Depression Talk

Have you ever seen the pages of rave reviews at the beginning of a non-fiction book and thought it was overkill? This book is the rare exception. You can’t priase this book highly enough. I like it so much that I’m considering buying it (I currently keep taking out my local library’s only copy).

The Family Intervention Guide to Mental Illness: Recognizing Symptoms & Getting Treatment by Bodie Morey and Kim T. Muesser, Ph. D is written for both people who worry they may have a mental illness and for people living with someone with mental illness. As someone who is depressed and has lived with other mentally ill loved ones, I can honestly say that I wish this book had been written when I was a teenager.

Details

Information is written in an easy to understand manner and includes:

• How to recognize that someone is mentally ill
• The usual symptoms of more common mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and a breif discriptions of the different types of each particular disorder
• How to talk to someone about getting help
• How to help them or you find a doctor or therapist
• Scads of contact information and books for everything ranging from Alzheimer’s to eating disorders
• What NOT to say or do

Why I Really Like It

I like the fact that’s it’s co-written by people who have mental illnessesd and work with the mentally ill. I also really like that they discuss mental illness as just like any other medical condition, but don’t ignore the fact that discrimination against the mentally ill exists. It’s not a page-turner, but a good resource for anyone who suffers from depression.

In doing this blog and the migraine blog, I read a lot of information about different types of depression (and often people with migraines have depression). Right now, I’m reading The Family Intervention Guide to Mental Illness: Recognizing Symptoms and Getting Treatment by Bodie Morey and Kim T. Mueser, PhD. The book deals not only with various types of depression and mood disorders, but also fun things like schizophrenia, dementia and obessive compulsive disorder.

In reading all of the symptoms, I can’t help but see myself having every single one of these conditions.

This Is Normal

Actually, it’s a normal reaction to read about an illness and then suddenly think you have it. It’s not just hypochondria (which is also mentioned in the book, come to think of it.) Haven’t you ever read a magazine artile or saw a news show about a newly discovered disease and then start feeling the very same early symptoms of the disease? I can’t hear anything about arthritis without my back giving a twinge, for example. And I can’t hear anythign about diabetes without thinking “Mmmmm — sugar..” (OK, maybe that was a bad example.)

However, most people get over this sensation in a few days. They run around like a maniac in order to take care of their lives and in the process, the memory of the upsetting disease we think we may be getting goes further and further from our minds.

Time Frame

And I think that’s why we are suddenly convinced that we have the condition we were just learning about. It was takng up our full attention. But if a couple of weeks go by and you still think something’s wrong, it couldn’t hurt to go see a doctor.

Hope this helps.

I highly recommend anyone suffering from any type of depression to read any of the Darwin Award books, because you will never feel so bad about yourself again.

But the first book in the series is quite long and may seem intimidating. The latest installment, The Darwin Awards Next Evolution: Chlorinating the Gene Pool by Wendy Northcutt and friends, is a bit more digestable and chock full of scienctific essays, so you can claim to be learning something as you’re laughing. At least, you’ll never look at mosquito spit the same way again.

What Are The Darwin Awards?

One of the first real killer sites on the Internet, it started as a very unimpressive but incredibly funny list on a univeristy website back in 1993. A man in 1985 tried to get a soda out a machine by tilting it — and was crushed to death. Someone somewhere said that the deceased should get an award for not swimming in the gene pool any longer.

Another suggested that the award be called the Darwin Awards, after Charles Darwin, who always enjoyed a good laugh. So, the Darwin Awards honor those adult men and women who have either sterilized themselves or killed themselves in an incredibly entertaining manner. You can look at these as cautionary tales or, as I do, cheap therapy.

Not Drinking From The Fountain of Widom

You may feel as if you are hopeless or pathetically stupid. But if you already know not to enter a nuclear power plant when the security claims the radiation is too high, then you are a genuis compared to the folks in here.

As one DA website philospher pointed out about a Darwin Award winner, “That’s not drinking from the fountain of widom — hell, that’s not even gargling.”

Depressives tend to have a preoccupation with death, so you may as well read about it so much that you’re sick of the whole topic. Also, the more you know about death, funeral arrangements and how hospitals handle death, the less fearful it is. Death is the Big Unknown, but it’s a heck of a lot scarier for the living left behind who have to deal with the dead.

