Testing Depression:
A journey through severe depression, hospitalization, and medication.

If this is your first time here, you might want to read in reverse order, from the beginning. "Testing Depression" is my true story about being hospitalized for depression.

A quick summary up to this point:

I arrived at the hospital in a police car. I was examined by the entry nurse, and then by a doctor on the unit. I met two nurses, Meg and Dorothy, and two other patients, Charlie and Louisa. I was on fifteen-minute checks. I struggled to remember the causes of my depression. My only medication at this point was Ortho-Tricyclen (birth control pills).

Louisa jumped up. “Let’s go and get some food,” she said, as she took Charlie’s arm.

Charlie shook her off his arm, and the three of us followed the rest of the patients. They had already begun to form a line leading to the table with all the food. It was buffet-style.

I have hardly any memory of the food that was served during my stay at the hospital. I wish I could offer descriptions of it, but I cannot. I tend to forget about negative experiences, so that’s probably why.