Depression

The Orioles' new shortstop, with the movie star looks and the West Coast ease, hasn't been hard to find the past four weeks. On most mornings, he turns his chair around at his corner locker and faces a roomful of new teammates. He interacts with fellow infielders, accepts challenges at the pingpong table and takes in the culture in his third big league clubhouse in as many years. This is J.J. Hardy in his element. This is also in stark contrast with the person he became seven years ago when a shoulder injury jeopardized a promising career before it had really even started.

Like the best Italian mothers, Rose Savalino Uddeme spent a lot of time cooking for her kids when the family lived off the corner of Central and Eastern avenues on the edge of Little Italy in the 1960s. One of her go-to meals was a staple of hard times: an egg cracked into simmering tomato sauce thick with peas. "It was one of those growing-up meals," said Uddeme, 75, who waited tables in Little Italy and Highlandtown before retiring to Essex. "It was cheap. " A less frequent dish, something special when there was a little extra money in the grocery purse, was braciole.

It's been almost 13 years since Brandi Care Hicks tried to end her life, and the spiraling depression that engulfed it, by jumping from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. As she told parents of Arundel High School students about her near-tragedy Tuesday night, the Severna Park resident visibly choked up once — when speaking about the joys she would have missed had she lost her life that day. Hicks, 29, spoke about her ordeal during "Mind, Body and Soul: A Mental Health Awareness Evening," which focused on identifying stressors in teens' lives.

For Maryland's building industry, the good times may be coming back. The construction sector, which has been in the tank for the better part of five years, is on the verge of receiving a sizable infusion of money from recent decisions in Annapolis. Much to the chagrin of many Maryland motorists, the General Assembly has approved legislation to charge hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional gas taxes - money that will build new roads and transit systems. Also heading to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk is a $1 billion plan to build 15 new schools in Baltimore and renovate three dozen more.

Depression is one of the most common illnesses young people face, and as Melissa Healy's article ("Depressed teens mostly struggle alone" April 29) highlighted, far too many teenagers with the illness never receive adequate treatment. While identifying young people who are suffering is an essential step, larger issues remain. There is a tremendous stigma associated with mental illness. With the emergence of education and awareness campaigns around depression, many people now understand the signs and symptoms of the illness, but the negative connotations that come with the diagnosis remain.

My father has had trouble getting his blood pressure under control. His doctor has him on atenolol, reserpine, Accupril, Norvasc and hydrochlorothiazide. Dad is terribly depressed and can barely drag himself out of bed. As a result, his doctor prescribed Lexapro. Isn't this too much medication? Reserpine is notorious for causing severe depression. Treating it with an anti-depressant like Lexapro is not logical. A recent meta-analysis of atenolol in The Lancet (Nov. 6, 2004) "cast doubts on atenolol as a suitable drug for hypertensive patients."

I am appalled that The Baltimore Sun in its investigative zest has portrayed Baltimore Behavioral Health as a greedy, improperly diagnosing, non-caring and potentially criminal operation ( "Hooked on treatment," Nov. 7 and "Sheltered addicts, strained recovery," Nov. 8). What The Sun fails to realize is that when drug addicts finally seek treatment, they are desperate — they have ruined health and family life, job loss, financial crisis or criminal court order to be in treatment.

FUN GALORE, caterers to the avant-garde of chic, are happy to announce an entirely new party concept for our patrons. We call it the Depression Wingding and predict it will be the most exciting new thing to hit the fun scene since junk bonds.Be the first in your crowd to throw a Depression Wingding. Phone Fun Galore today for our amazingly low, low rates.Yes, low, low, low!Because remember, you'll be evoking the wonderful spirit of good old Depression days when men who had once built railroads actually stood on street corners, believe it or not, saying crazy things like, "Buddy, can you spare a dime?"

THANKSGIVING 1936.Fifty-five years ago, Nov. 26, 1936, Baltimore was reeling from the Depression. Unemployment was high. Across the Atlantic, Hitler's menace was sensed but not fully realized.Ruxton suits were reduced to $18 at Stewart's.Molly Picon was on stage at the Hippodrome. On the screen at the Hipp -- Irene Dunne, "who makes 'My Man Godfrey' and 'Mr. Deeds' both look like sissies," according to the Hipp ad. Dunne was starring in "Theodora Goes Wild."The Gas & Electric Co. was advertising the "1937" Zenith radio, "the radio a year ahead of its time," for $52.95.

