Article December 30, 2013 ISSUE

Mental health—on whose terms?

Iain Napier

It was the third night since I’d received my prescription for tranquilizers and sleeping pills, which were to be taken both daily and nightly. I was not a student of Christian Science at the time. I was 17 years old, at boarding school, and increasingly unable to function normally.

“I’ve been diagnosed with depression,” I thought to myself. “Can I seriously think of anything more depressing than taking pills for depression?”