Dr. Daniel Amen has a crazy idea.

He believes that traditional psychiatry, rather than merely discussing the issues pertaining to mental disorders, could be improved with the help of images of the brain, among other innovations.

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One August evening, I was heading home from a friend’s barbecue in New York City, a few drinks deep, enjoying the warm hug of humidity on my bare arms. The sun had just dipped below the horizon but the sky was bright. Cars whipped by me. My apartment was a few blocks away. Suddenly, a man’s rough hand was pinching my throat shut. He turned me around and forced his lips on mine, restraining my arm with his free hand. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream, couldn’t kick or hit because of the angle at which he held my body. I wrenched my head, bit his lips and tongue, wheezed and gasped for air. After what felt like an eternity, a car with a young couple in it stopped, the man threw me down and ran north, and I ran south, blindly, not hearing my own panicked screams.

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Depression and other aspects of mental health are being discussed more openly now than ever before, thanks in part to celebrities like Michelle Williams, Demi Lovato, and Kristen Bell sharing their own experiences. But its long-held status as a taboo topic means that not everyone understands the symptoms of depression when compared to the kind of temporary emotional low that everyone goes through sometimes. Here’s how to tell if you’re experiencing a temporary slump or a form of clinical depression, and advice for approaching both.

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When Sharon R.* was about ten years old, she was in a swimming pool with her family and suddenly couldn’t feel the water around her. “I was surrounded by dozens of other kids and their parents,” she recalls. “But even with my head above water, their voices weren’t entering my ears and my brain wasn’t comprehending them. I just observed people in the pool without feeling the sensation of ‘wet’ around me.”
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DOES YOUR STOMACH clench or get flooded with butterflies when you’re facing a looming work deadline? Do you fret at your desk over an upcoming performance review? If you have to give a PowerPoint presentation to a client or co-workers, do you become so filled with anxiety that you find it hard to concentrate on your tasks?

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