I felt my ire rise when I read this article on CNN about how patients are giving their doctors headaches. Apparently, this video entitled “The Patient Who Knows Too Much”, which is part of a training program aimed at doctors to help them deal with “difficult patients,” has caused quite a stir.

I have nothing good to say about depression. Depression has robbed my life of some very special people. Ten years ago I lost my best friend, Clay Whitmer, to suicide after years of depression. My father’s alcoholism -- rooted in depression -- robbed me of a loving father growing up. And then there is my mom. Eleven years ago, she died of heart disease. Huh? Yes, as CNN recently reported, a new study shows a link between heart disease and depression and gloomy personalities.

At the risk of sounding completely self-absorbed or vain, I’m going to put this right out there as I see it. I was considered a Pretty Girl growing up, getting regular praise for something completely out of my control and not of my core self — and as a result, feeling strangely uncomfortable about it from a very young age on. Maybe I didn’t totally believe it, or more likely I saw it as a very small window of “opportunity” relative to my lifetime, and so I actively and deliberately chose to work on developing my personality, sense of humor and personal growth in multiple areas. I expect(ed) a lot of and for myself (as my mother drug-pushered onto me) attributing my talents to not hard but smart work.

But enough about me. This is what I think about us.