Four months ago my wife had a heart attack followed by coronary bypass surgery. She recovered well from the heart attack, the bypass operation was a success, the cardiologist placed no restrictions on her and she has had no further chest pain. Yet, she feels tired and listless, appears sad and discouraged, has trouble sleeping and lacks the energy to return to her former activities. Do you have any suggestions?From your description it sounds like your wife is suffering from a significant episode of depression (often referred to as clinical or major depression)

100 Years Ago Yankee Doodle Dandy "Ford's Grand Opera House: Week, February 24th, Cohan and Harris offer, a new satirical comedy, The Children of Today, by Clara Lipman and Samuel Shipman. Representative Company. "Children of Today, a play which will appeal to all classes and to every parent, is a modern satirical comedy full of fun and good sense, entertaining from start to finish. It is by Clara Lipman and Samuel Shipman and produced under the auspices of Messrs Cohan and Harris.

Scientists who study sleep understand that light has a dark side, because it can interrupt natural rhythms, causing the mood and learning problems that go with lack of rest. Johns Hopkins University researchers have taken the understanding a step further and to a cellular level, finding that exposure to bright light at night appears to create these problems by itself, even apart from sleep patterns. Since the research was published online weeks ago in the journal Nature, biology professor Samer Hattar, who led the research team, has been much in demand as a speaker.

In reading Dan Rodricks ' article, "Shadows of doubt - the life and death of Mike Flanagan" (Aug. 18), I was deeply touched not only by Mr. Rodricks' sensitivity and understanding of major depression but also of his love and caring for Mike Flanagan. I certainly was a fan of Mike Flanagan when he pitched at Memorial Stadium during the long hot summers in Baltimore and entertained his fans with his athleticism, ball control and professionalism. I later enjoyed his television baseball broadcasting.

"Did you ever notice Mike when he came off the mound after a good inning?" asks Alex Flanagan, widow of the Orioles Hall-of-Famer who committed suicide a year ago. "He always had his head down. " That provokes a vivid memory of No. 46, the smart pitcher who studied all and fooled many of the 11,684 batters he faced over 18 major league seasons. He was the long-haired lefty with a mustache who won the American League Cy Young Award in the Orioles' 1979 World Series season. He was all business on the mound, and Alex is correct about Mike's demeanor during his walk to the dugout after most of his 2,770 innings: head down, serious, pondering what he had just done well or not so well.

"My friend down there, she was wondering: Are you alone?" -- random blonde to Don Draper It was a somehow infuritatly quiet end to the season. Sorry to those who had Pete Campbell killing himself as a sure bet in your office pool. That didn't happen. Though he was punched again. Twice. Still, there was a beauty in the understated season finale. Though I expected something a bit more major to happen (perhaps Don and Megan breaking up? Perhaps her revealing she's not really French or that she, in fact, really loves Howard Johnson)

On Thursday, the entire staffs of 38 Studios and Big Huge Games were given pink slips. The company, which released “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” (which I reviewed in February ), was in partnership with the state of Rhode Island to bring jobs into the state and give former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling's 38 Studios fuel to evolve into a big-time game developer. The company was in the midst of developing a project called “Copernicus,” an MMORPG based in the same universe as “Amalur.” Big Huge Games, based in Timonium, became a subsidiary of 38 Studios almost three years ago to the day. The Sun's Gus Sentementes was over at Big Huge ' s offices before being booted out today , but it seems the entire teams at both companies have indeed been let go. WPRI has an exce llent timeline of how the tax credit and loan between the state of Rhode Island and 38 Studios developed.

People who have experienced depression are especially vulnerable to nicotine addiction and have a particularly hard time quitting smoking, according to new research that suggests that many people use smoking as a form of "self-medication" against anxiety and pain.The findings are considered important because of the dire health consequences of smoking and the difficulties of smoking cessation. The research suggests that for some people, it may be unrealistic to expect to quit smoking without first being treated for depression.

Thursday is National Depression Screening Day, marked by various Baltimore-area health services offering free screenings for depression, which affects 16 million Americans. To find a screening near you, call 800-573-4433.The screenings, intended to gauge need for further evaluation, involves taking the following questionnaire, developed by Dr. Douglas G. Jacobs of Wellesley, Mass., director of National Depression Screening Day. It is designed to be used in conjunction with an evaluation by a health care professional.

They're facing high unemployment, depressed wages and loads of debt — and they're only in their 20s. Welcome to life after college. Though the labor market is recovering slowly, graduates this spring have only slightly better chances of landing jobs than grads did in the depths of the recession, experts say. Over the last year, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent for college graduates under age 25. Meanwhile, researchers at the Washington-based Economic...

Sallie P. Mink, a registered nurse who for 20 years had been educational director for depression and related affective disorders at Johns Hopkins Hospital, died Saturday of brain cancer at Keswick Multi-Care Center. The one-time Ruxton resident who later lived in Mays Chapel was 65. "Sallie was a very passionate and extraordinarily effective person," said Dr. J. Raymond DePaulo Jr., director of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Hopkins School of Medicine, and a friend of nearly 40 years.