BOOKS
You Aren’t Depression’s Victim!
By Debra Atlas
Debra Atlas’s You Aren’t Depression’s Victim is a departure from her usual journalistic writing. The book is designed to be uplifting and empowering, offering readers new ideas and thought-provoking possibilities to consider and presents the idea that we have a choice when faced with depression.
Overview
Debra Atlas’s “You Aren’t Depression’s Victim” is a departure from her usual journalistic writing. The book is designed to be uplifting and empowering, offering readers new ideas and thought-provoking possibilities to consider and presents the idea that we have a choice when faced with depression.
We often think we must automatically fall into the depression pit, that there’s no other option. This intimate look into Ms. Atlas’s lifelong journey with depression:
- Reveals how to identify where the edge of depression actually is.
- Provides tools to help you recognize depression before it hits.
- Shines a light on simple actions that can help us step back from the edge.
Living an “odd man out”, roller coaster-like life, Atlas kept her depression hidden from family and friends – until she attempted suicide at age 14. From her emotional recovery to life at college, grad school and on to the Big Apple, Atlas strove to find meaning and balance while lacking the words or skills for her search. Living with a deep sense of inadequacy, her “I’m not good enough” constantly put a lid on her ability to be a star in her life.
A chance meeting with a therapist became a lifeline when Atlas faced an overwhelmingly acute emotional crisis. The therapy that followed opened the door to life-changing insights and desperately needed tools that helped her gain clarity, confidence and equilibrium. A culmination of that work, this book reveals the vital lessons Atlas learned from her challenges and her discovery of what leading a balanced and fulfilled life could be.
“It’s so difficult to describe depression to someone who’s never been there, because it’s not sadness. I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling — that really hollowed-out feeling.”
The Takeaway
- Recognize how to identify where the edge of depression actually is.
- Discover tools to help you recognize depression before it hits.
- Learn to master simple actions that can help you step back from the edge.
- Explore the possibility of having a choice when facing depression.
