Lawyer Depression

From the New York Law Journal via law.com comes a story about Daniel Lukasik, a lawyer in New York taking action to help create better opportunities for lawyers to battle depression.  Among other things, he has created a website www.lawyerswithdepression.com.

Here's a quote from the story (although from another attorney):

"Getting from the bed to the couch was sometimes all I could do," he said. "Getting my clothes on and brushing my teeth were huge obstacles. Before getting into my car and driving downtown, I'd sit in a chair for an hour, summoning my courage. Sometimes I'd turn around and come back home. Or I'd sit in my car for 45 minutes before going into the office. And when I got in, what would I do? I'd stare out the window."

One of the reasons I focus on well-being is that many of the approaches to increasing well-being have also been shown to decrease depression and the chance of relapse.  Further, since clinical depression is but one point along a downard slide, a focus on well-being can help attorneys who are losing productivity to depressive thinking and feeling, even if they are not "depressed" in a clinical sense.

All the best to Mr. Lukasik and those who are working with him!