Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

I have to strongly disagree with the editorial and reader reviews on this essay, even though it was a national bestseller. The book is touted as possibly the most rational description of a descent into morbid, clinical depression and suicidal despair. I didn't find it so. Styron was descriptive but rather than probing and baring the depths of his mind and emotions during his depression, I felt he only hinted at the tip of the iceberg. I didn't find any riveting, palpable tracing of his depression. It was rather moribund for a subject with such potential. There is a detachment throughout that many attribute to Styron's calculating dismantling of his own emotions to throw light into the abyss. I found the detachment sort of hovering over the pond, unwilling to dive in, which robs the reader. Candor, yes in some aspects. Precision, somewhat missing.

He quotes Dante "In the middle of the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wood, for I had lost the right path." Styron was in the melancholia described by Dante but he never succeeds at identifying why or even how he managed to eventually recover.

From what most reviewers have said, this book should have been the definitive treatise on deep depression, written by a survivor. It is not that impressive at all.

I happened upon this book in a roundabout way-Styron was quoted in a book about happiness of all things-and I was just intrigued enough to buy a hard copy of his book, particularly since it was a very brief read. It is not in my nature to read profoundly depressing books, (nor do I commonly read books about happiness, but it was given to me as a gift), and I generally avoid the self-help genre altogether because I find it all very tedious, particularly since I have lived with clinical depression for my entire 55 years, and there’s simply nothing new to say about it, much like my decision to discontinue talk therapy because I have nothing new to say and I’m sick to death of hearing my voice telling the same narrative.
All that being said, once I started reading my hard copy of Styron’s book, (I’ve since purchased the Kindle version), I found myself grabbing my highlighter and by the time I was finished reading and highlighting I found that I had highlighted no less than 18 passages in this profoundly insightful book of less than 100 pages. Nowhere have I ever heard or read anything that affected me in such a visceral way, namely, Styron’s ability to verbalize in the written word the truest description of depression and all its grim detritus in such a brilliant way. I became obsessed with this book and insisted to all my depressed “people” that they’ve got to read this book. I have never in my entire life felt so validated and I think it’s should required reading if for no other reason than one might gain a scintilla of an idea of what this monstrous disease is like and what it is capable of. An entire generation of people could be educated, finally, on the ability and necessity to truly feel compassion and who would choose to be an active participant in eradicating the stigma that so many of us live with.

If Stryon had presented signs of physical illness, he might have been diagnosed as Munchausen's Disease. That is, someone who consciously and intentionally feigns illness in order to assume the role of sick patient. But he is not presenting signs of physical illness, he is presenting signs of psychological illness.

My provisional diagnosis--controversial, yes; amateur, yes--is "Factitous Disorder with Predominantly Psychological Signs and Symptoms."

I am sure I will be vilified for this diagnosis. Note that I am not saying he does not have a mental disorder. He does have a mental disorder. Just not the one he says he does.

Not everyone will agree. For me the tip off was that I got through the book, after many pages of descriptive, metaphorical writing, and yet I do not really have a sense of what he was experiencing. How can this be?

I also suspect he had Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He seems to disdain all of the therapists who are there to help him. He seems to think he is smarter than all of them.

There is something not quite right here.

If you're normal, or consider yourself normal, would you ever read a book about depression? If you had, perhaps, a bout with "the blues" maybe following a divorce, loss of a job, or perhaps a death in the family, quite possibly you were down for awhile, and thought you were depressed. I doubt, even still, you would have warrant to go read a book like, "Darkness Visible", by William Styron, one of the great American novelists from last century. Styron wrote this memoir after his own run in with depression. He was in his sixties when he first recognized it's grip, and it terrified him. When his pain grew into thoughts so dark his decision to end it all was firm, he sought help, perhaps, as Kay Redfield Jamison, describes, night was indeed falling fast. He survived, at least until he was 80. Many, who try to endure the pain as he describes in this book, do not.

So we can establish, that if the pain of depression is as real as Stryon describes, those with depression will resonate with his description of something beyond description, the noise, or the storm in ones mind brings on a suffering so real, pain has been the only way to describe it. Physical pain, say as a result of nerve damage, so severe as to drive a person to suicide, might be the only way to describe the despair that someone with depression feels when they are at the brink. Stryon was at the brink. His explanation is heart wrenching and felt. But perhaps his greatest contribution, and the one we must heed, comes early in his book. And it has nothing to do with insight for the depressed, they already know, but it is worth mentioning here for everyone else. He says, "That the word `indescribable' should present itself is not fortuitous, since it has to be emphasized that if the pain were readily describable most of the countless sufferers from this ancient affliction would have been able to confidently depict for their friends and loved ones...some of the actual dimensions of their torment, and perhaps elicit a comprehension that has been generally lacking; such incomprehension has usually been due not to a failure of sympathy but for the basic inability of healthy people to imagine a form of torment so alien to everyday experience".

