The Couple Who Medicates Together...  Will is too: "I like to
joke, `The couple who stays on Lexapro together stays
together.' " But, as with many jokes, this one hints at a darker
possibility. Before they got on antidepressants, Susan's
tendency to rail at length (about whatever happened to be irking
her) exacerbated Will's "extremely self-critical" tendencies:
"Whereas in her depression she'd tend to lash out, in mine I'd
tend to sink inward," he says. "When she'd come in the door in a
bad mood, I'd just be crushed. I'd be running around meekly
suggesting this or that. Just this obsequious wimp, fetching a
spoon or whatever. It was pretty rough." When I ask if
medicating saved his marriage, he takes a moment. "Let's put it
this way: I probably wouldn't have had the balls to get
divorced." But, he adds, "We were heading down a bad path." Now,
though, they agree their marriage is much better balanced.
Susan's rough edges have "softened," as Will puts it, and with
this—plus the boost medication has given his o