"I’m a 16-year-old girl with no real cause for complaint. I get pretty good grades, have a great relationship with my parents. I have good friends, nice classes and recently got a large role in the high school musical.

"All of this makes my current problem inconceivable.

"This year, once a month for a week, I’ve been having issues with depression. I’m not sure why, nor do I really know what starts off these cycles – though they do seem to happen around the time of my period. There is no real cure for them except to dread the week to follow and ride it out. Sometimes these moods don’t even last a week; the last one lasted for two days.

"I cry a lot for unknown reasons, and one crying jag was so bad that I almost considered cutting myself. But I’ve criticized self-mutilation so many times, so I just very lightly poked my thumb with a safety pin, thought, “This is so stupid,” and put it down.

"My mom offered to take me to the doctor and maybe get some medication for me, but I thought it was a pretty sad state of affairs when a 16-year-old girl needs antidepressants.

What do you think I should do?" --Roller Coaster in Oregon