I completely empathize with anyone who is depressed during the pandemic. I suffer from clinical depression with suicidal ideation. It's really challenging to find a path forward sometimes. My baseline recommendation is always to start by making sure your body is in good health.

What are you eating? Are you drinking enough water? Have you tried cutting out booze and extraneous snacking? Are you vitamin deficient? Sometimes starting with these questions and taking action (if you can) can be a great starting place.

Just because we're in a pandemic doesn't mean there's no way to go out. Wear a mask, keep your distance, try to map out a path to walk 15-20 minutes once or twice a day if you can. You'd be amazed the difference something as small as that can make!

I would implore anyone who thinks we need to "open the country back up" because of depression and stress take a little personal responsibility first. I don't say that callously but because we are still losing thousands of lives to COVID-19 every day.

I would also implore state and federal reps to subsidize therapy and cover costs for depression and anti-anxiety medication as needed. People's needs for care during this pandemic are genuine. We need to find a solution that's better than pretending the pandemic is over.