MSI Press Blog

  “My actions are the ground upon which I stand.” --Five Remembrances   “We Americans are suffering an epidemic of loneliness,” commentators observe. Many reasons are suggested for our social isolation: the pandemic, our obsession with social media, our excessive individualism, our competitiveness, and so forth. I can validate this assessment in my work as a clinical psychologist. Many of my patients complain: “I’m depressed and so lonely. I feel disconnected from others, and even from myself. I don’t know how to be intimate. I’m not comfortable in my own skin.” Of course, the antidote to loneliness is having good conversations, both with ourselves and with others. We experience a sense of joy and meaning in life when we feel close to those we love. Intimate relationships grow through our communicating with others at ever deeper levels about what matters to us. We listen with an open mind and heart and reveal our deepest thoughts and feelings. However, such closeness...

  When Doah was about fifteen months old—still sporting his tracheotomy, still fragile in all the ways that made our life both vigilant and strangely normal—we decided to spend a warm January in Florida with Donny’s grandparents. They had not yet met any of the children, and Lizzie was already nearly nine. It was time. And Pittsburgh in January offered plenty of motivation to head south, long before the rest of Donny’s family began their annual retiree migrations. So we packed up the car—three kids, medical supplies, catheters, suction equipment, diapers, toys, snacks, and the kind of determination only young parents with medically complex children can muster—and drove to Daytona Beach. Compared to the cross‑country hauls we would later make after moving to California, it wasn’t a long drive. But for a family with a child with spina bifida needing regular catheterization and a baby with a trach who required constant monitoring, it was long enough. We arrived in good time, introduce...

  Economic insecurity is not just about money. It is about the nervous system living in a state of perpetual “what if.” What if the job disappears. What if the rent rises. What if the car breaks down. What if one unexpected bill unravels the whole month. Depression often grows in the shadow of these uncertainties, where survival worries slowly become emotional burdens. What It Is Economic insecurity is the chronic stress of unstable income, unpredictable expenses, or insufficient financial cushion. It is the experience of living close to the edge — where every decision carries weight, and every setback feels personal. Even when people work hard, the ground beneath them can feel unsteady. How It Contributes to Depression Economic strain reshapes the emotional landscape. Chronic stress becomes baseline : The body stays in a heightened state of vigilance, wearing down resilience. Sense of agency erodes : When effort doesn’t reliably lead to stability, people begin to feel powerless. S...