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Mike Wallace Chooses Five Books About Depression
1.
How You Can Survive When They're Depressed
By Ann Sheffield
Harmony Books, 1998
I was first hit with depression more than 20 years ago during the time of a highly
publicized libel trial against CBS, which happily ended in our favor. (I was hit
again about 12 years ago, when I turned 75 and figured that I didn't really need
the Zoloft I'd been told to stay on for the rest of my life.) One of the first books
I read back in the 1980s was Ann Sheffield's, aimed at helping the friends and family
of depressives. I was lower than a snake's belly, and my wife, Mary, was suffering
because of it. Ms. Sheffield describes, stage by stage, how depressives affect others
around them. The wife of one depressed man told her: "At night I take my book
into another room so as not to have to look at him reading the same Tom Clancy thriller
over and over ... I hate being home with him because I really hate looking at him."
2.
More Than Moody
By Harold Koplewicz, M.D.
G.P. Putnam's, 2002
The author, a leading child psychiatrist, provides advice on treating depression
in the young, drawing on anecdotes from his practice. One of the great strengths
of this work is the sustained view of some of the patients. One of them recalls the
day he was so overwhelmed with life that he lay down in the middle of a road "hoping
someone wouldn't see me and run over me." A car came, the driver got out and
the would-be suicide apologized. The patient gleaned from this event, at least, that
he wanted someone else to do the job.
3.
The Peace of Mind Prescription
By Dennis Charney, M.D., and Charles Nemeroff, M.D.
Houghton-Mifflin, 2004
Distinguished academics though the authors are, their book is easy to read, and
it dispels some of depression's ghastly mysteries. For instance: Perplexed families
of suicide victims look for reasons behind this apparently senseless act. "In
truth," the authors explain, "most suicides are senseless" -- suicide
is the tragic final step in a long illness that robs its victims of meaning. They
also provide exhaustive evaluations of various drugs and therapies. "The bottom
line," the doctors say, "is that practically everyone can become tougher,
more resilient, and less vulnerable to mood disorders or anxiety."
4.
Undercurrents: A Therapist's Reckoning With Her Own Depression
By Margaret Manning
HarperCollins, 1994
Martha Manning, a practicing clinical psychologist, was herself struck by major
depression and eventually resorted to electroshock therapy when other treatments
failed. This book is her record of the journey -- an honest, touching and, believe
it or not, funny account of her descent into despair and her re-entry into life via
electroshock. "It is," she writes of one low moment, "all I can do
just to empty the dishwasher and sweep the floor." She dreads a haircut appointment
that will force her into conversation. This book isn't only for those suffering from
depression; it's for everyone who would value a story of human endurance and hope.
5.
Against Depression
By Peter D. Kramer
Viking, 2005
Peter Kramer, the author of "Listening to Prozac," chronicles, with
disapproval, the development of attitudes that portray depression as ennobling or
"heroic." Melancholy, he notes, has been enshrined in the romantic imagination
-- witness the two great novels by men about women, "Anna Karenina" and
"Madame Bovary," both of which end in the heroine's suicide. Such attitudes,
he believes, and the prevalence of depression, have changed our culture, and not
for the better. He considers depression an illness that must be fought. Toward that
end, he provides breaking news from top research scientists about its causes and
cures.
Mr. Wallace is a correspondent for CBS's "60 Minutes."
Carol A. Kivler
Courageous Recovery
"Changing the face of mental illness"
33 Traditions Way, Suite 101
Lawrence, NJ 08648
(609) 882-8988
carol@CourageousRecovery.com
www.CourageousRecovery.com
A Division of Kivler Communications
www.kivlercommunications.com
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