Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression | 
 enlarge | Author: Sally Brampton
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 198415
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0393066789
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.85270092
EAN: 9780393066784
ASIN: 0393066789
Publication Date: June 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A searing, raw memoir of depression that is ultimately uplifting and inspiring.
A successful magazine editor and prize-winning journalist, Sally Brampton launched Elle magazine in the UK in 1985. But behind the successful, glamorous career was a story that many of her friends and colleagues knew nothing about—her ongoing struggle with severe depression and alcoholism. Brampton's is a candid, tremendously honest telling of how she was finally able to "address the elephant in the room," and of a culture that sends the overriding message that people who suffer from depression are somehow responsible for their own illness. She offers readers a unique perspective of depression from the inside that is at times wrenching, but ultimately inspirational, as it charts her own coming back to life. Beyond her personal story, Brampton offers practical advice to all those affected by this illness. This book will resonate with any person whose life has been haunted by depression, at the same time offering help and understanding to those whose loved ones suffer from this debilitating condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Sobering tale of what it's like to live with depression November 1, 2008
Paul Allaer (Cincinnati)
I have to admit I didn't know much, ok anything, about Sally Brampton, before picking up this book. Brampton was a successful writer, columnist and founding editor of (British) "Elle" magazine. Then her world fell apart.
In "Shoot the Damn Dog" (326 pages), the author brings her harrowing tale of descending into a full-blown depression, and the harrowing and life-changing consequences it had on her, and it has on many people. In the early part of the book, Brampton retells how she managed to be so successful. As Brampton makes clear, her depression came about by not just one singular event, but by many. She was let go as the editor of "Red" magazine, a devastating event, that was then compounded by other events, including a failed marriage and the death of a close event. On the termination of het stint at "Red", the author observes "So the failure of my editorship at "Red" was not simply the failure of a job. It was the destruction of an absolute truth about myself". The author's tales of her numerous visits and stays into various hospitals are equally devastating. At one point she observes "I thought that if I went into hospital, I would become well. I thought a pill could make me better. The failure of both to do either was almost more catastrophic for me than the illness itself". Wow.
This book is not for the faint of heart, although having emerged from her long bout, the author shares with us that "It;s two years since I emerged from depression and I no longer want myself dead. I want myself alive. I am no longer my own enemy." That's about as 'uplifting' as this book gets, but then again this book is not so much about uplifting as it is about making us understand that depression is an illness, a very serious one, yet one from which one can emerge victoriously, albeit one day at the time.
 Inspiring words for depressives August 30, 2008
Barbara Shuck (West Covina, CA, USA)
Ms. Brampton has written the book that all depressive people and their families have been waiting for. She writes the truth about therapy and medication in a clear and readable manner. She tells her story without trying to make you feel sorry for her but to encourage others who face the darkness of depression.
 One woman's story of depression August 26, 2008
Savannah Jade (Los Angeles, California USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book about depression tells of the writer's personal experience, holding back nothing. I imagine she must have used the words "I cried" on every other page. It is a hard story to read emotionally-speaking but decently written.
One thing I had a problem with was that she had enough money to live on without working when she was severely depressed, which is not true for most sufferers. Due to the sale of her and ex-husbands' home as well as the ex-husband being "there" for her through all of this, she was able to remain in her depressive state for several years, getting help from several therapists, a psychaistrist and 2 hospitals. Many don't. Most sufferers lose insurance and if they do get hospitalized it's in sub-standard facilities for the poor. Families are shattered.
I also had questions as to why her severe depression could be 5 days of intense suffering and near suicide when her child was NOT on her child custody watch but with her dad, and then when it was time for HER to have the child for 5 days she could cleanup up her depression and alchoholism and be "Mom". Depression does not work like that! When you are in a severe depression you are that way day after day and cannot rally around for a few days and be lightly depressed! She seemed to also think that her child didn't know about how sick she was, but I dare say I'd like to read the book this child will write as a grown-up of these years with her sick mom!
I felt sorry for her, especially that her depression was of the resistant-type to all medications, and understood a lot of what she was going through but just feel that any reader should read this book knowing that while the symptoms maybe similiar, Sally Brampton's experience is not a typical experience and that her finanacial status brought her many advantages in deaing with her depression that most do not and will not have.
A must read, whether you are up or down June 19, 2008
Gordon M (Vancouver, Canada)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have never been formally diagnosed with depression, yet like most people I guess, I have had spells of 'the blues' and feelings of melancholia at times. I have however a mother who has suffered from manic depression all her life and my second wife has been in the same boat for the past five years.
Sally Brampton's book is high on my recommended list. Written with honesty, clarity and humor, it certainly gives a most important insight in to what it must be like to be seriously depressed.
There are many books on depression out there. This one gets is.
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