thoughts and observations about depression from a contemplative and Catholic perspective.
Vulnerability cuts a path through depression – the type of depression that seems to darken the doorsteps of attorneys’ offices at a higher rate than people in other professions. One very important way to address depression is to befriend it, to take it out of the closet, to sit with it in silence without trying to analyze or conquer it, to share it with someone who can receive it.
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|  January 2008
Depression and the Contemplative Life
In this article, Father Marcellus Earl, O.C.S.O., a Trappist monk at Our Lady of the Genesee Abbey in upper New York State, offers these words about his own experiences in dealing with his Bipolar condition while living a Catholic contemplative life. Catholic lawyers who struggle with depression will find a sense of hope and strength in Father Earl’s eloquent testimony.
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|  January 2008
Lawyers-Have A Life!
Robert Wicks, Psy.D., has his doctorate in psychology and is a professor in the Pastoral Counseling Department at Loyola College of Maryland. He is the author of numerous books including Riding the Dragon: 10 Lessons for Inner Strength in Challenging Times.
The article below is a modified version of material taken from his book Overcoming Secondary Stress in Medical and Nursing Practice: A Guide to Professional Resilence and Personal Well-Being. Lawyers encounter "secondary stress" in their daily efforts to help others. In this wonderful article, Dr. Wicks talks to us about how we can all learn to deal with such stress with greater skill, honesty and kindness towards ourselves.
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|  February 2008
How Lawyers Can Transform Depression From a Break-Down to a Break-Through
Dr. Lara Honos-Webb is a clinical psychologist and author of the books Listening to Depression: How Understanding Your Pain Can Heal Your Life and The Gift of ADHD. She practices in Walnut Creek, California. You can visit her website at www.visionarysoul.com. Why are lawyers so depressed these days? The rates of depression and substance abuse problems are skyrocketing according to recent media reports and research. This article will show you how depression can be seen as a break-down in the service of offering you an opportunity for a break-through. If depression offers corrective feedback to lawyers, what might it be telling you?
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|  February 2008
Depression and Whole Person Healing
Eve Wood, M.D. is a nationally known workshop-leader, talk-show host, columnist, professor of integrative medicine at the University at Arizona, and practicing psychiatrist. She is the award-winning author of There’s Always Help; There’s Always Hope, 10 Steps to Take Charge of Your Emotional Life, and The Stop Anxiety Now Kit.
As a psychiatrist in private practice for over 20 years, I’ve spent at least 20% of my 30,000 plus clinical hours treating attorneys with depression and anxiety disorders. The frequency of these problems with that population has been very troubling to me. What is it about the world lawyers inhabit that brings about depression at such a high rate? And what can you do to heal and stay well?
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|  March 2008
From Breast to Back Float: Lawyers and Depression
Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest in New Mexico Province and author of several books including Hope Against Darkness and From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Spirituality in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his article, Father Rohr speaks to us directly about a spiritual approach for lawyers struggling with depression.
One description of depression is that it is like the shapeless sagging of a rubber band that has been kept tight and taunt for too long. When feelings have been strong, stressed, unprocessed, or held captive over a period of time, we just stop feeling altogether.
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|  March 2008
Lawyer Depression Is Contagious!
Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and depression expert from Fallbrook, California. He is the author of Breaking the Patterns of Depression and Hand-Me-Down Blues: How to Stop Depression from Spreading in Families. For more information visit his website at www.yapko.com.
Catch a depressed mood the way you catch a cold? Not exactly . . . but similar. Can other people really be a source of the rising rate of depression in the United States? The scientific evidence suggests the answer is yes.
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|  April 2008
Mindful Recovery From Depression Is A Daily Practice For Attorneys
Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and Head of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Unit at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where he is also Head of the Psychotherapy Program. He is the co-author of The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself From Chronic Unhappiness
The clang of the meditation bells slowly faded into a silence punctuated by the sounds of bodies moving on chairs and cushions. It was our seventh session, and by now, group members were comfortable with just sitting and watching their breathing for 40 minutes, while all manners of thoughts, feelings and sensations came into their minds with a searching insistence. It hadn’t always been this way.
