Mark Lukach and his wife were doing what most twenty-something couples are doing a few years into a marriage: They were building their careers and planning a family. Until the night he got a glimpse into a future that would be different than the one they’d imagined.
Category Archives: Resiliency
Charles Hamilton Talks Overcoming Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Charles Hamilton’s last attempt at rap superstardom ended with him finding out he was dropped from Interscope Records via the Internet. A supposedly playful rap battle of him and his on-and-off girlfriend on video concluded with him getting punched, and later, headlines surfaced of the promising rapper/producer undergoing psychiatric treatment. In a new interview with Billboard, Hamilton’s mother and members from his new management team detail how he got back on track.
For Younger Adults, Unemployment May Triple the Risk of Depression
Unemployment isn’t just bad for your bank account. It can also do serious damage to mental health – especially for younger adults who are just starting out in life, new research shows.
Grandmother Picks Up the Pieces After Family Decimated by Heroin
Andrea and Michael Frick broke free of their heroin addiction on Independence Day — free of the gnawing need, the dope sickness, the shame, the guilt. But they paid for that freedom with their lives.
Amid Rising Concern About Addiction, Universities Focus on Recovery
In murder mystery novels, when the hero, a private detective or homicide cop, drops by a late-night Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to stave off a sudden craving for a beer or two or 20, it’s usually in some dingy church basement or dilapidated storefront on the seedier side of town. There’s a pot of burnt coffee and a few stale doughnuts on a back table.
Clues to Autism, Schizophrenia Emerge
A new understanding of the brain’s cerebellum could lead to new treatments for people with problems caused by some strokes, autism and even schizophrenia.
Army Substance-Abuse Program in Disarray
Twenty thousand soldiers who seek help each year at Army substance-abuse clinics encounter a program in such disarray that thousands who need treatment are turned away and more than two dozen others linked to poor care have spiraled into suicide, a USA TODAY investigation has found.
Julio Salazar is Running Across Minnesota to Inspire Conversations about Mental Illness
It took Julio Salazar years to figure out how to treat his depression. Now that he’s discovered a strategy that works for him, he wants to tell as many people as possible.
Leashing the Black Dog
Depression runs in my family. I grew up hearing stories and seeing family members sink into low moods for extended periods of time. When I was in high school, the “black dog,” as Winston Churchill called it, finally paid a visit to me. It was the spring semester of my senior year. (Between 20 and 30 years old is when most people experience their first major depressive episode; at 18, I was about on schedule.) I had been super busy balancing AP classes, student council, church youth activities, and work. I guess all the stress caught up to me (research shows that prolonged periods of intense stress can set off a depressive episode). At first I thought it was just burnout, something I had experienced and recovered from before. But as the weeks passed, I started feeling more and more down. There came a point when I just felt emotionally numb. I didn’t feel sad or happy — just gray from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. Motivation was non-existent. Simply going through the motions of school and work was an exercise in pure will. I just wanted to stay in bed and not do anything.
Battling America’s Other PTSD Crisis
The fight that started Keith Davis on a path to a new life began when he was buying marijuana. It was early afternoon on Aug. 8. As he tells it, he was in at his usual hangout in North Central Philadelphia, in front of an abandoned church at 18th and Ridge. He was taking too long mulling over his purchase, and another man got impatient and told him to go buy his stuff somewhere else.