Customer Reviews

My Depression: A Picture Book

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The in-your-face, simple genius of this book is difficult to describe. I would not have thought a book of captioned cartoons could so powerfully and honestly draw (pun intended) the reader into profound, empathetic understanding of how depression feels as it is lived. If one picture is worth a thousand words, these hundreds of powerful pictures are worth far more than mere words could ever communicate. Everything about this book pulls the reader in, and pulls the reader along, effortlessly and entertainingly.

Additional power is gained in that the presentation is autobiographical, tragically painful in some portions, but exceptionally witty throughout.

If you have ever been depressed, or know anyone who is or has been, please BUY THIS BOOK. I would like to recommend it to all the readers of my study, Mormon Women, Prozac® and Therapy. Reading the book is, quite honestly, genuinely therapeutic.

I highly recommend this unique book. The author, who has suffered from repeated episodes of severe depression, has put her turmoil into line drawings and short captions.

She shows you what depression feels and sounds like - how it affects body, mind, spirit, self image, relationships, and view of life itself.

Her drawings are simple, stark and moving and the accompanying writing blunt, and alternately laugh out loud funny and grimacingly painful.

I would recommend this book to anyone - we all know someone who is or has fought depression, and we owe it to them to understand their experience.

For those who are battling depression, this book will not make glib promises, but will offer gritty affirmation and realistic hope.

As a licensed clinical social worker, I give this book my highest rating and will be recommending it to everyone that suffers from depression, as well as their friends and loved ones. In straightforward and humorous terms, Ms. Swados talks about the course of her depression and treatment. She discusses how distorted her thinking becomes during periods of increased depression and how her functional status suffers. The pictures are moving, sad and funny at the same time. Depression has a tendency to slow down thinking, and I view this book as being helpful during this periods due to it's simple layout. There is no judgement here, and no quick fix or solution to the struggle of depression. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.

I have suffered from depression for years and never has a book been so helpful to me. This lighthearted and unique view of depression cuts right to the heart of things. I could recognize myself in the book all the way through and its simple message of hope was uplifting without being corny. Highly recommended.

Witty, poignant quirky...this is a great gift to give anyone you love who's ever suffered from depression (including yourself.) Elizabeth Swados has always had a gift for lighting up the darkest places of our lives -- with her music, her words, her art - and this little volume is no exception.

This is the best book I have seen on the topic of depression. Give this to anyone who suffers from depression, or anyone who is close to a victim.

"My Depression" is a quick read, or you can take it in small doses as your mood allows. Its sketches and hand-lettered text present like an intimate diary or journal. The author's own honesty helps those of us living with depression: how the disease affects us may be acutely personal but this book offers one person's account, and we may recognize ourselves in some of her observations. Families and loved ones of a depressed person, especially one who tends to become withdrawn, uncommunicative, even hypersensitive, may find in this slim book a kind of insight into how the interior lanscape of a depressed person can look and how it can affect everything in their lives.

For many, it will be encouraging simply to read the author's accomplishments on the cover flap. Depression isn't about intelligence, isn't about lack of caring about ourselves, isn't about being lazy or a failure. For some, paradoxically, it isn't even always about sadness. Depression is... depression. And you might be surprised to know that, even for someone dealing consciously and diligently with recurring depression for many years, there are new things to learn about it.

There are different kinds of depression; depression may manifest differently in different people or under different circumstances; there are various treatments for it. I have witnessed some work well in just a few short weeks, while other sufferers take longer to find an effective strategy. This book is in my arsenal for its much-needed perspective, for both the things in it that I relate to and for the things I can honestly identify as not part of my personal experience with depression.

"My Depression" doesn't replace effective therapeutic counselling, related strategies, and possibly medication where indicated, but it does make me feel like I have a small support group I can reach out to -- right from my bookshelf.

This book is obviously written for a very specific audience; I just happen not to be a part of that audience. If you are considering reading the book then you must be, or have been, in somewhat of a continual dark and down mood. Based on a friend's recommendation, I read the book and not only was I still down, but a little confounded. First, the artwork made me more depressed with its shattered edges and black and white presentation. Secondly, the simplistic approach to conveying its message, initially I thought okay a soft opening with the heavy content later; it's later and I am still waiting.

Again, this book is obviously written for a very specific audience, I just happen not to be a part of that group.

This is a cute, little handdrawn and handwritten book which belongs in the children's section instead of upstairs with the nonfiction. Perhaps it is real life, but not as we all experience it. Depression comes in many forms, and hers was out-of-this-world, I admit. But I have yet to meet anyone else who suffer the same way with depression. Most of the time it is temporary, and this book would appeal to the pre-teens who would learn the most from it.

You can tell that she is a children's book writer, as the explanations are so simple none of it would be over the head of the average child reader. Children are more advanced these days and understand what this old world is doing to all of us. They are perceptive and, those being blessed with having books read to them from an early age, will be able to tackle this book.

The pictures will get their attention right off and they would profit much more than adults. For most of us when we have a depresssion, we need deep, instructive, workbooks to get back on track. Not children, as they are resilient and can bounce right back without being doped up. Adults don't need antidepressants, either, as they are poison to some of us and hurt more than help.

Having someone to listen to our successes and failures is all we really need. It need not be a doctor, therapist, or professional -- just someone who cares and will listen. When my grandson died in April, I had such a person willing to listen, thank God, and you know, he said very little. But, being there and available to hear me talk about the past helped. More than any medicine, we need people to cry with, laugh at, lash out sometimes to get the stress we all feel out of our system, and then still speak to us -- even if it is just to criticize. He told me that I have not changed, the same old Betty Burks, but I am very grateful to be back to myself again and not be hurt by such a remark.

The drawings in this volume are primitive but cute and could hold the attention of a teen or pre-teen who needs a little comforting. You may think that this is not a comforting book, as at times we all hurt through emotional crises, but it is a teaching vehicle in a primitive state. School libraries should make this book available to the youth, as they are the future of this nation. And we certainly don't want them to be overmedicated, as so many old people are these days.