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|  April 2008
Meditation Practices For Lawyers
Lewis Richmond is the author of three books: Work as a Spiritual Practice, Healing Lazarus, and A Whole Life’s Work. Besides his role as a founder and president of a software company, he also leads the Vinala Sangha, a Buddhist meditation group, in Mill Valley, California. His personal website is www.lewisrichmond.com, and the website of his meditation group is www.vimalasangha.org.
Allow me to introduce myself as the author of Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Buddhist Approach to Inner-Growth and Satisfaction on the Job. This book, published in 1999, grew out of my experience entering the corporate workplace after 15 years as a full-time student and teacher of Zen Buddhist meditation.
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|  May 2008
A Lawyers Guide To Dealing With Burnout
Dr. Amiram Elwork is the Director of the Law-Psychology (J.D./Psy. D) Graduate Training Program at Widener University and he provides individual coaching and organizational consulting, and conducts workshops and retreats for lawyers and law firms. Among his many publications, are two books entitled Stress Management for Lawyers and Success Briefs for Lawyers.
When individual lawyers seek the help of a counselor, it is not unusual for the conversation to start with: “I have been thinking about quitting my job or law altogether, but I am not sure what I should go into.” My usual advice on such matters is “slow down. While quitting your job or the law may in fact be the right thing to do, given the risks and costs involved, these should be options to consider only after you truly understand what has happened to you.”
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|  May 2008
Why Are Lawyers So Depressed?
Susan Daicoff is an Associate Professor of Law at Florida Coastal School of Law. She is a lawyer and professional psychotherapist. For the past decade, she has been researching and writing on the psychology of lawyers, lawyer personality, lawyer distress and dissatisfaction. She is the author of the book, Lawyer Know Thyself.
Why are so many lawyers depressed? Larry Krieger and Ken Sheldon’s research indicates that the loss of one’s intrinsic values is responsible for the dramatic increase in depression and lowered sense of well being among law students seen in the first year of law school. I often think of this at the “ski slope” graphic representation of the excellent Andy Benjamin, et al. studies done in the 1980's and 1990's on depression in law students.
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|  June 2008
Callings And Shoutings
Gregg Levoy, author of Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life—a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Books and the One Spirit Book Club—has written about callings for the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Psychology Today, and others. A full-time speaker and seminar leader in the business, educational and human-potential arenas, he travels extensively offering callings workshops and lectures. His website is www.gregglevoy.com.
It is hard to perform when you have voices shouting mutinies inside your head, cross-examining the fundamental values and premises of what you’ve built—your career, your sense of mission, your clarity about whether you want to grow your practice, maintain it, scale it back or quit it altogether. Voices that undermine your resolve, undo your best-laid plans and make sure that the only law you end up practicing with any efficiency is Murphy’s law.
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|  June 2008
Psychiatric Pills And Professional Identities
David A. Karp, Ph.D. is a professor of sociology at Boston College and is the author of two books, Is it Me or My Meds? and Speaking of Sadness.
My most recent book on mental illness entitled, Is It Me or My Meds? explores questions about identity. It focuses on the connections between pills and personhood. All drugs, legal or illegal, require people to continually justify their use and evaluate their consequences. Certainly every drug has the potential to affect mood and cognition. However I maintain that psychiatric medications are qualitatively different from other medications. In contrast to other medications, psychotropic drugs have as their purpose the transformation of people’s moods, feelings and perceptions.
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|  July 2008
Depression Could Never Happen To Me—I’m a Lawyer!
David John Starzynski is a volunteer and Executive Director of the Ontario Lawyer’s Assistance Program (OLAP). He received his Bachelor Laws Degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1974 and was called to the Bar in 1976. John practiced in the area of matrimonial law and litigation in his home town of Oshawa, Ontario. In 1990, he stopped practicing due to his continuing and daily disabling experience with bi–polar illness (manic-depression). Since then, John has had and continues to have an intensive treatment for this disease. He became involved with OLAP in 1995 as a peer support volunteer to provide assistance to other lawyers who are going through the trials of stress, burnout, addictions, depression and mental illness.
It didn’t happen all at once. It sort of snuck up on me because of my belief, and the belief of those in the legal profession, that I could not have a problem because I solved them.
Depression and recovery have become a way of life for me. So it might help you to hear what and how this all started.
