Real Men Get the Blues

If the roots of depression are different for men and women, however, the same treatments work equally well for both. The antidepressant revolution begun by Prozac in the early 1990s has transformed the therapeutic landscape. According to a recent study, 37% of people being treated for depression chose the drug option in 1987; 10 years later the percentage had doubled to 75%. And with newer and better antidepressants available all the time, those numbers are growing. Often just as effective as any drug is cognitive therapy, a form of the talking cure that teaches depressives to reframe their view of the world, questioning the catastrophic or fatalistic spin they put on otherwise innocuous events. The two approaches — medication and therapy — work especially well together.

Battling the disorder with both talk and drugs was principally how Weaver overcame his depression. These days, he has not only brought his condition under control but also helps other men do the same, leading seminars in which he teaches police recruits and their families what the disorder is and how it can be treated. "After a class," says Weaver, "guys will come up to me and say, 'You know, Sarge, that's me.'" That kind of awareness, as Weaver knows, is the first step toward recovery.