My New Podcast: Depression: Whether to Medicate Or Not?

I just had a 20 minute conversation with transformationalist Susan Gold, former film and TV producer, script coordinator, and now healer of souls, on her podcast Gold Conversations. In it, I talk about my experience as someone with a mood disorder (unipolar depression), and how, after five episodes of depression over my life (my first one was at age 13), I finally managed, with help from my therapist, to put together a program of healing strategies that have kept me depression free for the past 17 years. So that others can benefit from what I’ve learned, I’ve written about this program in my book The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Neurodivergent Brain (Completely Revised and Updated Second Edition). I call it ”positive niche construction” and in the podcast share some of the specific strategies I use to keep the ”black dog” (Winston Churchill’s expression for his depression) at bay, including mindfulness meditation, environmental modification (which includes adjust sleep cycles, working area etc.), and assistive technologies like mood tracker apps. I also talk about depression medications, which I fought against for years because of the way they immobilized and took all of the zip out of my pediatrician father (who had depression for many years) taking Thorazin and other antiquated drugs. Eventually, though, after not sleeping for five years during a trip to Europe, I bit the bullet and tried them and they made a huge difference in my sleep cycle and mood (right now I’m taking four psychoactive medications). At any rate, I hope you enjoy the podcast. Click on this link and it will take you to the You Tube conversation.