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|  July 2008
Depressed Lawyers: A Little Help For My Friends
Bruce E. Levine, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and has been in private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio since 1985. Dr. Levine’s most recent book is Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy. Dr. Levine lectures, provides workshops and is a regular contributor to numerous magazines. www.brucelevine.net.
Among the lawyers whom I have known, it occurs to me that the only ones I’ve liked have had bouts of depression. So when Dan Lukasik, lawyer and depression sufferer, invited me to write a piece for his lawyerswithdepression.com, I gladly agreed.
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|  August 2008
The Truth About Depression
Dr. Charles Whitfield is a renowned author, lecturer and therapist. His book, The Truth About Depression: Choices for Healing, takes the position that the principal cause of clinical depression is childhood trauma and not a biochemical imbalance.
The truth about depression is that it is not as advertised. It is not what some special interest groups tell us. It is not the single, simple disorder that drug companies and some mental health groups may claim. It is not simply a genetically transmitted disorder of brain chemistry. It does not reliably respond to antidepressant drugs. And these drugs are not the only available recovery aids. These special interest groups may have misled us.
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|  September 2008
Why Lawyers Should Understand Complex Depression
Dr. Phelps maintains a private practice of psychiatry in Corvallis Oregon. His website at www.PsychEducation.org., has earned awards for ethics as well as education. His father was a lawyer. He is the author of the book Why Am I Still Depressed?
Statistically, lawyers are an unusual bunch. They all have advanced degrees. They are more likely than the average person to have high verbal skills, and high intelligence. They are considerably more likely to experience sleep deprivation due to work demands. For these reasons, lawyers need to understand a recent shift in the conceptualization of mood disorders.
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|  October 2008
The Resilient Lawyer
Henry Emmons, M.D., is a consultant to seven Twin Cities area college counseling centers, as well as several other organizations, and is a popular workshop presenter. He is a past recipient of a Bush Medical Fellowship, which funded a sabbatical to study natural and mindfulness therapies in the practice of psychiatry. His first book, The Chemistry of Joy: A Three Step Program for Overcoming Depression Through Western Science and Eastern Wisdom, was published by Simon and Schuster in January of 2006.
One way to think of depression is as a breakdown in resilience. It is our nature to be resilient, to be flexible and adaptable, able to respond to challenge and loss while maintaining a degree of emotional balance. Yet today, more than ever, people in the U.S. and around the world are experiencing depression.
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|  November 2008
"Get A LIfe!": Searching For Fulfillment In The Practice Of Law
Carl Horn III has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of North Carolina since 1993. A former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney (1987 - 1993), Judge Horn spent the first eleven years after law school graduation in private practice and as counsel to two national non-profit organizations. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including the Fourth Circuit Criminal Handbook, now in its 10th edition, and is a frequent speaker at CLE and other bar-related functions. His latest book is LawyerLife: Balancing Life and a Career in Law.
Thanks to Dan Lukasik for the invitation to write this guest article for his website, and for his pioneer efforts in behalf of lawyers, judges, and law students suffering with depression. It is a privilege to make a small contribution to this very important work.
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|  December 2008
High Achievers Suffer From Depression
Rachel Long, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., Esq., has a Masters degree in Social Work from New York University and has been practicing as a therapist for over 12 years(www.rlongcounseling.com). In addition to her private practice as a therapist she also teaches Sociology part-time at Bergen Community College and graduated from Rutgers University Law School in 2002. Ms. Long maintains a small legal practice in Bergen County New Jersey as well (www.RachelLongLaw.com).
If one were to examine the characteristics of various professionals, you would likely notice a pattern wherein each profession tended to attract people with similar characteristics and the legal profession is no different. It would seem even someone who wasn’t a lawyer might notice that the legal profession tends to attract people who are achievement oriented and driven towards success. While these characteristics can often be viewed as positive, the individual who needs to fulfill the drive for achievement and success can also suffer from difficulties such as depression when they feel they can’t meet their own expectations.
