Depression

Now in my 70's, I can look back over my life and see some of the positive things that resulted from having experienced depression.

The dull ache of depression had lodged in my belly for several years like a sponge, soaking away the dopamine and serotonin from the rest of my body, buoyed only by, “it runs in the family,” from a generation that thought therapy, and especially medication, meant institutionalization and perhaps an eventual lobotomy.  

My father and I wrote IT SOUNDED BETTER IN MY HEAD — a fictional account of my mental health journey and my personal growth through music.  In a country, where it seems the majority of our youth are silently struggling with mental health, I think our story will resonate for a wide population as we all suffer together.

When I was 9-months pregnant with my second baby, I tried to find a children’s picture book to read with my nearly five-year-old about a family living with the most common condition after childbirth—postpartum depression—and was shocked to find no book like this in 2020. I set out to create a resource for the 1 in 7 women who will experience postpartum depression along with their families. 

“As traumatized children, we always dreamed that someone would come and save us. We never dreamed that it would, in fact, be ourselves as adults.” – Alice Little 

My name is Daneisha and I'm an African American woman who suffers from severe anxiety and stress. I was around 18 years old when I had my first panic attack. I couldn't breathe and it felt like I was going to die.

Most would agree that treating invasive cancer when it is still just the size of a mustard seed has a much better prognosis than waiting and treating it when it metastasizes into a larger, less curable disease. My cancer experience makes me more resolute about treating anxiety early. 

As I made connections between Buddhism and neuroscience, I realized they both shared a common insight: the need to retrain our brains and ourselves to value inner peace over fleeting pleasure, to find joy amidst challenges, and to discover happiness in the very process of living.