Posted by uncouth on August 25, 2011, at 12:40:09
Hey all,
I wanted to start a thread to collect a list and comments on which books people have read during their depressions (or after) that have helped give them a new understanding of their condition, or helped them transcend/make meaning out of suffering. Not necessarily looking for books that just describe depression and how to treat it, more interested in books that have given you hope, new understanding, self-empathy, spiritual FAITH, succor, renewed your motivation for life, etc. Sorta stuff beyond self-help which never seems to really help me. Fiction or nonfiction.Basically I need something new to read and I am still suffering, some days better than others, but the bad days are pretty damn bad still, with self-pity and anhedonia and apathy and amotivation. Any specific suggestions on what to read NOW would help.
Here's my list off the top of my head, probably missing a lot. Right now i'm reading The Brothers Karamazov.
- Infinite Jest (on the top of the list because I recently read it and David Foster Wallace suffered from severe depression and addiction and killed himself in 2008)...this novel has the most poignant and compelling descriptions of mental illness and addiction I've ever read. It's 1000 pages though.
- An Unquiet Mind
- Darkness Visible
- Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
- Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (famous British Pastor)
- Bible, sometimes, when my faith is already strong
- Mindfulness in Plain English
- Mindful Way Though Depression
- Drama of the Gifted Child
- Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
- I Don't Want to Talk About it (book about men and depression)
- Tolstoy's Confession
- Lincoln's Melancholy (HIGHLY recommended)Anyway look forward to your responses
Uncouth
poster:uncouth
thread:994835
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110822/msgs/994835.html