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|  January 2009
Routs To Depression
Rachel Long, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., Esq., has a Masters degree in Social Work from New York University and has been practicing as a therapist for over 12 years(www.rlongcounseling.com). In addition to her private practice as a therapist she also teaches Sociology part-time at Bergen Community College and graduated from Rutgers University Law School in 2002. Ms. Long maintains a small legal practice in Bergen County New Jersey as well (www.RachelLongLaw.com).
If one were to examine the characteristics of various professionals, you would likely notice a pattern wherein each profession tended to attract people with similar characteristics and the legal profession is no different. It would seem even someone who wasn’t a lawyer might notice that the legal profession tends to attract people who are achievement oriented and driven towards success. While these characteristics can often be viewed as positive, the individual who needs to fulfill the drive for achievement and success can also suffer from difficulties such as depression when they feel they can’t meet their own expectations.
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|  February 2009
Reclaim Your Practice, Reclaim Your Life
Andy Benjamin's treatment focuses on couples, families and people who have endured trauma. While working with families engaged in high-conflict litigation and lawyers suffering from various mental health and drug abuse problems, the Washington State Bar Association's family law section named him professional of the year. He has served as president of the Washington State Psychological Association and later his colleagues created an award named after him for "outstanding and tireless contributions." He was honored by the Puyallup Indian Nation's Health Authority for serving as a "modern day warrior fighting the mental illnesses, drug-alcohol addictions" of the people served by the nation's program. Finally, the American Psychological Association has conferred the Heiser Award on him in recognition of his record of public service and advocacy in numerous areas of professional activity.
Do you procrastinate on a regular basis? Feel trapped in your practice? Often remain disengaged from your loved ones?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone. Many of your colleagues do, too, and it probably began in law school.
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|  March 2009
Protecting Your Personal Relationships
Standish McCleary III, J.D., Ph.D. is a psychologist who was an attorney for sixteen years before earning his Ph.D. in psychology. He currently practices in Portland, Oregon.
When she stopped crying, she explained that she was actually very touched and pleased to have her husband finally listen and show some understanding. He replied that he thought he always had understood her, at least intellectually, and that perhaps they expressed their feelings of understanding and caring differently.
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|  April 2009
Stigma Toward Mental Illness Within The Legal Community
At a local annual bench and bar holiday party in 2004, a fellow bar association member in front of me in the hors d’oeuvre line glanced at my name tag. He then politely asked, “What is your area of practice, Angela?”
In the background was the combination of loud music, voices, laughter and the clinking of glasses. I replied something about doing advocacy and education concerning mental illness.
The stranger responded, “Mentally ill? I think we should lock them all up.”
I replied with the first thing that came to my mind, that is, the first reasonably polite thing I could think of to say.
“I don’t think we can afford to lock them all up. Experts say there are about 54 million.” [Now 60+ million in the US]
“That’s the problem,” he continued. “I think we should sterilize them."
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|  May 2009
The Value Of Depression
Author's Note: At age 25 I became severely depressed and, thanks to an understanding boss, received an intense dose of psychotherapy (three times a week for six months and twice a week for a year) that helped me to be more accepting of some of the ugly and shameful truths about myself and, ironically, to have more compassion for myself. That experience helped me get on a path to recovery. I am somewhat of a chronic depressive and have benefitted from psychotherapy throughout my life.
The biggest problem with the conventional wisdom about mental illness is that it encourages people to ignore the meaning of the symptoms that are used to diagnose them. That is a problem because it deprives people of vital information that can help them improve themselves.
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|  May 2009
We Are What We Do
Editor’s Note: Dr. Livingston was born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in upstate New York. He attended the U.S. Military Academy and upon graduation as an infantry officr and trained as a parachutist and an Army Ranger. He served for two years in the 82nd Airborne Division before atending medical school at Johns Hopkins from which he graduated in 1967. He interned at Walter Reed General Hospital before volunteering for Vietnam where he served as the Regimental Surgeon for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was awarded the Bronze Star for valor. While in Vietnam he registered a public protest against the war and subsequently left the army. .
People often come to me asking for medication. They are tired of their sad mood, fatigue, and loss of interest in things that previously gave them pleasure. They are having trouble sleeping or they sleep all the time; their appetites are absent or excessive. They are irritable and their memories are shot. Often they wish they were dead. They have trouble remembering what it is to be happy.
