Thursday, September 15, 2011

Darkness Visible by William Styron

I happened to be trapped under an especially dark storm cloud on the day when I saw this offered for a dollar or two on Amazon Kindle's Daily Deals.  At first, I scoffed and thought the last thing I needed was another self help book, and then an hour or so later I thought, maybe it's a sign that this book showed up in my facebook newsfeed at that moment, so I went ahead and downloaded it to my Kindle.

It's not a self help book, but rather the story of one man's struggle with depression. It felt somewhat comforting to read this at the time I read it.  It doesn't really provide any answers or solutions for how to get through depression.  What it does provide though is the sense that someone else knows how it feels not just to be struggling with darkness, but also to be in a situation that no one else seems to understand. 

This is a very short read.  When I downloaded it, I thought it would be longer.  But I'd recommend it to anyone who has dealt or is dealing with depression.  I'm tempted to suggest that anyone with loved ones affected by depression also read this, but I don't know that it would help.  I can't help but think that people who have never experienced true depression can ever have any sort of awareness or understanding about just how debilitating it can be. 
Overall, I felt this was well worth a read.

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