Society in general does not understand depression. Styron goes on to paint the actual word depression as too cheap of a word to describe what's really going on in the minds of the depressed. Depression, or clinical depression, or severe depression, is not your garden variety rainy days, and Monday's type of blues. It is a critical affliction as severe as cancer, because, in some cases, the outcome of the disease is terminal. Society at large will never read this book. But, I recommend this book, not to the depressed, but to those caring for anyone who may have this disease. A sister, a brother, a parent, grandmother, a co-worker, or perhaps someone much closer, a spouse or a child. Understanding the storm and it's anguish is the first step in helping with this ancient affliction. Styron get's five stars from me for this great work.

Depression afflicts millions directly, and millions more who are relatives or friends of victims. In its graver, clinical manifestation it takes upward of 20% of its victims by way of suicide, and artistic types are particularly vulnerable. In its extreme form, depression is madness. Loss of appetite, libido, ability to focus, and hope. Fear of being alone. An inner observer who watches dispassionately as his companion struggles. Its roll call includes Vincent Van Gogh, Virginia Woolf, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, Jack London, Hunter S. Thompson, Vince Foster, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, Abbie Hoffman, George Eastman, Cleopatra, Robin Williams, and others.

Part of the reason depression can be difficult to treat is that it often has no single identifiable cause. Genetics, chemical imbalances, and past experience/behavior may all be important. It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.' It is nearly incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it in its extreme mode. Claims of an easy way out are glib and most likely fraudulent.

One of the many dreadful manifestations of depression is a failure of self-esteem/being taken over by self-loathing - one of its most universally experienced symptoms. It is nearly incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it. Symptoms begin with a sense of dread, alienation, and stifling anxiety. Disruption of normal sleep patterns is another devastating feature of depression. A lot of literature concerning depression is breezily optimistic, spreading assurance that nearly all depressive states will be stabilized or reversed if only the suitable antidepressant can be found.

Eventually, the suitable antidepressant is found, and he's released from hospitalization. Before getting there, however, readers encounter some incredible thoughts:

The word 'depression' is inadequate, a 'wimp of a word for an illness that is a 'howling tempest in the brain.' The suffering is 'beyond expression.' As for the value of psychotherapy for one with advance depression - 'virtually nil,' while group therapy is 'hateful,' and art therapy 'organized infantilism.' He fears his accounting of schemes to kill himself will seem 'especially repugnant to healthy Americans, with their faith in self-improvement.' Despite the anguish devouring one's brain, the sufferer must present a face approximating the one associated with ordinary events, try to utter small talk, be responsive to questions, and knowingly nod and frown, even smile. 'But it is a fierce trial attempting to speak a few simple words.'

His most encouraging thought - that 'for me the real healers were seclusion and time.'

DARKNESS VISIBLE, by William Styron.
I read this "Memoir of Madness" in just a couple hours. At barely eighty pages, it's a quick read, albeit one packed with information about the dangerous disease of depression. Styron tells us of his long battle with what he calls a "despair beyond despair" and how it came to a dangerous head in 1985 resulting in his hospitalization for several weeks. He tells too of how the depression became worse after he suddenly stopped drinking at the age of sixty, after forty years with the bottle, and wonders if that cutoff from the crutch of alcohol may have been one of the triggers. Or was it a long-delayed reaction of unresolved grief at losing his mother at the tender age of thirteen? Then there were the antidepressants and the therapy sessions, which sometimes helped and sometimes didn't. He cites the unwavering support and understanding of his wife, Rose, as the most important part of his recovery.

Reading this 1990 book now, in March of 2015, I was struck by one passage that read -

"But with their minds turned inward, people with depression are usually dangerous only to themselves."

Unless, of course, that person is a co-pilot of an airliner full of innocent passengers, and his despairing determination to kill himself blinds him to the multiple and far-reaching horrors of his act of flying that plane into the side of a mountain. Twenty-five years after the publication of DARKNESS VISIBLE, Styron's words about a much feared and misunderstood malady are, sadly, still all too meaningful.

William Styron got help in time for his black and suicidal despair. He died from pneumonia at his home in 2006.

This is a thoughtful and still very relevant look at a mental illness that continues to devastate lives and families. Highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

My father was subject to depression. How deep it went and what caused it is now clouded by the post-traumatic stress he suffered from his participation in WWII. There were dark pages to his life that I never knew about until his death neared, and had I never known about them, the damage had already been done to me.

