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"Even though depression has periodically made me feel that my life was not worth living, has created havoc in my family, and sometimes made the work of teaching and writing seem impossible," writes David Karp, "by some standards, I have been fortunate." Indeed, depression can be devastating, leading to family breakups, loss of employment, even suicide. And it is a national problem, with some ten to fifteen million Americans suffering from it, and the number is
growing. In Speaking of Sadness, Karp captures the human face of this widespread affliction, as he illuminates his experience and that of others in a candid, searching work. Combining a
scholar's care and thoroughness with searing personal insight, Karp brings the private experience of depression into sharp relief, drawing on a remarkable series of intimate interviews with fifty depressed men and women. By turns poignant, disturbing, mordantly funny, and wise, Karp's interviews cause us to marvel at the courage of depressed people in dealing with extraordinary and debilitating pain. We hear what depression feels like, what it means to receive an "official" clinical diagnosis,
and what depressed persons think of the battalion of mental health experts--doctors, nurses, social workers, sociologists, psychologists, and therapists--employed to help them. We learn the personal
significance that patients attach to beginning a prescribed daily drug regimen, and their ongoing struggle to make sense of biochemical explanations and metaphors of depression as a disease. Ranging in age from their early twenties to their mid-sixties, the people Karp profiles reflect on their working lives and career aspirations, and confide strategies for overcoming paralyzing episodes of hopelessness. They reveal how depression affects their intimate relationships, and, in a separate
chapter, spouses, children, parents, and friends provide their own often-overlooked point of view. Throughout, Karp probes the myriad ways society contributes to widespread alienation and emotional
exhaustion. Speaking of Sadness is an important book that pierces through the terrifying isolation of depression to uncover the connections linking the depressed as they undertake their personal journeys through this very private hell. It will bring new understanding to professionals seeking to see the world as their clients do, and provide vivid insights and renewed empathy to anyone who cares for someone living with the cruel unpredictability of depression.
"Even though depression has periodically made me feel that my life was not worth living, has created havoc in my family, and sometimes made the work of teaching and writing seem impossible," writes David Karp, "by some standards, I have been fortunate." Indeed, depression can be devastating, leading to family breakups, loss of employment, even suicide. And it is a national problem, with some ten to fifteen million Americans suffering from it, and the number is
growing. In Speaking of Sadness, Karp captures the human face of this widespread affliction, as he illuminates his experience and that of others in a candid, searching work. Combining a
scholar's care and thoroughness with searing personal insight, Karp brings the private experience of depression into sharp relief, drawing on a remarkable series of intimate interviews with fifty depressed men and women. By turns poignant, disturbing, mordantly funny, and wise, Karp's interviews cause us to marvel at the courage of depressed people in dealing with extraordinary and debilitating pain. We hear what depression feels like, what it means to receive an "official" clinical diagnosis,
and what depressed persons think of the battalion of mental health experts--doctors, nurses, social workers, sociologists, psychologists, and therapists--employed to help them. We learn the personal
significance that patients attach to beginning a prescribed daily drug regimen, and their ongoing struggle to make sense of biochemical explanations and metaphors of depression as a disease. Ranging in age from their early twenties to their mid-sixties, the people Karp profiles reflect on their working lives and career aspirations, and confide strategies for overcoming paralyzing episodes of hopelessness. They reveal how depression affects their intimate relationships, and, in a separate
chapter, spouses, children, parents, and friends provide their own often-overlooked point of view. Throughout, Karp probes the myriad ways society contributes to widespread alienation and emotional
exhaustion. Speaking of Sadness is an important book that pierces through the terrifying isolation of depression to uncover the connections linking the depressed as they undertake their personal journeys through this very private hell. It will bring new understanding to professionals seeking to see the world as their clients do, and provide vivid insights and renewed empathy to anyone who cares for someone living with the cruel unpredictability of depression.
1. Living With Depressions ; 2. The Dialects of Depression ; 3. Illness and Identity ; 4. The Meanings of Medication ; 5. Coping and Adapting ; 6. Family and Friends ; 7. Sickness, Self, and Society ; 8. Sociology, Spirituality, and Suffering ; Appendix: Thinking About Sampling
David A. Karp is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. His earlier books on cities, everyday life, and aging reflect his enduring interest in how people invest their daily worlds with meaning.
"An extraordinarily thoughtful book about depression.... [The]
palpable, personal familiarity with false turns in the labyrinth of
depression makes Speaking of Sadness a distinctive contribution to
the literature of the field."--The Chicago Tribune
"An incredibly moving book that not only gives voice to the
depressed but also uncomfortably requires readers to listen with
their hearts. A major contribution to the understanding of an
epidemic affliction of our times."--Karen Bettez Halnon, University
of Vermont
"The millions of people who suffer hard and long with excruciating
depressions will recognize themselves in these pages.... Speaking
of Sadness provides an open challenge to wrestle with the difficult
questions."--Martha Manning, The New York Times Book Review
"A careful, honest writer, Karp has produced a classic equal to
William Styron's Darkness Visible and Clifford Beers' A Mind That
Found Itself. Highly recommended for sufferers, would-be healers,
and anyone interested in the effects of depression."--Library
Journal
"Finally a book from the inside, poignant in its choice of the word
'suffering' in its very title, by a scholar who admits to knowing
this aspect of the human condition in his own person and has seen
beyond the superstition of the 'medical model,' expressed in the
lived experience of real and beautifully articulate people who,
like himself, have been there."--Kate Millett, author of The Loony
Bin Trip
"Karp's provocative insights flash a beam of light on the dark
canyon of depression."--Carolyn Ellis
"David Karp has written a wise and perceptive book about the most
pervasive mental health problem in our society. Intelligently
integrating his own experience with 50 interviews, Karp sheds new
light on the darkness of depression. This accessible and
well-written book resonates with rich voices and personal honesty,
providing a rare insider's view of the social reality of
depression."--Peter Conrad, Harry Coplan Professor of Social
Sciences, Brandeis University
"A milestone in the area. It not only adroitly informs us of the
clinical side of depression, but adds immeasurably to our knowledge
by conveying depression's ordinary, experiential contours. Drawing
on a remarkable series of interviews with fifty depressed men and
women, Karp tells us how depression is actually lived. From
poignant accounts of illness and identity to everyday concerns with
the meaning of medication and the impact on family and friends,
Speaking of Sadness insightfully communicates the personal side of
illness and thus speaks to us all."--Jay Gubrium, University of
Florida
"Destined to become a classic. Eloquently written, carefully
documented, richly described, and analytically sound, this book
fits all of the criteria of what ethnography is supposed to do.
Literally providing a 'portrait of the people' that it describes,
the book is moving and deep, while it analytically provides fodder
for theoretical development. Perhaps a book such as this could not
have been written a decade ago, but today, with the introduction of
the
postmodern 'impulse' in ethnography, we are permitted greater
liberty in using ourselves, subjectively, as characters in our own
science. Speaking of Sadness not only allows the author's voice to
speak
loudly, but authoritatively permits the voices of other sufferers
of depression to articulate their views."--Patricia Adler,
University of Colorado, Boulder and Peter Adler, University of
Denver
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