I think Therese Borchard and I must be twins from different mothers, if that's possible

Theresewrites the blog Beyond Blue on Beliefnet.com, and has contributed to Postpartum Progress in the past, including the 2009 Mother's Day Rally for Moms' Mental Health. We met several years ago at the BlogHer annual conference, and I knew I liked her from the start.

I have just finished reading her great new book "Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes" and I can't tell you the number of things we have in common. These include:

• Surviving a perinatal mood/anxiety disorder
• Not being the kind of mom that doesthe kind ofactivities you'd find in Family Fun magazine, like this one or this one or this one
• Having an infant with colic, chronic ear infections and an inability to nap
• Experiencing the bizarro world of inpatient hospitalization
• Having to escape a "Pharma King" psychiatrist who prescribed way too many medications and made matters worse
• Being attacked by people who believe that psychotropic medication is the personification of Satan and/or that mental illness does not exist
• Disliking the book "The Secret" and Chuck E Cheese

Therese is my sister from another mister. I'm really excited for the launch of her brand new book, in which sheshares her experience with mental illness, including postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism and anorexia. It made melaugh. It made me nod my head. It offers great tips. And itinspired me to continue to do more to help others withmental illness.

I'mpleased to be able to sharemyinterview with her below, with her answers to questions I offered related to topics covered in "Beyond Blue":

1. How did you handle having PPD with an older child? What tips would you give to moms who are going through postpartum depression (or a related illness) and trying to take care of another child? Did you or would you tell the child what's going on? How did you handle the guilt?

That's an excellent question, most definitely the hardest part of my depression. Here's my first piece of advice: support, support, support. I can't emphasize that enough. Eric and I didn't have free help available, so I just sort of threw my hands up and tried to be a martyr. Not only did that almost cost me my life, but I'm pretty sure it planted a pretty big wound in David's (my older son) life. There was one afternoon that David, then 3, was playing with a toy police car and he told me that I was in the back. When I asked why, he said it was because I was bad. "Why am I bad?" I asked him. "Because you cry so much." In retrospect, I probably should have explained to him that I had an illness, an allergy of sorts in which I cried, that made me sad. But I felt too incredibly guilty to go there. In terms of how I handle the guilt now, probably the best thing anyone said to me was that hardships and losses like that, like the one David went through, prepare him for life just as much as the many gifts. I know my childhood was full of trials. Do I wish it had been easier? Of course. But those times also made me the resilient person I am.

2. In the book you point out what I think a lot of moms with PPD have: guilt over the fact that they are so sad and miserable when their lives aren't that bad to compared to people in Cambodia. Did you therapist or psychiatrist give you any good tools to deal with that? We all know the phrase "everything is relative", but I'm not sure that's enough.

Another good question. You know, the thing that has helped me the most is to imagine a little boy skinning his knee, and he hurts, and wants a bandage. Would you go over to the little boy and say, "People are starving in China, so no band-ad for you, you little brat"? Of course not. A fever of 103 doesn't make the fever of 102 feel comfortable. I have no idea what it feels like to live in a third-world country, but I do know that almost a million people kill themselves (global figure) every year, that suicide is the second leading cause of death in females ages 15 to 40, and that the World Health Organization estimates that depression will be the second most debilitating illness by 2020. If it wasn't so painful, people would not be taking their lives. I remember those stats. I remember that one person in every five people diagnosed with bipolar disorder kills herself.

3. For those postpartum women who may need to be hospitalized due to severe PPD, psychosis or suicide attempt, they and their families are often extremely resistant. What would you say to those people who still envision "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?

You know, Katherine, I was one of those who envisioned that scene at mental institutions because my godmother was in and out of psychiatric facilities her whole life until she took her own life. When I visited, I was horrified. So my reluctance to commit myself into a hospital program was considerable. In retrospect, it was the best thing I did. Not only did I get a second opinion, a doctor who told me I was on WAY the hell too much medication, but my body had a chance to rest because I didn't have to worry about not pursuing one of five plots to kill myself. So this is what I'd say: yes, there are still some freakish things that go on in psychiatric units. I'm not going to lie. But they can save your life. They saved mine. And the only job you have in there is to concentrate on yourself and your own recovery, and not worry so much about comparing yourself with the others.

4. How should a woman know whether her psychiatrist is a polypharmacologist? When should she say "enough is enough" if she's been prescribed countless medications and combinations of medications and they aren't working? How do you know when someone is a good psychiatrist?

Hard one. Because if you're being treated for depression, chances are that your self-esteem is at the bottom of the sea. So are you going to hear your own intuition nudging you to seek another doctor? Probably not. That's why I think you need some really good friends, and educated ones, who can help you make this call. Only by committing myself to the inpatient psychiatric unit did I have the courage to listen to a second opinion. However, looking back, I had two good friends and my mom who suspected the psychiatrist I was seeing might be dangerous. Since that time, and in working with a very good psychiatrist, I've learned that switching meds before eight weeks isn't a good idea. I think if a doctor is giving you a different cocktail every two weeks or so, you want to move on. My doctor won't make any change until she's given a medication two months to work. What do you do in that time? Rely on your friends and family to keep you safe until you do feel some relief.

5. Based on feedback from your readers at Beliefnet and elsewhere, how much do you feel like celebrity opinions and pop culture (like Oprah and/or Tom Cruise) really affects how sufferers look at mental illness and whether to get treatment for it?

I believe that pop culture influences us more than we think. I think we might mock Tom Cruise in public, but behind closed doors everyone agrees with him that all a person needs to do to feel healthy and balanced is to jump on a treadmill and get some exercise. Oprah especially. It is so thick the influence she has over us! In the book, I address my frustration with the new-age philosophies she pushes, because so many of my friends and family take her word for it. They believe that all you have to do is visualize a happy brain to get one. I can't tell you how many people I know that won't pursue treatment for depression and anxiety because, if they do, they have failed, according to "The Secret" and other like books. There was a recent story about a woman who committed suicide after attending a self-help group, much like the Landmark Forum that we have in the United States. And I can totally understand why. You take a person with self-hatred, and then you dump another pound of self-hatred onto that, because the person feels as though she has failed at one more thing … get rid of the self-hatred. [Ironic.] I think that is why I feel so adamant about educating people about mood disorders … because for so long I was caught in that net of self-hatred because I couldn't think myself back to health with a few happy thoughts.

Go read Therese's book. She's a Warrior Mom and a light in the world.

P.S. I was delighted to read she has written the book for everyone except Tom Cruise. Heh heh.

Required FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book. Shocker.