Navigating the Dark Waters of Depression
I recognized I needed help.
Before Medicare would cover psychologist visits, I had to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. He diagnosed me as having PTSD (from childhood issues) and Clinical Depression. I went weekly to the psychologist without the results I thought I needed. I was still depressed and had issues with my life as it had evolved while I aged.
My primary care physician put me on Zoloft and gradually increased it to 100 mg daily saying it was not “that high” of a dose.
However, I still had issues but lately I’ve discovered other ways to lift myself out of the dark place of Clinical Depression.
I began my battle with Depression at sixteen — as an overweight teen with a racist father and a teen whose hero was President Kennedy. November 22, 1963 sent me into a downward spiral. I decided the world was no longer safe and I hated my life, including my father who had said for months that Kennedy needed to be shot.
The feeling continued until one Sunday evening in February 1964, while watching Ed Sullivan, I found myself, smiling, laughing and bouncing to the music I was hearing. I’d fallen in love — with four lads from Liverpool. Over the coming years, the songs of the Beatles (together and as solo artists) became the theme of my life and still are sixty years later. At…
