Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person

Description

An engrossing memoir-meets-investigative report that takes a fresh, frank look at how we treat depression Depression is a havoc-wreaking illness that masquerades as personal failing and hijacks your life. After a major suicide attempt in her early twenties, Anna Mehler Paperny resolved to put her reporter’s skills to use to get to know her enemy, setting off on a journey to understand her condition, the dizzying array of medical treatments on offer, and a medical profession in search of answers. Charting the way depression wrecks so many lives, she maps competing schools of therapy, pharmacology, cutting-edge medicine, the pill-popping pitfalls of long-term treatment, the glaring unknowns and the institutional shortcomings that both patients and practitioners are up against. She interviews leading medical experts across the US and Canada, from psychiatrists to neurologists, brain-mapping pioneers to family practitioners, and others dabbling in strange hypotheses—and shares compassionate conversations with fellow sufferers. Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me tracks Anna’s quest for knowledge and her desire to get well. Impeccably reported, it is a profoundly compelling story about the human spirit and the myriad ways we treat (and fail to treat) the disease that accounts for more years swallowed up by disability than any other in the world.   Cover Front Flap Contents Preface Part I: In the First Person Chapter 1: Cataclysm Chapter 2: When You Try to Die and Don’t Chapter 3: Psych-Ward Sojourn Chapter 4: What, Me Depressed? Chapter 5: When Diagnosis Makes You Crazy Chapter 6: Killing Yourself Is Tougher Than You’d Think Chapter 7: Know Thine Enemy Chapter 8: Checking Boxes Chapter 9: Suicide Blues Chapter 10: Getting in Trouble Part II: Treatment Attempts Chapter 11: A Pill-Popping Parade Chapter 12: Good Noticing! Chapter 13: Zapping, Shocking, and Burning Your Brain into Submission Chapter 14: Brainiacs Chaptre 15: A Dry Pharma Pipeline Chapter 16: Old Illness, New Tricks: The Electrode in Your Brain Chapter 17: Old Illness, New Tricks: From Psychedelics to Smartphones Part III: A Kick in the Teeth Chapter 18: Stigma and Related Bullshit Chapter 19: Through the Cracks Chapter 20: Mental Health Is for Rich People Chapter 21: Trying to Heal the Littlest Minds Chapter 22: “More Children Do Not Have to Die” Chapter 23: Race as Barrier Part IV: In the Maze Chapter 24: Who You Gonna Call? Chapter 25: How to Talk about What We Talk about When We Talk about Wanting to Die Chapter 26: Certifiable Chapter 27: Trust Issues Part V: A Denouement of Sorts Chapter 28: First Person Afterword Resources and Further Reading Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author Back Flap Back Cover