“Don’t think that jokes are just jokes. Every joke has a grain of truth within it. To patients suffering from depression, jokes about wanting to die, wanting to kill someone, and wanting the world to end are all matters to be taken seriously.”

On the first day of class, Cheng Xi used her classmate’s wife as a case study for her students. “The patient’s husband made the worst possible mistake by assuming that the immediate months after childbirth would be a pleasurable time for the patient. This is because he thought that she would merely sit in bed and rest while he provided food and drinks for her, and thus that her depression was just her being unreasonable. In practice, however, many new mothers feel emotional pressure due to the pain, anxiety, and the shift in attention from close family members. This pressure is sometimes alleviated by...