Learning:

• National Institute on Mental Health has a lot of information about the science and treatment of depression
• Author William Styron describes his personal experience with major depression in a beautifully written book “Darkness visible: A memoir of madness”
• Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychologist and researcher of bipolar disorder, gives a compelling description of her personal experience with bipolar disorder in “An unquiet mind.” She has also written about great artists in history who suffered from bipolar disorder in “Touched with fire: manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament”
• The “Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression” by Andrew Salomon examines personal, cultural, and scientific aspects of depression. It won the 2001 National Book Award.
• Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) has information about many psychological disorders and conditions and evidence-based treatments
• A self-help book that is very popular and gives a cognitive-behavioral perspective of depression is “Feeling Good” by Dr. David Burns
• For a Buddhist touch on dealing with adversity, read any of Pema Chödrön’s books (e.g., “When things fall apart,” “The wisdom of no escape”)
• In the HBO series “Confessions” Mike Wallace, Martha Manning, and William Styron talk about their personal experiences with major depression.
• For research papers on depression, meditation, and emotion regulation, see
  • Wiveka’s Papers
  • Greg Siegle’s Pysch Lab
  • Stanford SPL Papers

Treatment:

• SF Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy in Oakland
• SF Counseling Center
• Sevitar, Dr. Wiveka Ramel’s psychotherapy practice in San Francisco: www.sevitar.com, 415-279-2519
• Berkeley psychology clinic
• Stanford psychiatry clinic (medication & psychotherapy), 415-498-9111
• Find a psychiatrist in San Francisco who can prescribe medication.
• Hotline for mental health services in San Francisco that links people to public and private mental health resources: Access 415-255-3737
• To find a psychologist who specializes in cognitive behavior therapy, use the following web sites where you can search for therapists in the whole country:
  • ABCT
  • ACT

Support groups:

• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, San Francisco: Jane 415-519-0171
• The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), San Francisco

Participate in research on mood, anxiety, sleep, emotion, memory

• Research on psychotherapy and meditation for social anxiety, CAAN at Stanford
• Research on treatment for insomnia and depression at Stanford (TRIAD). Study coordinator Katherine Taylor klilytay stanford.edu
• Research at Berkeley on stress, daily routines, sleep, and mood in bipolar disorder (click on ‘studies’ then ‘Daily Rhythms Study’), phone 510-643-3797
• Stanford mood and anxiety disorder laboratory (Dr. Gotlib)
• Stanford Depression Research Clinic (Dr. Schatzberg)
• Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory
• Berkeley Psychology Department
• Stanford Psychology Department

Here’s a good intro video:

As the video mentions, the disorder is classified when physical changes occur alongside the mood shift. e.g. weight loss, insomnia, not enjoying previously fun activities, along with the low mood, feelings of worthlessness, etc.

What is fascinating about depressive disorder is the perfect storm of conditions that generate occurrence….it’s a combination of genetic predisposition, some sort of stressful event, and then an inability to cope leading to physical changes in the brain. It’s an amazingly complex problem which explains the wide swath of treatments used (psychotherapy, antidepressants, electroshock, mindfulness, even transcranial magnetic therapy….the list goes on and on.)

BTW The video also mentions the serotonin theory of depression, which many see as incomplete theory to explain depression at this time.