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|  June 2009
Transforming Depression: Healing The Soul Through Creativity
Editor’s Note: David Rosen, M.D. is a McMillan Professor of Analytical Psychology, Humanities in Medicine and of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Texas A&M University. He is a Psychiatrist and Jungian Analyst and is also the author Transforming Depression.
Long ago Abraham Lincoln was helped to overcome his suicidal depression by his law partner, John Stuart. In Lincoln’s day there were no medications or psychotherapy so he relied on the friendship and support of his friend and colleague. Later, leading up to his Presidency, Lincoln became weller than well. He was transforming his depression and healing his soul. His antidepressants were laughter (humor is divine), prayer, endurance and creativity (he wrote his own speeches and his depression with its burning rage fueled his creative work). Lincoln’s transformation involved death of his false self and rebirth of his true self. He committed egocide (his old self-destructive ego died or was killed off) and he was reborn. He then was able to realize his personal myth and the true purpose of his life goals.
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|   July 2009
Optimism At Work
Editor’s Note: Bob Murray and Alicia Fortinberry have lived and worked together for over 25 years. They are the principals of Fortinberry Murray Consulting Inc and work with firms in the US, Asia, Europe and Australia. Their most recent books is Creating Optimism and Raising an Optimistic Child (McGraw-Hill). Their website is www.fortinberrymurry.com. Bob can be reached at bob@fortinberrymurray.com.
Once upon a time there were two very large and wealthy law firms. Both were fishing on a calm sea in magnificent boats. They occasionally lost sailors, but it didn’t matter as those who were left were good at their jobs. It was annoying but they could always, at a price, lure fresh sailors from naval academies, and from each other. They had lots and lots of fish and that was, they thought, all that mattered.
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|  August 2009
Happyness Skills For Lawyers With With Depression
Editor’s Note: Richard O’Connor, Ph.D. is the author of several noteworthy books, Happy at Last: The Thinking Person's Guide to Finding Joy, Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety, and 21st Century Illness and Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach you and Medication Can’t Give You. He is practicing psychotherapist with offices in New York City and Canaan, Connecticut. He has suffered from clinical depression and is a member and leader of a free self help group.
After writing several books about recovery from depression and stress, I finally decided it was time for me to look a bit beyond recovery; Happy at Last (St. Martin’s, 2008) is the result. Let me say at the outset that happiness is not trivial. Genuine happiness is not only the transient sensation of joy, but also a feeling of overall satisfaction with your life and its course. It’s got to do with being wise and not bringing unnecessary misery on yourself. It requires that you feel a sense of meaning or purpose in your life. It’s the antidote to depression, anxiety, and stress. It’s an especially important subject for lawyers, whose very career seems at times to interfere with personal happiness.
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|  September 2009
Preserving Self-Esteem
Editor’s Note: Harvey Hyman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1978 with a B.A. in Philosophy, and then obtained his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. After doing medical malpractice litigation for firms in New York, he opened a solo law practice in plaintiff’s personal injury in 1986 in San Francisco. He moved his practice to Oakland in 2000 and practiced there until 2007. Mr. Hyman was consistently rated A.V. by Martindale-Hubbell.
In 2007 Hyman lived through an episode of severe depression that transformed his life, and prompted him to re-examine the nature of law practice and its negative effects on lawyers’ mental and physical health.
Hyman created and runs the website and blog Lawyers' Wellbeing, a site dedicated to helping lawyers who are struggling with depression and substance abuse.
The past couple of years have been an economic nightmare for the country and for lawyers. You would have to go back to the Great Depression to see today’s national jobless rate of 9.5%. Fifteen states plus Washington, D.C. have gone over 10%. What about lawyers? In 1999 our jobless rate was 0.6% During 2008 it was a whopping 2.6% I don’t have a figure for 2009, but I know things are bleak.
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|  October 2009
The Alchemy Of Despair
Editor’s Note: Miriam Greenspan, M.Ed., LMHC, is a psychotherapist in private practice, consultant, writer, and internationally-known workshop leader. A pioneer in women's psychology and psychotherapy, her first book, A New Approach to Women and Therapy, helped define the field.
In our era, which has been called the Age of Melancholy, depression has been called the common cold of mental illness. Estimates vary— somewhere between 20 and 35 million Americans each year will suffer this emotional plague. From its shamed obscurity of fifty years ago, the culture has brought depression out into the open. Everyone now knows that depression is an illness affecting a person’s emotions, thought process, body, relationships, and capacity to work.
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|  November 2009
Are You a Thinkaholic?
Editor’s Note: Patricia Flynn Weitzman, PhD is a life coach and coaching researcher. She holds a PhD in developmental psychology. Dr. Weitzman served for many years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School where she conducted research on communication issues in healthcare. She also delivered communication skills and career development workshops to Harvard faculty. In addition to running her life coaching practice, Dr. Weitzman is currently the Principal Investigator on a National Institutes of Health-funded study on coaching and health. She is also working on a book entitled: Thinkaholic Mom: Using Quaker Wisdom to Stop Stressing about your Children. She can be reached at: pat.weitzman@gmail.com or 617-455-5976. Her website is: www.patwcoach.com.
My coaching client Lisa has all the symptoms of thinkaholism. She’s a perfectionist who never seems to be satisfied with how things are, no matter how good things get. There is always something else to be analyzed, fixed or improved. A 37-year-old married mother of two, Lisa has undergraduate and law degrees from an Ivy League university. She is an associate at a prestigious law firm in a major city, and makes an excellent living. Most weekends Lisa spends some time on work-related activities. As a result, she worries that her work success comes at the expense of her children’s well being. If she were a better mom, wouldn’t she have put her legal career on hold to stay at home like so many of her girlfriends from law school? Her husband wants to relocate to the suburbs. He thinks it would be a better place to raise their children. Lisa keeps reviewing the pros and cons of a move, but cannot make a decision. She often stays up past midnight reading the latest books on childrearing. Sleep is sometimes difficult because her mind is always revved. Work, kids, husband, home, work, kids …around and around it goes. Lisa came into coaching because her 11-year-old daughter started getting stomachaches on the morning of tests or school events. She fears that some of her own perfectionistic habits may have rubbed off on her daughter, and wants to let go of them. Creating a more balanced life was another high priority goal for Lisa.
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|  January 2010
Law Practice
Editor’s Note: Maxine Sushelsky is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) providing individual and group psychotherapy services in Arlington, MA. Her focus is working with people experiencing depression, anxiety, grief and loss; as well as transitions in a relationship, career, education, or life stage such as early adulthood or midlife. She is also an attorney. Her website is www.transitionstherapist.com
Do you have difficulty finding balance in your life? Do you neglect your own needs in the service of your work? Do your personal relationships take a backseat to obligations of the job? Do friends and family complain that conversations with you feel more like cross examination?
Lawyers, as a profession, are at a high risk for depression, suicide and substance abuse. The behaviors required for success in the law can be contrary to those that contribute to mental health, a sense of well-being and satisfying interpersonal relationships. In broad terms, legal work often calls for suppressing one’s emotions, involvement in relationships imbued with conflict; unrealistic self-expectations and a lack of balance between work and interpersonal relationships and leisure which are all behaviors that tend to contribute to depression, isolation, stress and anxiety.
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|  February 2010
What Comes Through The Door
Editor’s Note: Cawthorne Crafton, is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and author of many books, including Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet as well as the celebrated Almost Daily eMo. She was rector of St. Clement's Church in Manhattan's Theatre district. She was also a chaplain on the waterfront of New York, and served both historic Trinity Church, Wall Street and St. John's Church in Greenwich Village. She was a chaplain at Ground Zero during the recovery effort after the WTC bombing.
An actress, director and producer, she has worked for many years in combining the lively arts and the life of faith. Her books, articles, and radio scripts have won many awards, including numerous Polly Bond Awards from Episcopal Communicators and the coveted Gabriel Award for religious broadcasting. She is seen frequently on television both as a preacher and as a commentator on Hallmark's "New Morning" and "America at Worship," and has been profiled extensively in electronic and print media throughout the world.
Barbara Crafton is married to Richard Quaintance, sometimes better known simply as "Q", a professor of English literature. She has two children and two grandchildren.
