Book Reviews of Darkness Visible : A Memoir of Madness

Excellent, quick read. It was intriguing to read a memoir from someone who has lived through a suicidal depression. Suicide has had a lasting impact on my life. This book my shed some light for others on the debilitating effects of depression.

I read this book many years ago after a suicide attempt and two back-to-back hospitalizations for a seriously debilitating depression which I suffered with for years. Reading it was, at least for me, like walking hand in hand with a kindred soul who, unlike myself, was able to accurately describe the deep dark abyss of major depression. It was comforting like a warm blanket on a cold night. I highly recommend this book for anyone suffering from depression...but I espcially recommend it for anyone who has a loved one they suspect may be seriously depressed. Although there have been great strides in the treatment of depression since I went through it, depression is depression is depression and the person suffering from it is living in a hell all their own. Although dated, I firmly believe this book can provide understanding and can give hope to those who feel hopeless. Thank you Mr. Styron for one of the best books I ever read.

This is the famous writer's account of a sudden and devastating bout of suicidal depression. A short quotation: "My few hours of sleep were usually terminated at three or four in the morning, when I stared up into yawning darkness, wondering and writhing at the devastation taking place in my mind, and awaiting the dawn, which usually permitted me a feverish, dreamless nap." Easy to see why this essay has become a classic "illness memoir" that is read by mental-health professionals, those suffering melancholy, and those who want to understand what a friend or relative is suffering. And "suffering" is no exaggeration.

This is a great inside view of depression & the devestating effects.

A very good description of what it is like to go into and come out of depression. I like William Styron, and found that he is very honest when talking about himself.

Average. This book is a mixture of good and bad. I bought this book because I have been diagnosed with depression for 4 years now and always am interested in reading other sufferers' accounts. Reading about William Syron's personal battle with depression is interesting, but because his major onset of he disease happened for him in the mid-1980s much of what he talks about is dated. Incredible strides have been taken over the past 25 years. Read it for his personal and accurate account of how depression manifests itself, but not for any type of "professional" resource on how to treat the disease.

This is a memoir of the author’s descent into the maelstrom of melancholia, a term he prefers to that of depression. Like Poe’s character, he is fortunate to extricate himself, but not without experiencing the throes of suicidal tendency. He recounts the suicides of many celebrities and makes a case against the use of certain prescription drugs that were part of his own early treatment. He was fortunate to recognize his problem early and to seek help until he found the correct path for him. A short but compelling book by one of our most gifted novelists.

IMO, one needs to have an intellectual mind to fully appreciate this short work.

Great book for the person who needs to find more of an understanding of clinical depression and suicide. Easy read.

More academic than I expected, Styron's extended essay on his experience with extreme depression does not propose a solution - or indeed the likely possibility of one- for depression, but it is curiously uplifting in its presentation of the realities, one of which is that Styron outlived his depression, so it is possible. Which may be all some in that situation may need.

good description of depression

A notable account of mental illness, from which 1 in 10 Americans may suffer.