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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