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Laura Cyckowski's picture

depression, stories, fuschia dots

Thanks, Anne, for posting what you read on Saturday, it is very beautiful. I especially liked that you touched on his notion of depression as productive. In the spirit of story sharing, a (short) story... I've been thinking a lot about how much I learned from him—about science & inquiry, "getting it less wrong", storytelling & revising, meaning making, play, thinking broadly, inter/transdisciplinary collaboration, the brain/behavior, the conscious/unconscious, a comfort in chance & randomness... I could go on and on. I think, though, that of everything I learned from him, I've come to learn the most about myself/my brain. We spent a lot of time talking about mental health and, in particular, about depression. With his help and through ours and others' conversations, we/I were able to come to a better and more productive understanding of depression... as "adaptive", a period of unconscious revision necessary for continued evolution of the self—a story that is definitely "different" and perhaps "difficult", but one that he felt was very much worth sharing and one that I found truly valuable in helping me understand and re-conceive my own depression. He and I also talked frequently about the need for more "fuschia dots" in mental health and it his him and these conversations that have shaped my career aspirations. There is so much that I owe to him and I will sorely miss him.

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