Sometimes work is the only thing I can do, and I can’t seem to stop doing it. There’s something hamsterlike about me at those times: working, working, working but, at the same time, seeming not to accomplish much of anything. But not today; I seem to have used up all my consciousness, along with all the tissue in the house. I can't seem to lift even one thought. Frustrating—I mean, it would be frustrating, but frustration takes energy, and I can't seem to sustain a head of it for very long. I used to imagine that the cognitive part of my brain stood alone—what difference should my threadbare feelings make in how I think? But no again. A sad-to-indifferent brain can’t think right. Mine is either too fast or too slow. I must be missing a gear.
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|  March 2010
To Tell Or Not To Tell Your Boss: Bipolar And Depression In The Workplace
Editor’s Note: Therese Borchard writes Beyond Blue: A Spiritual Journey To Mental Health on Beliefnet.com.
Just when I think our world has moved a baby step in the right direction regarding our understanding of mental illness, I get another blow that tells me otherwise. For example, I awhile back I quoted an intelligent woman who wrote an article in a popular women's magazine about dating a bipolar guy when she was bipolar herself. She recently discovered that she had jeopardized a job prospect because the article came up—as well as all those who referenced it, like Beyond Blue—when you Googled her name. So she requested everyone who picked up that article to go back and change her real name to a pseudonym.
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|  April 2010
Healing Your Deprssion By Managing Your Thoughts
Editor’s Note: Dr. Eric Levin is a clinical psychologist providing individual and couples psychotherapy in Philadelphia, PA. His focus is working with people experiencing depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He also helps clients navigate career and relationship transitions. His website is www.levintherapy.com.
If research psychologists studying depression wanted to create an environment that encouraged depressive symptoms to fester, they might just as well start a law firm.
In 1971, Philip Zimbardo conducted his prison experiment at Stanford University. Psychologically healthy undergraduates were randomly assigned to two groups, Guards or Prisoners. Participants quickly internalized their roles, with guards and prisoners becoming increasingly sadistic and masochistic, respectively, with the help of certain aspects of the experiment’s design. For instance, guards were given batons and wore mirrored sunglasses to prevent eye contact; prisoners were dressed in uncomfortable clothing and addressed by prisoner number only. The experiment was terminated early, as subjects’ behavior became drastic: guards became increasingly abusive, and prisoners became increasingly willing to take the abuse. Many years later, Zimbardo’s experiment found renewed fame when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, and our country sought to understand how something like this could happen.
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|  May 2010
Achieving A Soft And Spacious Mind
Editor’s Note: Dr. Joseph Goldstein is one of the founders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of many best-selling books, including Insight Meditation and Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. He travels all over world giving meditation retreats, lecturing and teaching.
In teaching meditation we often advise students to develop a “soft and spacious mind.” But once when I used that phrase while teaching in Australia, I found that “soft mind” meant to people there something quite different from what I had intended. So it seems important to elucidate what we mean.
What we mean by “soft and spacious mind” is the quality of acceptance. For example, suppose you are watching your breath in meditation and you feel a sense of struggle or tension. The feeling of struggle may be a sign that something else is happening in your experience that you are not recognizing or allowing.
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|  June 2010
Depressingly Easy
Editor’s Note: Dr. Eric Levin is a
clinical psychologist providing individual and couples psychotherapy in Philadelphia, PA. His focus is working with people experiencing depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He also helps clients navigate career and relationship transitions. His website is www.levintherapy.com.
If research psychologists studying depression wanted to create an environment that encouraged depressive symptoms to fester, they might just as well start a law firm.
In 1971, Philip Zimbardo conducted his prison experiment at Stanford University. Psychologically healthy undergraduates were randomly assigned to two groups, Guards or Prisoners. Participants quickly internalized their roles, with guards and prisoners becoming increasingly sadistic and masochistic, respectively, with the help of certain aspects of the experiment’s design. For instance, guards were given batons and wore mirrored sunglasses to prevent eye contact; prisoners were dressed in uncomfortable clothing and addressed by prisoner number only. The experiment was terminated early, as subjects’ behavior became drastic: guards became increasingly abusive, and prisoners became increasingly willing to take the abuse. Many years later, Zimbardo’s experiment found renewed fame when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, and our country sought to understand how something like this could happen.
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