Customer Reviews

Where the Roots Reach for Water : A Personal & Natural History of Melancholia

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has changed my whole outlook on depression. Jeff used the word melancholia and explains its traditional meaning as one of four basic personality types. What I came to realize is the extent to which I had bought into the idea that I should not be who I am -- that I would be better off if I were whatever it is that anti-depressives can make me. Instead, Jeff presents an alternative perspective -- accepting that one has a melancholic personality and working with it rather than fighting my Self. In his book, Jeff instead talks about HOW TO LIVE AS A MELANCHOLIC and even lists positive characteristics of a melancholic personality with examples. So, now I have begun to approach my self differently -- with acceptance. I don't need to try to be gregarious and outgoing, instead I can accept my inwardness and focus on gardening, walking, art -- all practices for which the melancholic personality is well adapted. I highly recommend this book interested in an alternative take to the modern practice of "fixing" what, perhaps, "ain't broke" after all.

Reading Jeffery Smith's memoir on depression is like watching someone attempt to assemble a pitch-black jigsaw puzzle: how, one wonders, will he differentiate a jig from a jag? How will he ever have the patience to root around for the answer in a crowded sea of clues which all resemble one big blot? Thing is, Smith sees his topic with a particular set of eyes, eyes which can disern color and pattern with only shape for guidance.

His astute, complex and compassionate understanding of melancholy reaches out to the reader in an effort to share information on a practical level, but ultimately his exploration will have you so engaged in his personal struggle that you may forget you're reading non-fiction. In the tradition of memoirs that read as compellingly as fiction (i.e., Tobias Wolff's "This Boy's Life"), Smith has created as ebullient a meditation as is possible on the subject. This is a roller coaster ride of sometimes absurdly heart-rending seeking. I finished it with a long sigh, and said out loud to myself, "Now, THAT'S a book!"

Highly recommended for anyone struggling with depression, but also simply for readers who enjoy an intellectually stimulating read on a subject in a previously predictable genre.

The author, thankfully, recognizes that clinical depression, having a low-key or melancholic personality, or having a reason to be down in spirits, are different. As a cognitive psycholgist, I interact with people in their day-to-day work environment, and I find that lately we too freely call persons depressed when they may only be sad/angry because of something haunting them in the past or concerning them about the future (they need to talk about it), or when it is just their nature to look on the grim side of things (they need to have their outlook accepted and appreciated), or when they have learned that being sad is a protective mechanism against disappointment or cruelty (they need to be comforted). These are natural manifestations of natural human emotions, and they should never be medicated out of existence or forced out of existence by our modern, ebullient, and shallow society. Nor should natural personality traits be labeled as mental illness either.

However, clinical depression needs to be addressed as well. From my experiences, some of those who are mildly clinically depressed may heal naturally given time, rest, emotional support, good nutrition, regular exercise, and fresh air, as well as something to be hopeful or happy about, which is a motivator toward wellness. The worst thing about being clinically depressed is the sense that you are all alone, and so depressed persons need compassionate (not forced) inclusion in caring society, as this author supports.

I haven't finished the book yet prior to writing this review, so I don't know if the author has a chance to talk about some irritants that can cause seemingly untreatable depression -- not just medical conditions like glucose-intolerance, anemia, or thyroid activity, but we have published findings on chemical fumes in poorly ventilated industrial environments or at home from man-made materials (plastic items, rugs), questions about chemical leeching from plastic containers like soda bottles, or concerns about our air quality and nutritional content of foods. Food allergies, which many medical professionals refuse to accept, can also be culprits (an astoundingly fabulous book about this, available through amazon, is IS THIS YOUR CHILD? by Rapp).

There is a reason why we get depressed, and if it is a biological discrepancy (profound sadness or lack of motivation which lasts too long, or sadness with no basis), we need to find what it is rather than try to erase it with a pill (medication doesn't always work in the long run). However, if we are sad by nature or cirumstance, I agree with the author that that is no reason to classify us and medicate us. In the book, the author is a pioneer in supporting a traditional attitude that has fallen out of favor -- being kind enough to accept yourself as you are, to accept that what you feel may be natural and right. What a wonderful idea, in our technological society, to say that emotions are okay to feel.

As a depressive who has been on antidepressants for four years, I felt it was time to begin researching about this condition. I read at least a half dozen books, such as William Styron's memoirs, Richard O'Connor's self-help book, Joseph Glenmullen's anti-drug "Prozac Backlash," Kathy Kronkite's collection of conversations with famous depressives, and Andrew Solomon's excellent and comprehensive work "Noonday Demon." Jeffery Smith's book, "Where the Roots Reach for Water," is by far my favorite.

Weaving the history of melancholia with intimate personal narrative and rapturous nature writing, Smith constructs a rich landscape of depression. Fascinating even for those who do not suffer from the disease, the book is -- if you will excuse the word -- inspirational for those who do suffer from depression. Since antidepressant drugs do not work for Smith, he has to find a way to accomodate depression into his life.