Styron talks in this very brief book about the evidence for a genetic passing of depression to children (His father suffered from the condition). What’s so compelling about this autobiographical book lies in Styron’s ability to draw a reader subtly into experiencing his coping with depression. At times his depictions become so intense as to induce claustrophobia - or for readers bordering on this condition, an episode that may not end with closing the book.

Styron entered a hospital for treatment and this is where his story’s elegance turns to dark humor. One episode had an art therapist “work” with Styron and others, asking Styron to draw a home as a way to begin releasing his depression’s source. Imagine, ff you will, a man of Styron’s stature being given a handful of crayons and told to draw a house. Of course, he could barely envision it himself. And while the depression began to ease during his hospital stay, he’s vague to a fault regarding how that moody clue began to live, what medicines were in play, etc.

Still, don’t let me dissuade you from reading this much needed book. And Darkness Visible is a book all depressives, borderline or full tilt, should read. It will give you a valuable perspective on the condition and, to a degree at least, it just might help you get through your own depressive nature.

My rating 17 of 20 stars

Let me state upfront that when I read "Sophie's Choice" all those years (decades) ago, I felt like I was bowled over, emotionally and otherwise, like few other books had ever done. It was quite the surprise (for me anyway) when William Styron went public with his battle against depression, and if memory serves me right, I read this book shortly after it initially came out in 1990. The other day, the book was mentioned in an article I was reading, and curiosity got the better of me, to see how the book would stand up now 25 years later.

"Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness" (1990 publication; 91 pages) is, as Styron points out in the introduction, in essence a larger/expanded version of an article he wrote for vanity Fair in December, 1989 (which in turn was based on a speech he gave earlier that year). As the book opens, Styron retells of a trip to Paris. Here is the chilling opening line of the book: "In Paris on a chilly evening late in October of 1985, I first became fully aware that the struggle with the disorder in my mind--a struggle which had engaged me for several months--might have a fatal outcome", wow. If that doesn't grab your immediate attention, I don't know what will.

Styron makes a couple of interesting observations along the way: first, for most loved ones and friends, the disease is incomprehensible: "such incomprehension has usually been due not to a failure of sympathy but to the basic inability of healthy people to imagine a form of torment so alien to everyday experience." In fact, Styron makes this point more than once. Second, Styron detests the word "depression", and instead wishes an alternative (such as "melancholia" or "madness") would become prevalent (again). The thing that struck me perhaps the most, as I was rereading the book after more than 2 decades, is how `clinical' and `objective' Styron comes across in all of this. He knows he is suffering, and he calmly explains how it affects him. Amazing. This book remains a must-read for many reasons, and clearly stands the test of time, now 25 years on. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I read this book over ten years ago when I was depressed. I found it deeply moving and remembered certain passages from it ever since, and I have read it again more recently. The author is William Styron, who wrote Sophie’s Choice. Only an 84-page book, it describes the cycle of a deep melancholia, lasting over the course of a year. Styron frequently has an informative tone, in attempt to educate readers about this mental illness and relieve the negative social stigma that depression is shameful (this was written twenty-five years ago, and it was actually ground-breaking on making Depression a more acceptable illness to talk about and share). His descriptions were valid, somber, and poetic; his voice resolute.

Here are my favorite passages, and an explanation as to why, focusing on style:
“I never saw Romain again.
…
Romain Gary—twice winner of the Prix Goncourt… hero of the Republic, valorous recipient of the Croix de Guerre, diplomat, bon vivant, womanizer par excellence—went home to his apartment on the rue du Bac and put a bullet through his brain."

This passage reads like an obituary. Styron has placed it at the end of several pages of description about Romain—his life, his troubles, some conversations between them—and it works here like an obituary, as it is the last passage on Romain. I also like how Styron makes the sentence “I never saw Romain again” echo, by placing it at the end of a paragraph, then writing a less captivating description of a lunch he later had with someone else (which the reader rushes through with impending doom) and then giving the obituary-like summary. The summary describes the heights of Romain’s life, making his suicide a starker contrast. Styron is saying that even someone as accomplished and charming can suffer from depression.

“A phenomenon that a number of people have noted while in deep depression is the sense of being accompanied by a second self—a wraithlike observer who, not sharing the dementia of his double, is able to watch with dispassionate curiosity as his companion struggles against the oncoming disaster, or decides to embrace it. There is a theatrical quality about all this, and during the next several days, as I went about stolidly preparing for extinction, I couldn’t shake off a sense of melodrama in which I, the victim-to-be of self-murder, was both the solitary actor and lone member of the audience.”

