'Scared. Ashamed. Crippled.': How One Lawyer Overcame Living With Depression in Big Law
Reed Smith counsel Mark Goldstein wasn't sure he could both be a lawyer and have mental health disabilities. But he learned how to survive and thrive in Big Law.
February 12, 2019 at 02:15 PM
10 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
It was Oct. 16, 2017. A Monday. My wife's 32nd birthday. A day after the Jets blew a 14-point lead to the Patriots. It was also what I thought would be the last time I would ever walk through the halls of Reed Smith, the law firm at which I had spent the past four-plus years.
Roughly six weeks earlier, I had been diagnosed with severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. I felt scared. Ashamed. Crippled. As if I was going to die. Perhaps most of all, I felt alone, particularly in a profession that often stigmatizes mental health disorders. A profession that tends to label them, instead, as "burnout," or sweep them under the rug. The symptoms of my conditions, which had likely been percolating for some time, came on suddenly and swiftly over Labor Day weekend 2017. These symptoms included not only mentally crippling cognitions, but also physically impairing side effects as well. By early the following week, I knew that this was no mere passing phase; it could not be ignored.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
- Law Firms Want to Improve Mental Health, but They're 'Failing to Take Preventative Action'
- Mental Health Care 2.0: What's Next in Healing Minds and Bodies of Legal Professionals?
- Mental Health Challenges Among Lawyers: In Defense of Conventional Medicine
- Ex-Kirkland, Wilkinson Walsh Litigator Calls It Quits to Escape Stress and Just 'Go Home'
- Veteran Law Firm Well-Being Pros Offer Tips on Building Programs, Getting Buy-In
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: For Big Law Names, Shorter is Sweeter
- 2Wine, Dine and Grind (Through the Weekend): Summer Associates Thirst For Experience in 'Real Matters'
- 3The 'Biden Effect' on Senior Attorneys: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
- 4BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 5First Lawsuit Filed Alleging Contraceptive Depo-Provera Caused Brain Tumor
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250