How Genetic Testing Saved My Life from Debilitating Clinical Depression

The psychologist’s qualifications are proudly displayed in frames on his wall: a doctorate in clinical psychology, board certifications in clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology. Maybe this means he can help me. I need an expert on the human mind to help me figure out why mine cannot cooperate, why consciousness has become so unbearable for me.   I am sitting on the couch in his office. He sits in his desk chair, awaiting my gaze to meet his. When I do, he delivers his first question: “Have you been considering suicide?” I am at the brink of desperation, and I figure I must be totally honest for him to help me. “Yes,” I say.   “Do you know what suicide is?” he asks. He does not wait for my response. Instead, he lifts two middle fingers and pushes them toward my face. “Suicide is this to your family.” In that moment, I had not yet learned the genetic and chemical causes of my depressive episode. Fires ignited on my cheeks, and I felt the intensity of the shame and self-blame that is reserved for people whose chemical deficits are in their brains, as opposed to their pancreas or any other organ in the body. While interacting with this “educated” clinical neuropsychologist, I felt sub-human, as if I had committed an egregious sin that warranted punishment rather than medical attention. Of course, I was well aware of the cultural stigma against people with mental illness, especially psychiatric in-patients, as I was at the time, but condemn...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Antidepressants Depression Genetics Medications Mood Stabilizers Neuroscience Personal Stories Self-Esteem Stigma Suicide Treatment Blame Clinical Depression Compassion Disease Model Dopamine Genetic Research genetic test Source Type: news