68. Resilience. The Scar

Prompted by dinner and great conversation about my late mother, my friend and moderator of our book group sent me a copy of a book by a dear friend of hers. The story of depression, suicide, and resilience., the The Scar is rich in musings and scientific detail—and book discusses the author's reaction to the death of her first child, endogenous depression—as opposed to depression only borne of an event—history of treatment, her childhood, and the lack of fulfillment in her early job as a book designer (the irony that I've spent most of my life designing books, telling other people's stories and trying to find my own voice even without, I think, crippling depression, is no lost on me). The book does indeed explain a lot of my mother's resilience in the dark face of postpartum depression and depression at the time of menopause. Both my mother and the author have spunk—which is too shallow a word to describe their work.

When I said I was reading the book, my friend/moderator Margaret asked, "Do you love it?" Loving a book of hard truths and hard-core info isn't the first thing that springs to mind. I do find it enlightening, important, and hopeful. I also hope that the author continue her impressive resilience and even-more-impressive life and career, with the support of her family, work, therapist, med, and her own spirit. In the light of the recent apparent suicide of Gregory Eells, the executive director of Counseling and Psychological Services at my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, I'm pulling for everyone struggling with demons.

Signing off to read guidelines for reporting (and therefore discussing?) suicide.



(For September 16, 2019; posted September 17)