I’m sitting here in my virtual living room with author Sharon Cathcart, to talk about psychological depression—which I’ve had my own experiences with, as you may know if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time.

Sharon has been a journalist, a newspaper editor, and an award-winning poet. Now, she’s authored a novel, In the Eye of the Beholder, as well as a memoir—more a collection of thoughts on various subjects—called Les Pensées Dangereuses, “Dangerous Thoughts."

Hi, Sharon.

Hi, Tim.

In Les Pensées Dangereuses, you talk about your experiences with depression. Some people think depression means that your brain has basically shut down, that you’re not even thinking anymore.

Not at all. Everyone’s experience is different, but in my case—and in the case of many people whose work I have read or with whom I have spoken—the opposite was true. I couldn’t stop thinking. There were so many ideas whirling around in my head, like a carousel that was out of control. None of the ideas had a chance to get off and stand on their own. It is easy under those circumstances to feel overwhelmed and helpless—as though starting any task, even a tiny bit of it, is monumental and impossible because of the relentless thinking. Much of the thinking in depression is distorted to boot—it doesn’t bear up with the reality of situations in many cases.