Good morning everyone. May is mental health awareness month, so today's chat will be about depression, something that affects 20% of us at some point in our lifetime. Multiply that by friends and loved ones, and very few of us are untouched. Nevertheless stigma continues. So today we will talk about depression and what it really is and is not. And we will learn about what people have done that have been helpful to them and we will touch on some new treatments.

I am pleased to introduce Steve Newman, a man who has experienced a lifetime of clinical depression and now spends much of his life being an advocate.

Steve, thank you for joining us today.

Like I said in yesterday's article, you first experienced depression when you were in seventh grade, around the age of puberty. This makes sense as there are many changes taking place in your brain during this stage of life. Tell us how you experienced this change.