Fearing What You Don’t Know

One way to come to terms with death — whether from a prolonged illness or a sudden death like sucide — is to read Living with Death and Dying by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who was the world’s leading thanatologist (doctor who studies death). If that names sounds familiar, that’s because you’ve probably heard of the Kubler-Ross model of the stages of grief. She’s the one who figured it out. Actually, there’s an umlaut over the “u” in her name, but I can’t figure out how to get umlauts to work on WordPress. Sorry.

The Book Itself

Although Kubler-Ross gets the author’s credits, there are actually two other people who contribute chapters to the book. One is on how art therapy can help those about to die come to terms with their situations. Another is a testimony of a mother of a girl who died of lukemia, but then that section gets bogged down in transcripts of tape-recorded conversations with therpaists. (Why is every “um” recorded?)

This is a book where you can skim some passages, because there are so many little stories and bits of advice that it can be hard to pay attention to all of it at one time. So, you can go back when you need to.

This book is also good to help you communicate with your doctor or attending nurses about all the dicey issues surrounding death.

The main flaw is that there is far too much God in it, but that may a comfort to some people.

Finally, I found a book that would be of help to people with depression.  Well, I’m cheating a little when I write that — I read this book when I was homeless in England, and I’ve rediscovered Life and How to Survive It this January.  Although published in 1993, the information still holds true today.

Yes — THAT John Cleese

 The book is a sequel to the best-seller Families and How to Survive Them (1984), but it’s not necessary to read that book in order to understand this book.  But it is a good idea to be familiar with who John Cleese is and what the stereotype of the British stiff upper-and-lower-lip is in order to grasp some of the ideas and the humor.

The other partner in crime is psychologist and psychotherapist Robin Skynner (who, sadly, passed away in 2000).  Suffice it to say that he was a very intelligent man who listened to his patients and was open to ideas.  He was also John Cleese’s therapist for many years.

The Set Up

The book is set up like a conversation written in script form that lasts for over 400 pages.  (Well, the English do like to talk).  This can be off putting, because there’s not a lot of white space to be easy on the eyes and makes organiazing ideas a little difficult to go back and find.  There are many summaries per chapter, though.

There are also a lot of really good cartoons by Bud Handelsman, but you generally have to read the text around it in order to get the cartoon’s gist.  They do help to break up the monotony of the page format.

Summary

Although the book is long, heavy and not very funny, there are a lot of ideas presented which can help people with depression see themselves, love and life in a better perspective.

When you’re depressed or if your symptoms are kicking up, it can be very hard to relax. But you need to relax in order to digest your food, get decent sleep and generally keep from imploding. I’ve talked to many depressives who find reading to be one way they can relax. (I’m also a depressive who relaxes when reading). However, some books are far more relaxing than others.

When I mean relaxing, I mean something enjoyable to read, that’s not too taxing on the brain but also won’t but you to sleep. A list of books that will put you to sleep is an entirely different list for another day.

These books don’t directly deal with depression or mental illness. They’re more of a “one size fits all” kind of deal which can be read no matter what mood you happen to be in. Enjoy.

• Anything by Sylvia Browne. She’s a famous American psychic who appeared on television a lot and co-wrote a string of bestselling books based on her lives and misadventures. The writing is witty and engaging. You don’t have to believe in anything Browne talks about in order to get sucked into the book. (I mean that in a nice way). You will have to look in Non-fiction in order to find the books, though.
• Anything by James Herriot. (You know — the All Creatures Great and Small guy?). His real name was James Wight, but was uncomfortable using his real name, lest his clients be offended. They figured out who they were in his stories, anyway, and really didn’t mind.
• Children’s books. Why let the little crumb-crushers have all of the fun? Many children’s books are suprisingly complex — and, if you don’t have much time, you can usually get them done in one sitting, which can give you a feeling of accomplishment.
• The Magic of Xanth series by Piers Anthony. The best-selling fantasy series. You don’t have to read these in order, because the stories are pretty self contained. A lot of sex, though. And, even worse, a lot of puns. Some people find Anthony a bit too juvenile and prefer Terry Pratchett. So, if you’re not keen on Anthony, try any of Pratchett’s Discworld books.

It’s not been a good time for me trying to find good books about depression. I keep hitting duds. What’s really annoying is these authors get their crap published, while I’m slogging away ten hours a day as a professional writer trying to get accurrate and helpful web content.

Case in point: Just a couple of weeks ago, I picked up What Your Doctor May Net Tell You About Depression: The Breakthrough Integrative Approach for Effective Treatment by Michael Schachter and Deborah Mitchell. You already should be worried about any book that has a title longer than your inner thigh.

Yes, It Sucks

This travesty in between book covers is reprehensible for many reasons. Get back and relax while we go through the pile:

• It’s boring. That’s unforgiveable in and of itself.
• Trees had to be killed to make the boring book. Somewhere, in an alternative universe, trees are writing bad books on paper made from human innards.
• It claims that your doctor doesn’t want you to get better. This is a scare tactic used by people who want to sell really boring books with incredibly long titles. Considering how overworked doctors are, they want to cure you as quickly as possible just so they can stop putting in twenty hour days.
• Antidepressants are seen to be used only as a last resource. Before that, you need to go on a diet and take alot of supplements — which will wind up costing you a lot more than a round of Prozac. Besides, when you have major depression, you have no incentive to eat right. If poor diet is the cuase of major depression, then why aren’t everyone who is on a diet happy as little larks?
• In order to follow the “breaklthrough integrative program”, you have to find a specialist in a brand-new type of medicine with a name you’ve never heard of (orthomolecularism) and, chances are, your doctor has never heard of, either. In other words, this book is nothing but a 416 page advertisement for his services.
• The paper isn’t absorbant enough to make decent toilet tissue.

Pass!

You’re much better off listening to your doctor, taking your meds and reading the Sunday Comics or William Styron’s Darkness Visible rather than this book. If you read it, then you’ll be more depressed than ever.

In the afterward, Prozac Nation author Elizabeth Wurtzel writes, “As I found myself saying to not a few people that they found the book angering an annoying to read: Good. Very good: That means I did what I had set out to do.”

It’s too bad that couldn’t have been in the introduction.

It Sucks

The list of just why this book sucks is as long as my arm, but I’ll boil it down to the basics. First off, the title is incredibly misleading. The full title is Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America. What impression does that give you? Especially since it’s non-fiction? By using the word “nation”, the title suggests that the book is a look at many American’s battles with depression — not just one freaked out chick.

No Face I Recognize

Some people with depression have enjoyed this book, partly because they claim that they can identify with uberbitch Wurztel. I’ve had clinical depression sice the womb and I do not see much of anything familiar in the shattered mirror of Wurztel’s ravings, tortured love life and moans. You just want to smack her. Heck, I STILL want to smack her.

It takes her 195 pages of self-obsession before she starts to make any kind of a point (and then completely fails to do so.) When you think she’s onto a point, she suddenly changes her mind and champions another point, which she then drops by the end of the book.

The point of the book is that there is no point.

Huh?

If you’re looking for any help on how to deal with your own depression, steer clear from Prozac Nation. It will only make you feel more depressed than ever. The book hints that there is no hope for people with atypical depression, sice she both tears apart talk therapy and praises it. She also does the same for Prozac, lithium and just about any other drug that popped up in her life.

If she wanted to just portray what it’s like to like with depression, she could have done it in a few pages instead of taking 195 out of a 368 page book just to go over the most boring pints of her life. She’s actually had a very interesting life, but skims over anything remotely interesting. For example, she casually mentions in one sentence that she interviewed Joni Mitchell. But then she spends chapters about lying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering why her boyfriend never calls. Screw that — I want to know about what it was like to interview Joni Mitchell.

A much better book about what depression is like and how to get through it is William Styron’s Darkness Visible.

The full title is Medical Myths That Can Kill You And the 101 Truths That Will Save, Extend and Improve Your Life and it’s gotten a lot of buzz this year. The author, Dr. Nancy L Snyderman is one of those “TV doctors” — a real doctor but also is the Chief Medical Editor for NBC News. This book covers all aspects of health care, but does have one section devoted to mental health care.

Myth #7 You Can Just Snap Out of Mental Illness

Sadly, this is the shortest section of the book at a mere 35 pages long, but echoes of caring for your mental health can be seen in previous sections such as “Myth #6 — Natural Means “Safe”" and “Myth #1 — Annual Checkups Are Obselete.” This section focuses on Dr. Snyderman’s personal story — and quite frankly gives a little too much information about her past battles with depression brought on when she was raped in 1969.

However, there are a lot of other tips and supportive sugggestions for anyone battling any kind of mental illness, including depression. She also notes that depression can be brought on by suddenly developing a chronic painful illness or disease. She notes that for the patient to get any relief, they not only need treatment for their physical problems, but for their emotional, as well.

