*Careful readers will recall a discussion chapter 12 of the use of the dexamethasone suppression test to show that many aged organisms have trouble turning off glucocorticoid secretion. The same test is used here. The truly obsessively careful reader will recall that during aging, the problem of shutting off glucocorticoid secretion—the “dexamethasone resistance”—probably arises from damage to a part of the brain that helps to terminate the glucocorticoid stress-response. Does similar damage occur in depression? As we’ll see, this might occur in some long-term depressives. However, the elevated glucocorticoid levels occur in depressives with no evidence of damage. Most likely, sustained stress decreases the number of glucocorticoid receptors in that part of the brain, making the neurons less effective at sensing the hormone in the bloodstream.