Mitch Golant, PhD, is a licensed psychologist whose book What to Do When Someone You Love is Depressed offers guidance to friends and family on how to keep their own spirits up while at the same time doing what's best to help a loved one who's living with depression. The subjects he addresses include how to maintain intimacy and communication, what to do when someone threatens suicide, the role and limits of medication, the link between depression and chronic illness and how to handle specific challenging situations.
Dr. Golant is also Senior VP of Research & Training for The Wellness Community (TWC), an international nonprofit that provides free support, education and hope to people with cancer and their loved ones at over 100 locations worldwide. Dr. Golant is widely recognized as a pioneer in the use of information technology in cancer education and support through online support groups. He has facilitated over 4,500 support groups for people with cancer and trained over 350 professionals in TWC's Patient Active Support Group model. In addition to What to Do When Someone You Love is Depressed, Dr. Golant has coauthored five books and is the contributing editor to the Essentials of Psychosocial Oncology Handbook. And in 2005, he and two colleagues were selected to train 40 psychologists and psychiatrists from Poland's National Psychosocial Oncology Society. For the past four years, he has served on the board of directors for the American Psychosocial Oncology Society.