My friend  Pat E. took her own life this year.

While I was feeling hopeful that my friend would meet a physician who would be her medical advocate and help her sort the heaps of notes from meetings with neurologists and lists of side effects from anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, and sleep-aids . . . she was descending to a living hell.

My mom had lived with depression all her life; I thought I understood the illness; I have so much to learn. To learn means to talk and listen, mostly listen.

Talking about depression and mental illness (without hiding behind my book Love Made of Heart) does not scare me anymore, thanks to Judy.  Thank you, dear Judy!

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation – new name for NARSAD  http://bbrfoundation.org

National Alliance on Mental Illness   www.nami.org

Stamp Out Stigma  http://www.stampoutstigma.net

www.bringchange2mind.org  is a not-for-profit organization created by Glenn Close, the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF), Fountain House, and Garen and Shari Staglin of IMHRO (International Mental Health Research Organization)

Books:

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policy makers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Andrew Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations — around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Solomon takes readers on a journey of incom-parable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. His contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition is truly stunning.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron

In 1985 William Styron fell victim to a crippling and almost suicidal depression, the same illness that took the lives of Randall Jarrell, Primo Levi and Virginia Woolf. That Styron survived his descent into madness is something of a miracle. That he manages to convey its tortuous progression and his eventual recovery with such candor and precision makes Darkness Visible a rare feat of literature, a book that will arouse a shock of recognition even in those readers who have been spared the suffering it describes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison

In her bestselling classic, An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison changed the way we think about moods and madness.

Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.

Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. An Unquiet Mind is a memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom—a deeply powerful book that has both transformed and saved lives.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

http://www.onbeing.org/program/soul-depression/224

On Being with Krista Tippett

THE SOUL IN DEPRESSION  the podcast: http://www.onbeing.org/program/soul-depression/224/audio?embed=1

Krista Tippett in conversations with Andrew Soloman, Parker Palmer, and Anita Barrows.

One in ten Americans, and even more dramatically, about one in four women, will experience clinical depression at some point in their lives. We take an intimate look at the spiritual dimensions of this illness and its aftermath.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Love Made of Heart inspires adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their loved ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*****