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Living with Depression: Why Biology and Biography Matter along the Path to Hope and Healing PDF

208 Pages·2011·3.23 MB·English
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LIVING WITH DEPRESSION 9781442210585.indb i 4/13/11 9:55 AM 9781442210585.indb i 4/13/11 9:55 AM LIVING WITH DEPRESSION Why Biology and Biography Matter along the Path to Hope and Healing Deborah Serani ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 9781442210585.indb i 4/13/11 9:55 AM Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Serani, Deborah, 1961– Living with depression : why biology and biography matter along the path to hope and healing / Deborah Serani. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-1056-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1058-5 (electronic) 1. Serani, Deborah, 1961– —Mental health. 2. Postpartum depression— Patients—United States—Biography. I. Title. RG852.S47 2011 618.7'6—dc22 2011010059 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America 9781442210585.indb iv 4/13/11 9:55 AM For my daughter, Rebecca 9781442210585.indb v 4/13/11 9:55 AM Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. —William Jefferson Clinton 9781442210585.indb vi 4/13/11 9:55 AM CONTENTS 1 MY DEPRESSION 1 2 UNDERSTANDING DEPRESSION 17 3 TREATMENTS FOR DEPRESSION 31 4 THE INSIDE TRACK 45 5 YOUR DEPRESSION 63 6 THE 5 R’S 75 7 PREVENTING SUICIDE 85 8 UNDERSTANDING STIGMA 95 9 LIVING WITH DEPRESSION 107 APPENDIX A HIGH-PROFILE PEOPLE WITH MOOD DISORDERS 115 APPENDIX B RESOURCES 129 NOTES 145 GLOSSARY 187 INDEX 195 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 199 v i i 9781442210585.indb vi 4/13/11 9:55 AM 9781442210585.indb vi 4/13/11 9:55 AM 1 MY DEPRESSION Dad’s gun is in the left hand drawer of his dresser, I thought to myself. It was there for protection and it was always loaded. My father was good that way—always having the right tools for the right circum- stances. The last time I fired his single action semiautomatic pistol was at the outdoor firing range in Farmingdale as a young teenager. From time to time, he’d take me and my sisters there, or to the indoor gun range at Marine Headquarters in Garden City, to learn how to han- dle guns and shoot with confidence. I recall how he placed the foam green earmuffs on my head and balanced the yellow-tinted aviator glasses on the bridge of my nose. Both were too big for my frame, but they worked nonetheless. The glasses sharpened my visual acu- ity, making the target crisp with clarity, and the earmuffs muted the thunderous sound as I pulled the trigger. I was a good shooter, especially with a handgun. “You have a good eye,” my dad often said. One time, I hit the paper target with such precision at the indoor range that I took it home and tacked it on the inside door of my closet. I was so proud. Growing up around rifles, pistols, and bullets made me keenly aware of all the rules of gun use. Always keep the gun pointed away 1 9781442210585.indb 1 4/13/11 9:55 AM

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