My Battle Within, Part III

The conclusion of on clinical trial participants's journey to recovery from depression

This is the final part of a story written by Jon Rosenberg, an author who your editor, Owen Scott Muir, M.D., DFAACAP, met in the context of running a clinical trial site for a multicenter FDA-approval trial. I will do a summary of Part I and Part II, to catch everyone up:

Jon’s battle with depression began in early 2007 while he was a student at Rutgers, though in reality, he had already been quietly suffering throughout most of high school. When the depression took hold, it was unlike anything before—a collapse of motivation, joy, and identity, marked by a level of emotional pain that defied easy explanation. Over the years, he endured multiple episodes, each one deepening his understanding of how isolating and destructive depression could be, even as he tried everything—medications, therapy, substances, and denial—to survive. From heavy drinking to self-medicating with marijuana, from strained social interactions to long stretches of isolation, he stumbled through college and young…