THE users guide to depression
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Most sufferers of depression, including me, have read the numerous self-help guides and the "What is.." textbooks for laypeople in attempts to treat themselves, thoroughly inform themselves or to just try to make sense of the world they find themselves in. Although the former two groups get some of their mental fodder from "Shoot the damn dog", I reckon it mostly helps those of us who want to share with someone who's been there. I didn't find this book harrowing or difficult.
Okay, Sally Brompton doesnt represent - and doesnt claim to be - the typical depressive; partly because there is no such person. Each brings their unique past, present and future (hopes) into the illness and needs to deal with that. Sally recognises this but finds some solace in others who have "been there": the black hole, the black dog, the emptiness within or whatever you call depression.
This is a sensible and balanced book. Sally walks a middle path between the "biological" and the "psychoanalytical" camps that set themselves up in the enormous and amorphous field of psychiatry, rarely crossing their carefully drawn boundaries to share knowledge or, god forbid, work together. Sally meets some who have, but I suspect she may be an exception (and exceptional). She advises those who cant get on with a therapist to find another. While acknowledging this can be difficult for a withdrawn depressive, a number of NHS users may not have access to alternative treatments, particularly of the psychological kind, let alone be able to change therapists .
With that caveat, I found this a great book. Its not just a "me too" book, joining the other people who found the courage to "come out". She deals with shame, suicidality, support, friends, family and even fun and laughter. This book should be in every psychiatric ward and, even more than that, it should be on every psychiatrist or psychotherapist's shelf.
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part good part bad
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Sally is a victim of her families own wealth which causes part of her depression and then the wealth she has helps her recover from depression and alcoholism. I am a normal working mother I cannot afford to take 3 years off work to recover. I certainly couldn't afford a landscape gardener, ever. £4000 for rehab??? acupunture weekly? I can barely afford it 6 weekly.
sick time? 2 weeks off then back to the rat race. who out there has 20,000 pounds in the bank doing nothing? I barely have 200. My mum in law is on benefits for the rest of her life 100 quid a week.
I don't envy her time at boarding school give me my mainstream education any day.
I'm not saying the book is bad but did she really need to talk about the money aspect of things? I will write a book on battling depression from the working class point of view and see if the differences can be spotted.....
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Gripping, Moving and Practical
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It's extremely difficult to write about depression without being . . well . . depressing. Either the books available are weighty, medical tomes sodden with theory and jargon, or a dismal wander through the psyche of a 'celebrity'.
Sally Brampton's descent into depression began with the break-up of her marriage. She didn't respond to antidepressants and found solace in alcohol. It took four agonising years for her to pull herself out of this hole and she takes us on the journey. It's a painful, honest and extremely well written one. Her loneliness and self-loathing is palpable, and anyone who has suffered from depression will recognise with a wince, the way in which well meaning people (and sometimes not so well meaning) seek to trivialise or downgrade what the sufferer is going through.
Shoot the Damn Dog is not a 'how to get out of depression' manual, although there is much practical and helpful advice. But like John Diamond's 'C - Because Cowards Get Cancer Too' - it deserves and should be read by the professionals as a tool for understanding how depression really feels.
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Highly recommended
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I have just finished reading "Shoot the damn dog" and may read it again. It is the best recount of depression I have read so far. Sally describes what happened to her and at the same time gives factual information on symptoms, available therapies, recent search studies etc. The links between B12 vitamin deficiency, thyroid problems and alcoholism to depression, which she describes, are interesting and worth checking up. OK, her opinion on the various therapies is subjective but she does not deny it. This is a story of a dark journey with a light at the end of the tunnel. Her way out of the tunnel was not a linear process. One step forward, two backward and three sideways, as she says. Connecting with others and "rearranging your emotions" is the message I got from it. If you read it you may get a different message but, definitively, this is a book to read if you know someone who suffers from depression or if you feel depressed yourself. In my opinion, this book can give hope.
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a beautifully touching book
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I wasn't sure what this book was going to be when I started reading. I was concerned that it may upset me more that help me. I need not have worried. This is a beautifully written book, which tells a powerfully uplifting story.
The author's decision not to force her book into a linear structure adds an oral story telling quality which, when coupled with direct addresses to the reader, makes the reading of the book more like a conservation with a wiser friend.
This is a book of hope and compassion which I would recommend to anyone who is suffering, or has ever suffered, from depression.
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