Dr. Leanne Williams is determined to spare people the suffering she’s endured. Her partner of many years died by suicide after fighting a depression that resisted all treatment. She has devoted her life as a scientist at Stanford to applying the principles and tactics of precision medicine to depression, which she has categorized into sub-types (much as was done with cancer decades ago). Joining me in this conversation are Dr BJ Miller, a friend and previous guest who works as a palliative care doc and lost his sister to suicide, as well as Emmy-winning comedian W. Kamau Bell, also a friend and previous guest, who brings his usual good will and insight to the conversation.

This episode contains a detailed discussion of suicide. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please dial 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Thanks to PBS for supporting this series. You can watch any of these episodes ay time at PBS.org/kelly.

Feedback welcome at hello@kellycorrigan.com.

Nancy Brown, a military spouse of 19 years, wrote this loving tribute for her two best deployment buddies. It honors the way the three friends formed one great big family while living through several deployments in Eastern North Carolina. Three women, no husbands and nine children all dressed in each other's hand-me-downs. On paper, they were more different than alike but maybe that's a more accurate description of a family after all. (Previously aired)

I’ve done it again. I accidentally saw the world through my own lens and forgot all the other ways life unfolds for the people who listen to this show. Thanks to a listener named Micah Boyett who sent a lovely piece of unmistakable feedback — coated in genuine kindness — I learned the lesson again. We really respect our listeners and find your emails invaluable as we steer this ship we’ve built. Write any time. hello@kellycorrigan.com. We read every one.

Micah’s book is: Blessed Are the Rest of Us: How Limits and Longing Make Us Whole