A Graduate Student with Periods of Depression

Abstract

Susan Taylor (not her own name) was a 42-year-old married mother of five children at the time of sampling. She was a graduate student, and was recruited to participate in the study because she had a history of depressive episodes. While she did not have a clear recollection of the onset of depression, she could recall a depression-spawned suicidal gesture as early as age 14. Episodes of depression had occurred periodically thereafter, gradually becoming severe enough by age 37 to render her incapable of performing routine household chores for a period of three months, and she was subsequently suicidal. At the beginning of that period she had sought professional help, began taking the antidepressant medication Elavil (later Desyrel), and began seeing a psychotherapist regularly about a year later. Serious depressive episodes still occasionally occurred, with the most recent serious episode, an agitated depression with suicidal ideation, taking place about 18 months before the present study began and one month after she had discontinued medication. Since that time, Susan had experienced considerably less depression, except for occasional depressive periods. She had continued occasional binge eating, which had been an ongoing problem throughout these periods. She had discontinued taking antidepressant medication 19 months before sampling and had not resumed.