There are an infinite number of ways to be a happy family, and just as many ways to be an unhappy one, says Andrew Solomon. This hour, the author and psychologist discusses modern family dynamics — and how families can find joy even when life gets complicated.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Mental health advocate Andrew Solomon discusses resilience, depression, social media's impact on mental wellness, non-traditional families, and the interconnected impacts of neglect, poverty, and foster care on mental health.

We’re increasingly attentive to the many faces of depression and anxiety, and we’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication. But depression is profound spiritual territory; and that is much harder to speak about. This is an On Being classic. Krista opens up about her own experience of depression and talks with Parker Palmer, Anita Barrows, and Andrew Solomon. We are putting this out on the air again because people tell us it has saved lives, and so many of us are struggling in whole new ways right now.Andrew Solomon is a journalist and writer of epic books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist  The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.Anita Barrows is a psychologist, poet and translator. Her most recent poetry collection is We are the Hunger. She has translated several volumes of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke together with  Joanna Macy, including Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.Parker J. Palmer is a teacher, author, and founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His many books include Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.orgThis show originally aired January 17, 2003

This is the unedited conversation Krista had with Andrew Solomon in 2002, which is excerpted within our produced episode “The Soul in Depression.” That episode also includes the voices of Anita Barrows and Parker Palmer.  Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. Andrew Solomon is a journalist and writer of epic books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist  The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity. 

This is the unedited conversation Krista had with Anita Barrows in 2002, which is excerpted within our produced episode “The Soul in Depression.” That episode also includes the voices of Andrew Solomon and Parker Palmer.  Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. Anita Barrows is a psychologist, poet and translator. Her most recent poetry collection is We are the Hunger. She has translated several volumes of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke together with Joanna Macy, including Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.