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Summary
Summary
The silent epidemic of depression affects millions of people and takes dozens of lives everyday, while our culture grapples with a stigma against open discussion of mental health issues. Editor Amy Ferris has collected these stories to illuminate the truth behind that stigma and offer compassion, solidarity, and hope for all those who have struggled with depression.
Contributors to Shades of Blue include: Barbara Abercrombie, Sherry Amatenstein, Regina Anavy, Chloe Caldwell, Jimmy Camp, Debra LoGuercio DeAngelo, Marika Rosenthal Delan, Hollye Dexter, Beverly Donofrio, Beth Bornstein Dunnington, Matt Ebert, Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, Zoe FitzGerald Carter, Pam L. Houston, David Lacy, Patti Linsky, Mark S. King, Caroline Leavitt, Karen Lynch, Lira Maywood, C.O. Moed, Mark Morgan, Linda Joy Myers, Christine Kehl O'Hagan, Jennifer Pastiloff, Ruth Pennebaker, Angela M. Giles Patel, Alexa Rosalsky, Elizabeth Rosner, Kathryn Rountree, Kitty Sheehan, Jenna Stone, judywhite, and Samantha White.
Shades of Blue brings the conversation around depression and sadness into the open with real, first-hand accounts of depression and mental health issues, offering empathy to all those who have been affected by these issues. It's time to scream out loud against this silent annihilator: We are not alone.
Author Notes
Amy Ferris is an author, editor, screenwriter, and playwright. She has contributed to numerous magazines and literary anthologies, and her memoir Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From a Midlife Crisis was adapted into an off-Broadway play in 2012. Ferris co-edited (with Hollye Dexter) Dancing at the Shame Prom, and authored the young adult novel A Greater Goode. Ferris has written for film and television, and was nominated for best screenplay for Funny Valentines. She serves on the advisory board of the Women's Media Center and is an instructor for the San Miguel Writers' Conference. She lives in northeast Pennsylvania with her husband, Ken, and two cats who think they're human girls.
Reviews (1)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The stigma associated with mental health issues leads many people with depression to feel they must face it alone. Ferris (Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis) aims to help people suffering from the disorder feel they are in good company by assembling essays by gifted writers who have all been affected by depression, in themselves or others. The compelling selections include therapist Sherry Amatenstein coping with "sad belly" while forever being the outward-seeming optimist, writer and editor Hollye Dexter dealing with a life-altering house fire, writer Regina Anavy's doubts about her commitment to radical politics spiraling into an identity crisis in 1971 Cuba, and radio and TV personality Kathryn Rountree recuperating from her brother's death. Starting off the book is Ferris's own essay, where she poignantly states her reasons for delving into the topic of depression: by sharing stories and helping others, people with depression can make the pain "bigger than ourselves" and "worth the struggle." It is possible to find hope and solidarity in these pages, but don't expect a feel-good trip. It's a true-to-life kick in the pants designed to bring comfort to anyone who's feeling hopeless. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
| Introduction: The Balls-out Truth About Depression | p. 1 |
| Riding With the Top Down | p. 5 |
| Suicide, a Love Story | p. 10 |
| Three Girls, Laughing | p. 17 |
| Medication Makes Me Whole | p. 24 |
| Bye-bye, Crayola | p. 28 |
| Death, Depression, and Other Capital D Words | p. 35 |
| Colors at the Piano | p. 41 |
| The Deal Breaker | p. 47 |
| A Slip of the Noose | p. 53 |
| A Body of Grief | p. 61 |
| If I Love You, You'll Leave | p. 70 |
| Hello, Catastrophe | p. 79 |
| Unraveling | p. 87 |
| Letters I Will Never Send | p. 94 |
| Nothing Helps, Except Love | p. 97 |
| Search for the Silver Cup | p. 106 |
| The Merry-Go-Round | p. 113 |
| Thorazine | p. 116 |
| Learning to Sit Stiil | p. 124 |
| Depression is a Patient Stalker | p. 130 |
| Allies in the Sky | p. 136 |
| Off With the Fairies | p. 145 |
| Learning To Love My Depression | p. 153 |
| Skirting the Abyss | p. 160 |
| God's Perfect Child | p. 167 |
| Irish Wake-up Call | p. 176 |
| The Dialectics of Suicide | p. 183 |
| Forty-four Steps | p. 191 |
| Upon Being Told to Be True to Myself | p. 197 |
| Viral Goodbyes | p. 202 |
| Someday This Pain May Be Useful | p. 207 |
| Riding Shotgun | p. 213 |
| Surviving the Spiral | p. 220 |
| A Kind of Quiet Most People Have Forgotten | p. 227 |
