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TheEngineer67 t1_iy9mds1 wrote

Maybe by basing the book on his own depressive episodes caused him to skip the initial grinding of life that puts you into that mental state and that is why the start of the book seems superficial to you...

Someone who experiences depression really can just flip from being OK to really not being OK and it doesn't take much for that to happen.

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esoquesobueno t1_iy9rond wrote

There’s literally hormonal issues that can make you happy to suicidal in hours.

I know my period’s coming on not from physical cramping but due to a sudden sense of hopelessness, worthlessness, and suicidal ideation. I’ll be walking past an overpass for a bridge thinking “I should jump” and get home and realise my period’s starting “…oh that’s where that came from.”

I didn’t realise how much lack of sun exposure played a role too until I moved further North and got such short winter days. My mental health is way more precarious in the winter when I’m at work before the sun rises and after it sets than in June, when the sun’s out by 4am there’s still some light out past 10pm.

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Lily_Hylidae t1_iy9ty9v wrote

This is me every month, weeping into the washing up bowl, contemplating the utter futility of my life, then..."aaahhh yeah! That's why!"

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esoquesobueno t1_iy9zdg8 wrote

The lack of other physical symptoms makes it extra tricky because while as a kid I used to get awful physical symptoms, as an adult I don’t.

So I will really have no fecking idea and be thinking it’s time to see a therapist again until the blood starts. Then I’m like ah ok I’ll feel better tomorrow (it usually doesn’t last that long.)

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Lily_Hylidae t1_iya17fa wrote

I feel you! As I've got older the physical symptoms vary so much. Sometimes I'll feel like I'm coming down with a cold, or my back will hurt, or I'll get a bad stomach...so it could be loads of other things going on.

The emotional side has got so much worse in the last few years. Anxious, fragile, exhausted, vulnerable...gah!

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DwellingintheShadows t1_iy9pux3 wrote

This! I absolutely loved this book because it finally put into words how I have felt during depressive episodes. I had struggled to put into words how it felt and what thoughts went through my head, but as I read the book it was like all my thoughts were written there. It really helped me communicate better with my therapist. I could read her passages that spoke to me. It gave me the words and images that I could never put into words to tell her before.

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duckshapedpotato OP t1_iy9qonw wrote

Oh wow! I'm so glad that it was helpful for you! That's really valuable!

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