The WHO estimates that depression affects 3.8% of the entire world population. That’s nearly 300 million people, and yet, depression, like most “unpleasant” topics (the spectrum of mental illness included), is still difficult for many to discuss. Do we avoid the subject because it’s uncomfortable? Or is it uncomfortable because we avoid it? Either way, the trick to overcoming this particular conundrum is taking the smallest of steps outside that zone we call comfort. You don’t even have to start the conversation face-to-face. Instead, crack open a book. Listen to someone who has already started talking about these things.
The authors of the six books gathered here have taken that courageous first step, opening up the dialogue so you don’t have to. Speaking from personal experience, they each lend their voice to readers struggling with depression themselves as well as readers looking for insight on that mental monster affecting a loved one. In either case, they remind readers that they’re not alone as they dive deep into the belly of the beast.
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
At the age of 60, William Styron, a renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author, found himself on a rapid descent into depression. It was the late 1980s, and his months-long symptoms reached their peak as he ventured to Paris to accept a prestigious literary award. A recovering alcoholic, he believes his symptoms are a result of withdrawal, both from alcohol and a prescription drug he took for insomnia. As his symptoms become more severe, however, he chooses to seek out treatment: psychotherapy and antidepressants have mild results if any, and eventually, day-to-day tasks start to feel insurmountable.
Although this small book amounts to just over 80 pages, it is by no means an easy read. Styron chronicles his highly emotional journey, including one particularly intense bout of suicidal ideation that would culminate in a seven-week hospital stay. “Always clarifying his demons, never succumbing to them in his prose,” writes Publisher’s Weekly, “Styron’s neat, tight narrative carries the bemusement of the worldly wise suddenly set off-course — and the hard-won wisdom therein.”
How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression From One Who Knows by Jacqueline Novak
How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression From One Who Knows
by Jacqueline Novak
Not all honest explorations of life’s darker facets have to be somber, and stand-up comedian Jacqueline Novak proves just that with her memoir How to Weep in Public. This book, though, is far from a “how-to” guide on navigating, let alone overcoming, depression. In fact, Novak’s introduction explicitly states that the book will not provide readers with useful exercises, insights of lasting value, relief or “help of any kind.” However, Novak does offer her readers comfort in the form of mild entertainment and good company.
Consider this book a judgment-free zone, a safe space for readers to commiserate with the (also depressed) author. She’s the friend that will “approve of you, even in your lowliest state.” She’s the confidant sharing odd but memorable advice about crying on cats and making peace with sunshine. It’s “an amusing look at depression that could inspire a depressed person to rejoin society,” notes Kirkus, and at the very least, Novak will get you to chuckle just when you’re thinking you may have forgotten how.
Transcending Depression: Quest Without Compass by Larry Godwin
Transcending Depression: Quest Without Compass by Larry Godwin
Understanding depression can be challenging. Whether you’re dealing with it yourself for the first time, or you’re trying to get a grasp on it all to better support a loved one, it may be helpful to hear from someone who has experienced depression firsthand. Larry Godwin, who chronicles his own 49-year battle with mental illness in Transcending Depression, aims to encourage readers grappling with chronic or occasional depression as well as help their loved ones approach this particular struggle with compassion.
Using selections from his journals, Godwin provides a window into his experiences, including suicidal thoughts and medication, with refreshing, brutal honesty. “His struggle toward understanding, accepting and coping is exhausting at times and always persevering,” writes Licensed Clinical Social Worker Coral Beck. In addition to his narrative, Godwin includes a “Depression Survival Guide,” a series of 36 questions intended to bring relief to his readers, as well as a metaphor called “Chess in the Labyrinth” that helps to explain the battle with depression.
LifeLines: An Inspirational Journey From Profound Darkness to Radiant Light by Melissa Bernstein
LifeLines: An Inspirational Journey From Profound Darkness to Radiant Light by Melissa Bernstein
If you have children in your life, or have spent any time in a toy store, you’ll probably recognize the company Melissa & Doug. Its co-founder Melissa Bernstein has struggled her entire life with existential depression and anxiety. For years, she bottled up negative thoughts and feelings, but trying to deny the deep sense of despair she felt led her to the brink of self-destruction. In her book Lifelines, however, she opens up about the challenges she has faced, wearing her heart on her sleeve as she writes honestly of the past and looks hopefully toward the future.
The book features hundreds of rhyming verses written by Bernstein, some as a young child and others in adulthood. She reveals her innermost thoughts — the darkest fears and doubts to the most positive of musings. In addition to writing about her own struggles, she takes the time to meditate on a variety of topics such as creativity, loneliness, martyrdom and perfectionism, all of which hold profound meaning for her. (Read Jennifer Blankfein’s review and author Q&A here.)
Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person by Anna Mehler Paperny
Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person by Anna Mehler Paperny
“Depression is a havoc-wreaking illness that masquerades as personal failing and hijacks your life.”
Journalist Anne Mehler Paperny had her dream job, writing for The Globe and Mail, but despite a positive career outlook and a loving, supportive family, she tried to end her life for the first time at the age of 24. In Hello I Want to Die Please Help, she combines her personal experience staring down the ugliest parts of depression with her journalistic know-how to produce a book that’s part memoir and part depression-exposé. In it, she explores a variety of treatments available, including pharmaceuticals, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy, in addition to institutional shortcomings and the glaring unknowns surrounding this disease.
Paperny acknowledges an unwillingness to discuss topics, like suicide for example, but argues that having these uncomfortable conversations is absolutely vital. This book, a first step to accomplishing just that, is “an eye-opening and humane book treatment of a difficult subject,” says Kirkus.
The Happiness Quest: A Depression Survivor’s Guide From Misery to Joy by Lana Penrose
The Happiness Quest: A Depression Survivor’s Guide From Misery to Joy by Lana Penrose
“That’s what depression felt like” writes Lana Penrose. “Haunting, inescapable and as though I was being held hostage with no ransom high enough to assure my release.” In her memoir, The Happiness Quest, Penrose embarks on a personal journey through depression, hoping to find a way out of its depths and bringing readers along for the ride. She tries everything from the expected treatments like Cognitive Behavior Therapy to more unusual approaches like Emotional Freedom Technique, which aims to realign the energy system through various tapping points on different body parts.
Those who suffer from depression deal with the stigma that comes with it, and Penrose was no different. In fact, she admits that, at one point in her life, she would have been ashamed to acknowledge her struggle with mental illness, but in search of happiness, she assures her readers that there is no shame in dealing with our mental health. (Read our review here.)
