When Depression Kills from Fox News by Dr. Keith Ablow

Hegel’s tragic story may, as much as anyone’s, demonstrate the fine line between psychiatric disorders and violent behavior. We don’t know whether Hegel suffered with major depression or psychotic thinking, but some of the students he held hostage noted that he seemed depressed and that he didn’t seem to have any clear goal in mind when he brandished two handguns, shot up a film projector, then refused to let them leave their classroom. [...] When depression takes hold, mood falls, sometimes dramatically, and anxiety levels often rise precipitously. More trouble for one’s state of mind comes as sleep becomes scarce (or excessive) and appetite falls off, triggering physiological changes that accelerate the disease process, making it impossible to concentrate and not infrequently convincing the depressed person that nothing will ever get better—only worse. He will never be able to work, never be able to learn, never have another friend, never have a romance, embarrass himself and his family and be a burden to everyone he once loved. Some depressed people have told me that they look at photos of their children and feel as though they are strangers. They feel utterly, completely alone, as though God has Himself forsaken them. [...] I am one psychiatrist and—even without my work in forensics—I have treated a billionaire with depression who believed he was utterly penniless and wanted to die, a depressed woman who was convinced her son had been kidnapped and replaced by a masquerading double (who she thought she might need to kill), a college student who came to believe that his arms were not his own arms and needed to be severed (which was prevented), a depressed mother who wanted to kill her new baby, and a depressed business professional who was convinced the CIA was pursuing him and would ultimately kill him—if he didn’t kill them first. They all recovered. It took the right medicines and a deep and empathetic exploration of past psychological [...]

Read the article, "When Depression Kills," at Fox News. See also: Living the Truth: Transform Your Life Through the Power of Insight and Honesty, Inside the Mind of John Mark Karr, Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson