[tdavis]

If your wife is anything like me—and her symptoms are identical to ones I had during an earlier stage of my depression—then they are real and should be examined. Even if they never worsen, they are needless anxieties to carry around.

There are no external problems. Everything is as it is; we choose to interpret the stream of input as problematic, or not. Sometimes we inject falsehoods into the stream ("nobody likes me") to nurse our fear.

It isn't necessary for your wife to live every day peering over her shoulder. Nor convincing herself that her friends and coworkers dislike her. Nor experiencing any of the other anxieties she no doubt simply takes for granted. As someone who carted so many around for not less than a decade, believe me: they're not worth the luggage fees.