Review of Not Alone – edited by Alise Wright

For too many us, depression can be such a scary word that we’ll avoid acknowledging that we or someone we know might be struggling with it. We’ll cover it up, call it a phase, beat ourselves up, tell others to get it together and/or try to smile more.

None of those are beneficial.

Learning about depression is the best thing to minimize its scariness and allow us to receive the help we need so that depression doesn’t control our worlds. Now there is an excellent resource available to learn about depression … whether for yourself or someone you know.

Not Alone: Stories of Living with Depression, a recently published book by Civitas Press, is a compilation of essays from over thirty people in various phases of life. Each author shares about their journey of becoming aware, accepting and learning to live with their depression with honesty and truth.

The essays are fairly short, easy to read (though some of the details are gut-wrenching) and give the reader a broad perspective of how depression affects different people in different ways. Some share about the ups and downs of learning how to live their best life possible with depression as a companion, while others share how they feel like they’ve recovered from bouts of depression.

Whether you are male, female, old, young, single, married, etc. I think you’ll find a story from someone in a similar situation in life. Obviously people that are personally struggling with depression will benefit from Not Alone. Plus I think everyone else should also read the book, so that they understand what the rest of us go through.

I had been invited to share an essay in the book and I opted out (which I regret now because it is such a freakin’ good book) because I knew both Not Alone and my book  would be released this fall and I talk about my two major bouts with depression in Because I Can. The first one was after giving birth to three boys within five years and the second time was after being injured. Both times a book like Not Alone would have been extremely comforting and given me much-needed hope.

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Not Alone is edited by the lovely Alise Wright and she had this to say about the book.

Since 1997, depression has been a part of my life. And the first step toward healing for me has always been to tell someone what I’m going through. When I felt myself going down that path last fall, I shared my struggle on my blog, and the response surprised me. While I expected kindness, I did not expect people to say that this small confession was one that allowed them to be honest about their own experiences with depression. As people wrote comments and sent emails, I realized that what was healing for me was healing for many.

Sharing your story connects you to a larger community and allows you to recognize that you don’t have to go through hard times by yourself. Through this realization, I decided to invite others to have a safe place to share their stories of depression so that they would have an opportunity to experience that healing and so that they could offer comfort to others at the same time. I decided to call it the Not Alone series because that was the phrase that was used most often in the messages that I received; people thanked me for letting them know that they were not alone.

It is my desire to see Not Alone be not only a book where those who have experienced depression can turn for comfort, but also a resource for those who have never gone through depression. People often are unaware of what it means to be in the grasp of depression and these stories give a glimpse of that feeling. I hope that this will open up dialogue about what it means to offer community for those dealing with depression. It’s a conversation that needs to be had, and I believe that this book is a step in the right direction. When people refuse to be silent about their pain, it allows those with the same pain to find a voice and it also offers those who want to help a practical way to give support.

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Pick up a copy of Not Alone today … for yourself and/or for someone who might feel like they are alone in their journey of depression.

Available at Amazon
and at Civitas Press.

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Has depression touched you or someone you know?