"What does your depression want from you?" his therapist asks. Your depression isn't going anywhere. Even if you are currently in remission, it's likely to recur. So what does it want from you -- what do you need to do in order to live with it?

This question is profound, and Smith doesn't answer right away. Nor does he give a how-to list of steps to take to overcome depression. Indeed, the point of the book is that depression isn't something to be overcome, because that task may prove to be impossible. It is something you learn how to cope with, and even how to live your life fully and joyfully despite -- or perhaps in concert with -- your depression.

Who would want to read this book? Nature lovers will delight in the beautiful and sometimes surprising descriptions of landscapes. Historians who are interested in the evolution of "melancholia" into "depression" will find a very readable and entertaining overview. And anyone looking for insight into the experience of depression will find both a historical and a personal, individual perspective on the condition.

AS a psychologist who works with truly treatment-resistant depressives who have had abusive childhoods or horrible adulthoods, as an educator of psychology grad students, and as a person who has suffered from lifelong clinical depression, I plunged into this book as hungrily as the roots of the title. The writing is terrific. The scholarship on the "natural history" of psychology, the philosophy and history of the disease is terrific, and I learned a few things that I didn't know, even though I have taught history and systems of psychology. The descriptions of episodes of depression ring true.

But in the end the book disappointed me. Smith included bipolar disorder as well as unipolar clinical depression in his discussion of various aspects of melancholia, without noting that there are significant major differences between the two. While claiming to have "treatment resistant" depression, Smith showed his depression was really existential and situational after all, not truly biochemical and treatment resistant; the fact that it went away when he found the love of a good woman, found religion, and returned to his true home, shows that his depression was his heart's yearning for meaning and home, not his neurotransmitter receptors crying for the right dosage of biochemicals. For truly treatment-resistant depressives, even finding home, God and love can't keep the darkness away for long, and the ending of his book seemed too pat, too Hollywood simplistic to me.

Although I hope he is really cured of his depression, if Smith writes another book in a few years about how his melancholia returned in spite of finding home, love and God, then I think he does really have treatment-resistant depression. In the meantime, this book about a man who grew up surrounded by love, who had a happy childhood in a wonderful environment, had a good education and lots of choices, who chose to move away from that original home, and chose to work at jobs that were meaningful but supposedly "lower" than he was capable of, shows that even excellent drugs cannot overcome choices we make that do not meet our deepest needs. In cases like his, the optimum treatment for depression is to answer the heart's callings and make the right choices, not expect drugs to fix us. I don't think this book makes that point clearly enough - almost, but not quite.

I stumbled across this book at my local independent bookstore, picking it up in my continuing effort to understand what happened between me and a man whom I love very much. It is indeed beautifully written, as other reviewers say, and it was extremely useful in helping me understand what he has been struggling with for probably 35 years. He had tried to tell me some of this, but it was too hard. I would like to thank the author for this enormous gift to those of us who want to understand what melancholia feels like. Having read this book thoughtfully, and taken some time to absorb it, I'm about ready to try our relationship again.

I'm at Amazon now ordering a copy for my family doctor and a copy to use as my "loaner" for friends. This is a very valuable book -- I expect to be rereading parts of it from time to time.

As somebody who has also had depression for most of my life, Smith's book struck a chord with me on almost every page. I didn't even know there were kinds of depression that were resistant to medication before, but Smith's chronicle of learning to live with the condition is helpful for those who *can* be helped by medications, too. A great read for people with depression and those who love them.

I was struck by the complete honesty of this book. Clarity, humility, unpretentious yet finely thoughtful writing carried on the current of good old-fashioned common sense. Here is a tale of facing what is there to be faced in one's own soul without any self-consciously literary/arty self-advertisement (which I sometimes find in books on a similar theme). The material on the history of melancholia is thoughtfully interwoven into the whole. This author is for real. His book moved me and I learned from it, and as far as I'm concerned, there are no higher words of praise

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. The author's breadth of scholarship is matched by the depth of his insight, and communicated with a true poet's sense of metaphor. For those of us who have been struggling (often to no avail) with the psychotropic and psychotherapeutic "fixes" for depression that our modern society prescribes, this book brings the wisdom of the ages to bear on a condition which (when see with perspective) blesses as well as anguishes. Thank you, Jeffery Smith. You have illuminated a path through the wilderness for us kindred souls - a path each of us must still walk on our own, but a welcome path nonetheless.

Like many sufferers from depression in my experience, the author reached a point where his medication abruptly quit working. Others did not produce the desired result of the first, and instead of continuing playing med roulette, Smith stopped his and began the examination of his disorder that is recorded here. The author has no personal vendetta against the Western therapeutic institution, nor does he spend much time lingering on the disappointment of having the meds fail him. Instead, he takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of mood disorders from familial, historical, literary, and Eastern angles, to name a few.

He also describes what he learned from the mental health clients he works with, as well as his girlfriend. Smith does not shy away from describing several incidents that do not put him in the best light, and this paradoxically made me like him as narrator more.

Although some authors of depression memoirs have explored their moods from a historic or literary viewpoint, this one is the first I have read that weaves it into the narrative so richly.