Elizabeth, a married 42 year old female with two children, presented to my office for the first time. She described how, over the past several months, she had become increasingly unable to “deal with life.” She reported feeling sad, hopeless at times, not finding things like her kids’ soccer games or date nights with her husband enjoyable and trouble getting out of bed in the mornings, despite getting around 10 hours of sleep a night. Her appetite was erratic and she would sometimes go more than 24 hours without eating “because I forget to eat,” while other days she found herself binging on carbs and sweets. Elizabeth told me she had never considered herself to be a “sad” person and feeling like this was making her “feel like I’m going crazy.” She tearfully admitted that she sometimes fantasized about driving her car off of the interstate “just so I wouldn’t have to feel like this anymore. Of course, I’d never do that. I have two kids whom I love too much to ever do anything like that. Still the thoughts come and they scare me.”

We decided she would start seeing a therapist weekly and would also begin medication to help her manage her depression. Elizabeth was cautious but willing to give it a try. Six weeks after starting therapy and an antidepressant, Elizabeth was back in my office. “I feel lighter. I’m not sleeping as much but I seem to have more energy during the day. I’m learning to challenge some of my negative thinking patterns in therapy and that’s been hard but helpful. And I haven’t had thoughts of wanting to die in over 3 weeks, which is such a relief.” Elizabeth continued her treatment plan and within 4 months, reported such fantastic improvements in her mood that she asked to come off the medication. She was advised to continue it for a few more months, decreasing her chance of relapse later. She agreed and, after 12 months on medication and completing her therapy program, she was able to successfully wean off the medication without return of any symptoms. “I have my life back and I actually like it again. I love watching my kids play sports and my husband and I have date night every Friday night, which I look forward to all week. That’s worth everything to me.”