Product Description

I believe that we learn through stories. We learn that we are not alone. Sally Brampton is an optimist. The founding editor of "Elle", a successful journalist and novelist, she loves gardening, friends and life. She is also a depressive. "Shoot the Damn Dog" is a memoir of her journey through depression. For four years her life stood still, mired in the tears, despair and desperate loneliness of mental illness. The brief joy of a stumbled recovery was cruelly, swiftly followed by a relapse into a deeper darkness, alcohol abuse and two suicide attempts. Hers is a story at once deeply personal and profoundly universal which, by way of shared experience, offers a connection to those who feel so terribly alone and ashamed. Unflinching and humble in its honesty, "Shoot the Damn Dog" blasts the stigma of depression as a character failing or moral flaw and confronts the terrifying illness Winston Churchill called the black dog, an illness that humiliates, punishes and isolates its sufferers. It is also a practical book, offering ideas about what might help. There are no promises, only suggestions: small steps towards understanding and managing this illness and slowly coming back into the light. With its raw, understated eloquence, this book will speak volumes to any person whose life has been haunted by depression, as well as offering help and understanding to those whose loved ones suffer from this debilitating condition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7218 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
Sobering account of a British fashion writer's struggles with alcoholism and clinical depression.The daughter of an oil-industry executive whose work took him to posts throughout the world, Brampton (Love, Always, 2000, etc.) spent much of her childhood in the Middle East, South America and Africa. In a debut memoir weakened in early chapters by a deluge of dull scientific data on depression, the author asserts that her peripatetic upbringing in an emotionless family left her vulnerable to mental illness and dependency on alcohol. Unable to shake her increasingly dark moods and daily consumption of at least two bottles of wine, Brampton eventually sought professional help. She writes with arch and revealing wit about her on-again-off-again odyssey with antidepressants, detox centers, in-patient psychiatric facilities, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and addiction therapy sessions (during which participants bandied "Group of Drunks" as an acronym for God). Brampton is especially skilled at detailing the self-delusion, denial and furtive uncontrolled drinking that, she notes, compound the real and imagined pain of those in the grips of alcoholism and despair. She devotes a chilling chapter to her ultimately ill-fated decision to withdraw cold turkey from prescription drugs that had kept her, despite complications, on a relatively even keel. Writing with stoic, self-mocking charm, she attributes her failed suicide attempts to unreliable Internet chatter on the best methods to achieve a fatal overdose. Still, Brampton notes that her triumphs as an acclaimed journalist helped her to maintain a nurturing, upbeat relationship with her teenage daughter through it all. In closing passages, the author writes of a hard-won recovery program that includes yoga, transcendental meditation, gardening, walking, B vitamins and abstinence from booze. She also married a man she'd distanced during the full-throttle phase of her disease.A tough opening slog gives way to a compelling story. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
I believe that we learn through stories. We learn that we are not alone. Sally Brampton is an optimist. The founding editor of "Elle", a successful journalist and novelist, she loves gardening, friends and life. She is also a depressive. "Shoot the Damn Dog" is a memoir of her journey through depression. For four years her life stood still, mired in the tears, despair and desperate loneliness of mental illness. The brief joy of a stumbled recovery was cruelly, swiftly followed by a relapse into a deeper darkness, alcohol abuse and two suicide attempts. Hers is a story at once deeply personal and profoundly universal which, by way of shared experience, offers a connection to those who feel so terribly alone and ashamed. Unflinching and humble in its honesty, "Shoot the Damn Dog" blasts the stigma of depression as a character failing or moral flaw and confronts the terrifying illness Winston Churchill called the black dog, an illness that humiliates, punishes and isolates its sufferers. It is also a practical book, offering ideas about what might help.

There are no promises, only suggestions: small steps towards understanding and managing this illness and slowly coming back into the light. With its raw, understated eloquence, this book will speak volumes to any person whose life has been haunted by depression, as well as offering help and understanding to those whose loved ones suffer from this debilitating condition.

About the Author
Sally Brampton began her career on Vogue before moving to the Observer as fashion editor. She launched Elle in the UK, which she edited for five years, leaving to write full time. She has published several novels, a television documentary and a screenplay, and has written extensively for all the major national newspapers and magazines. She writes a weekly column on emotional issues for the Sunday Times. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
As someone who runs groups for people who struggle with depression, I found this book really, really good and would recommend it for anyone who either suffers from or is trying to understand depression. Sally's relationship with her friends through this time is really special, and her tips on finding a way through it all is extremely helpful. Highly recommended.

A book to be grateful for
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who has suffered from depression. `We read to know we are not alone' it goes, and so it is here. The author successfully articulates the feelings associated with depression: the inability to function at a busy party; the wish to avoid watching upsetting news programmes and instead watch old films; eating food but feeling like you have ashes in your mouth; waking up at 3.20 every morning, infuriatingly. We read this and we think: you as well!
The complexity of depression is rife for intellectual assessment. Brampton, who is an intelligent writer, not only details her horrible experiences (and they are sometimes difficult to read) but discusses solutions. Yoga, talk therapy, vitamin supplements, interest in science, gardening and quiet, short meals with friends are some of the things offered as panacea.
She talks about antidepressants a fair bit and on one page lists the possible side effects of one particular drug. They are so horrendous as to be hilarious. It's little details like this that stop the book from being monotonous.
The book benefits from being written by a secular author, so no silly mystical or supernatural `solutions' are offered. If you're a depressive it's the book you might have been looking for for a long time, as it's one that offers more solace than many self help guides.
There's a surprising happy ending too - at least in book terms, because in life, there are no real endings: everything is temporary, everything keeps moving.

cautious
Having a Black dog myself I found the book very good on facing up to the recognition of such a state of depression.It highlights very well the fundamental problem[s].However, I simply don't believe in the fairy tale ending. Firstly it is not an option between Happiness/death. Happiness is such an effervercent concept and simply not reality.In my experience it is about solid ground work.Happiness is momentary. To imagine another human being can wave a magic wand and dispel all internal problems is 'pie in the sky' In other words, the Black Dog cannot be shot, simply acknowledged and the pain eased through self help therapies.