Interviewee: Ms. T. E.

Arnold Organization Affiliation: Narcotics Anonymous Date of Interview: 4/6/2013 Interviewer: Deborah Russell

I interviewed Ms. Arnold, a 59 year-old female who was diagnosed with depression eight years ago. When I read her some of the signs of depression, she commented she felt she was probably depressed as a young adult. She stated as a teen, she slept a lot, had funky moods for long periods, was anti-social, suspicious of others motives, and did not trust anyone. She was often confrontational and argumentative. She remembered having negative attitudes towards parental discipline and those in authority. She had thoughts of ending it all but threw herself into her first husbands band, which kept her symptoms at bay covered with alcohol and drugs. She eventually lost her job and her husband to a friend and eventually served time in prison, accused by her employer. She seems to fit the cookie cutter model of depression as described by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) (NIMH, 2011). She currently takes daily prescribed medication for depression. Even though she takes medication, she stated she still sometimes has to call her assigned sponsors to help her work through depressive moods when they flood her mind. If she does not seek help, she feels she will revert to her old ways of dealing with lifes challenges which was partying, smoking, drugs and alcohol. The 12-step program that she is currently enrolled in requires weekly meeting attendance, contact with assigned sponsors, no drug or alcohol use, random urine test, and monitoring the company she keeps. The program provides an apartment with utilities included at an income-based rate, if employed. If not, no rental fee is required. There are places to get food

and clothing if you need them as well. This program provides her basic needs to eliminate reasons for depression, which could contribute to reverting to old habits. Even though she religiously practices her faith, at times admits she feels like killing herself when facing obstacles. Now, she calls her a sponsor, friend or relative to get over the depressive moods. She has attempted suicide at least three times in the past and was angry with God when she was resuscitated in the hospital and discovered she was still alive. In the past she was homeless. She was married previously because they men had a place to stay, food stamps and a monthly check. These marriages went sour because the men were both receiving checks for mental disorders, including depression, and would periodically take un-prescribed drugs, drink alcohol or stop taking their prescribed medications altogether because they prevented sexual performance. The husband before her current one just flipped out one day when he was off of his meds. She woke up to see him standing over her and starring at her and saying he could have killed her in her sleep. She fled and lived from pillar-to-post until she met her current husband who was already enrolled in the program and guided her through the steps so that she could get help and a place to live. She is currently a student at Georgia State majoring in Accounting. She now facilitates the meetings and is a sponsor for others in the program. With her faith, medication, school and support group, she stated she takes life step-bystep and one day at a time. She has learned not to take a well state of mind for granted. Ms. Arnold is currently practicing recommendations that I would suggest. I could recommend trying other programs, since she has been with the same one for eight years, and maybe gain some new perspective and insight to become more self-reliant. Sometime programs become crushes. Depression. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). U.S. Department of Health& Human Institute of Health. 2011. NIH Publication No. 11-3561. <http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml>