Publisher's Synopsis
This book addresses living with depression and the isolation this can bring. In it I show how I have sought therapy, managed to work through issues and finally taken responsibility for my life and depression. I seek to share this hard-earned knowledge in the hope of offering a practical self-help guide for those struggling with similar issues and to this end I have included a chapter devoted to the tools I have found useful to help maintain a reasonably contented life. The use of poetry gives an extremely emotional insight into this world whereas the prose offers a more rational, as well as questioning, viewpoint. This book goes to those dark places and shares the pain, shame and confusion of living with depression and its often best friend of suicidal desires. While I am aware that talking about suicide is considered dangerous I do not agree with this conjecture. In fact this book was spawned out of my experience and growing belief that we need to talk about suicide more. Bring it into the open and thus help ameliorate the isolation, guilt and shame suffered by those of us who do fantasize about it. Talking about suicide makes it less of a guilty secret and we all know the saying 'we are only as sick as the secrets that we keep'! Whilst the book looks at many possible issues that may help trigger depression it moves forward from the dark to the light with a discussion about ways to get through and live a good life. It highlights the work required to keep the 'black dog' at heel as best one can and offers suggestions of how to achieve that. This book not only gives sufferers the courage to continue, but also enables friends and family to not only gain insight but be more comfortable with this issue. Insight and ease which can bring hope, awareness and inclusion to their loved one rather than leave them in loneliness and isolation.