Some Quibbles

Every now and then Dr. Snyderman does address that the current health care system in America is dysfunctional, available only to the rich and filled with incompetant doctors. Although not completely ignoring the problem, her best advice is to just accept that the health system is unfair and get another doctor or therapist if you don’t like the one you have.

Unfortunately, that’s not a realistic alternative for many people. I remember the time when I waws homeless in England and was only allowed to visit the doctors who volunteered to come to Bath’s homeless shelter, Julian House. Although I got along with all of the doctors there, I was lucky. How about if I didn’t? It’s not as if I could choose.

That happens also in America, to not only the homeless but also to the middle class. Because of Medicaid or health insurance restrictions, they may have a whopping one doctor or one therapist to choose from. That’s not acceptable.

Granted, this YouTube clip is an advertisement for a book by Tina Zahn, but you don’t need to read the book in order to get the jist of the clip. In case you’re wondering what Tina was jumping from that July day in 2004 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, it was a big-ass bridge. Could she have survied the 200 foot fall into the river? Possibly, but since she wanted to die, her motivation for not drowing was pretty slim.

And why was Tina jumping? She had just been laid off right after giving birth and had inexplicable chronic pain. But most of all she had postpartum depression. I suppose the cure for postpartum depression would be never having a kid, but I guess that advice comes about nine months too late for most women.

I haven’t read the book but the clip is hypnotic. I’m going to assume the book is going to be a bit gung-ho Christian, since the publisher is Revell, which specialises in Christian-themed books.

“Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and illusive in the way it becomes known to the self …” — William Styron

Arguably one of the best books ever written about depression, the late great author William Styron (Sophie’s Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner) tells it as it is about what life with depression is really like. Although Styron will claim that depression is nearly undescribeable, he does a pretty good job describing it.Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990) is especailly recommended for people who haven’t a clue as to what depression is all about.

They have no excuse to not read it, as it’s only 84 pages long in huge print and big margins.

In The Days Before Prozac

William Styron touches on his depression weaving in and out of his life until 1985, where he tried to commit suicide. He finally considered himself well enough in 1989 to lecture on clinical depression (still called clinical depression then and not major depression or endogenous recurring depression). The lecture went so well that Vanity Fair wanted an essay based on the lecture, which Styron provided (Proving that good writers never turn down a job offer). Eventually, it was published in book form and until recently was still in print.

How he got better without the help of Prozac is amazing. For a while, he was on a tranquilizer called Halcion (trizolam) and then on another called Dalmane (now known more as flurazepam). Writing and seeing a therapist were his main treatments. Although he doesn’t try to dissuade people from going to a hospital, he notes that he couldn’t tolerate the atmosphere. “For me the real healers were time and seclusion.”

And writing this book.

Spike Milligan was arguably the largest influence on comedy in Western civilization. The main writer of the wildly popular BBC radio show The Goon Show, his brand of surreal humor would go on to teach a whole generation how to be funny in the midst of calamity through his bastard step-children, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The actual epitaph on his gravestone reads, “I told you I was ill.” He was considered a genius as well as being extrememly funny.

And he was also bipolar.

If anyone would know how to survive through depression — including manic depression, which is just about the worst type of depression to mankind — it would be Spike Milligan. Depression and How to Survive It (1994) is mostly written by his doctor, Anthony W. Clare, but also contains large patches authored by Milligan or transcribed from interview tapes.

Not Funny

Even though Milligan was the comdeic genius of the millenium, don’t expect any laughs with this book. It is a grim but very through account of what it’s like to suffer from manic depression. Even if you don’t have manic depression and “merely” have clincial depression, you can still learn a lot, including tidbids about Milligan’s dealings with the late great Peter Sellers.

This is a serious look at depression as it was in 1994 — which isn’t all that much different than how it is today. Particularly enlightening is how depression is described by peple who live in Asian cultures, who refer to it in terms of physical and mot emotional symtpoms. There is a lot of small print, endnotes and references, but you don’t have to read every dingle itty-bitty word inorder to get the gist.

Overall

I read this book when I lived in England — and Spike Milligan was still alive and giving out pithy quotes. I could only borrow it a week — and that wasn’t long enough to get through it throughly. Parts of the book are so grim that you might feel even more depressed than before you read them.

You don’t need to read the book in order. You can skip around and read bits of it here and there and still not loose the plot.

What struck me the most was that this genius, honored in his lifetime, thought of himself as a total failure. I think a lot of people can relate to that.