Depression Related Content

Seasonal Affective Disorder: It’s More Than Just “Feeling Blue”

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a fitting acronym for the condition, involves symptoms such as depressive moods , low energy, increased need for sleep, and irritability. Many factors contribute to developing SAD, including a person’s genetic predisposition, geographic location, and age...

McLean’s Guide to Managing Mental Health Around the Holidays

Elvis once crooned about feeling blue at Christmas time—and we’re here to tell you: It’s perfectly normal to feel that way. There are a variety of reasons why your days may not be merry and bright around the holiday season. It can be the jam-packed social calendar, deadlines at work, the loss of a...

Everything You Need To Know About Older Adult Mental Health

The world is aging. According to the World Health Organization , we can expect the over-60 population to double worldwide between 2015 and 2050. Considering 15% of these individuals struggle with some form of mental health disorder, and that neurological and mental issues account for more than 6% of...

Everything You Need To Know About Grief and Loss

Grief and loss can prove suffocating for those who are impacted by them, especially at first. Most people have at least some experience with grief, whether first- or second-hand, and understand how loss can affect the person who goes through it. Even those of us who have very little personal...

Everything You Need To Know About Depression

Feeling sadness is normal, especially when facing difficult circumstances or dealing with loss. Some of us even feel glum when it’s just a cloudy day. But for many people, this dark feeling can be intense and overwhelming. It can cause you to feel hopeless and helpless and can carry on for weeks...

The Benefits of Taking a Mental Health Day

From time to time, everyone needs what many have coined a “mental health day.” It’s a day off from work, a day away from screens and other obligations, or a little time to escape the pressures and frustrations of everyday life. “We all have a point at which we get overwhelmed, we’re engaging in...

Myth Busting: Spreading the Truth About ECT

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been around since the late 1930s, and it has been clear from the beginning that it is an effective treatment for patients with certain types of mental illness, including severe depression , severe mania, and catatonia. Despite this potential to provide dramatic...

Why ECT Is Becoming a Preferred Depression Treatment

Brian Neville had a good life. A one-time bodybuilder, he was 43, a successful businessman in the tanning industry, with a home in Massachusetts and a vacation condo in Florida. Then one morning in 2006 he woke up with the blues . It developed into a persistent darkness that just would not go away...

ECT Treatment: A History of Helping Patients

Dr. Stephen Seiner, ECT expert, and Terry A. Bragg, MSLS, MA, McLean Hospital historian and archivist, share the history behind electroconvulsive therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is used to treat patients with certain types of mental illness, including severe depression , severe mania, and...

Staff Profile: Hannah Lawrence, PhD

Hannah Lawrence, PhD, graduated with her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Maine, completing her internship at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Her research examines the role of mental imagery in the etiology and treatment of mood disorders. She has a...

Staff Profile: Brian W. Boyle, MD

Brian W. Boyle, MD, is a staff psychiatrist at McLean Hospital’s Psychiatric Neurotherapeutics Program, where he cares for patients with treatment-resistant depression using ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). He is interested in the treatment of patients who struggle with both mood and...

Staff Profile: Kristin McCarthy, MSW, LICSW

Kristin McCarthy, MSW, LICSW, began her career working with individuals and families struggling with eating disorders. She developed an interest in providing individual and group therapy and family support for those in higher levels of care. Ms. McCarthy joined the McLean Hospital social work float...

Staff Profile: Christine L. Picard, MSN, PMHCNS-BC

Christine L. Picard, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, started her career at McLean Hospital in 1987 as a registered nurse on an inpatient unit. She continued her work with adolescent inpatients at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute while completing her advanced degree as a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist. She...

Staff Profile: Jessica Margolis, LICSW, MPH

Jessica Margolis, LICSW, MPH, is the lead clinical social worker on the Short Term Unit at McLean Hospital. She interned at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center at McLean Hospital and worked on the Short Term Unit South before moving into her current role. Ms. Margolis is also a trainee in the adult...

Staff Profile: Sandra Nasabzadeh, LICSW

Sandra Nasabzadeh, LICSW, has worked in the field of social work for ten years in Massachusetts, Washington DC, and Maryland. She began her career providing in-home family therapy and mentoring to families across the south shore of Massachusetts. As part of her graduate program, she completed...

Staff Profile: Robert C. Meisner, MD

Robert C. Meisner, MD, is the medical director of the Ketamine Service in the Psychiatric Neurotherapeutics Program at McLean Hospital and an attending psychiatrist in the Acute Psychiatric Service at Massachusetts General Hospital. He graduated from Princeton Summa cum laude and attended Harvard...

Staff Profile: Karen Monroe, MD

Karen Monroe, MD, has been the medical director of McLean Hospital’s Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic since 2004. She also serves as the child and adolescent psychiatrist for the 3East DBT Outpatient Clinic at McLean. A dedicated teacher, Dr. Monroe coordinates the Child Outpatient Rotation...

Staff Profile: Hayley Parét, MSN, PMHNP-BC

Hayley Parét, MSN, PMHNP-BC, is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Breaking the barriers of traditional nursing practice, Ms. Parét is one of the first nurse practitioners to become both an ECT and ketamine provider at McLean’s Psychiatric Neurotherapeutics Program. Ms...

Staff Profile: Michael Grocki, MA, BSN

Michael Grocki, MA, BSN, is the nurse director of the Short Term Unit, where he supervises the inpatient nursing care of adults with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses, including mood disorders. He specializes in the nursing care of adults with depression, anxiety, and personality disorders in an...

Staff Profile: Arkadiy L. Maksimovskiy, PhD

Arkadiy L. Maksimovskiy, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist with a research focus on positive emotions. His goal is twofold: to find out what happens in the brain when positive affect goes awry, and to identify ways in which positive emotions can boost resilience towards negative events. Dr...