To Adjust Your Mood

I don’t think you should geeze morphine in your neck with a turkey baster to adjust your mood. But I’ve taken antidepressants off and on and wouldn’t hesitate to take a prescribed drug so long as it didn’t alter consciousness. No Valium or Xanax for me—too similar to alcohol. But I’m a big fan of the mental-health profession. They kept me alive—shrinks and librarians, teachers and booksellers.

-Mary Karr, Paris Review