This is my favorite passage. Writers are supposed to have the ability to step back from their surroundings in order to describe both their broad strokes and their details; Styron has the ability to do this within his own mind. He says that others have been able to observe a feeling of being a third-person within their own minds, but I have never heard it described as intricately as Styron does. In this passage, he is both depressed and manic-like; there is a drive to end the suffering—a reaction to intense pain—and an impassivity that comes from being in so much pain for so long that you become numb. I like his comparison to theatre, as depression is a lonely disorder and one where the dramas and pains are lived out in the mind—a sufferer of depression could transform a grumpy salesperson’s comment into a personal injury or a symbol for what is wrong with the world, which could lead to days of despair. There is a general oversensitivity, a blowing everything out of proportion.

He writes with a dark comedy at times, as with when he describes his experience in the hospital Art Therapy class:
“In humiliated rage I obeyed, drawing a square, with a door and four cross-eyed windows, a chimney in top issuing forth a curlicue of smoke. She [the instructor] showered me with praise…” On this same page, he calls this class “organized infantilism.”

“Suicide has been a persistent theme in my books—three of my major characters killed themselves. In rereading, for the first time in years, sequences from my novels—passages where my heroines have lurched down pathways toward doom—I was stunned to perceive how accurately I had created the landscape of depression in the minds of these young women, describing with what could only be instinct, out of a subconscious already roiled by disturbances of mood, the psychic imbalance that led them to destruction. Thus depression, when it finally came to me, was in fact no stranger, not even a visitor totally unannounced; it had been tapping on my door for decades.”

I like his style here. He begins by making an observation statement about the contents of his books, then realizing with shock how similarly he now felt to the depression he described in his characters, which he had never experienced before himself. “Depression… was… no stranger” he concludes, saying “it had been tapping at my door for decades,” as if depression is a villain, like death in a dark cloak—depression was after him and finally got him. This is, of course, not true, but Styron can get away with it because in the previous sentence he recognizes that it was an instinct he had, a “disturbance of mood.” Also, I like that he placed the last sentence at the end; if he would have placed it at the beginning it would have had a different emphasis, being like a thesis sentence and the following sentences being supportive sentences, but instead he slowly comes to the conclusion that depression was “no stranger.” The effect is eerie.

In fact, the whole book has eeriness to it, as if no one is safe from a harrowing depression—not the successful and charming Romain Gary, not an older, accomplished man like the author—it could happen to anyone.

*And for anyone who enjoyed this book, I highly recommend "Reading My Father," by Alexandria Styron, the author's daughter. She has his raw and painfully honest style, and is also a great writer in her own right.

Wonderful, wonderful little book. A very easy read (text, not subject matter). Styron is a real writer. He manages to convey such a great deal about depression, but without going into too much detail. Meaning, he paints a very clear picture with a few expert brush strokes. For this subject matter, too much detail could quickly become mawkish, without adding greater depth or context.

The crucial takeaway- depression (this particular kind/severity), is clearly more a physiological than a psychological problem. Sufferers can't will themselves better. It isn't a matter of think happy thoughts, buck up, quit wallowing. There is no choice. It is a thing that descends almost like an external force, inexorable, unavoidable. I hadn't understood that before, and I thank Styron for educating me.

Another takeaway- the word depression is used to describe way too broad a range of maladies, from simply feeling a little blue to experiencing the severe depression from which Styron suffered. I agree with him- another, different word needs to be used to label the latter. Until that happens, a general assumption will still exist that sufferers need to just man up and get over it.

4.5 stars. Eloquent and intensely personal extended essay about the author's major depressive episode. Many writers have attempted to put into words the inexplicable and indescribable despair that accompanies serious depression. The physical aspects, the loss of hope and desire and pleasure, the mental tailspin, the slipping away of concentration and focus, the inability to engage in life's necessities (like sleeping and eating) let alone life's pleasures. Styron lays himself bare and in doing so, has added to the canon of works revealing that desolation that seems unique to the human condition.

Depression is a disease that is hidden, horrific and is the fourth leading cause of death in America. Because the cause of their suffering is not apparent, most who suffer this affliction have to deal with the mis-understanding of others thus adding to the pain already present. How to describe the experience of this pain to others who have not been personally touched by it is akin to trying to explain the taste of chocolate to someone who has never heard of candy. Mr. Styron uses his impressive writing talents to achieve the near impossible with this short memoir, detailing the experience of major depression with such clarity that the reader will “feel” the darkness.
The author’s depression, as he reflects on his life late in the book, began as a young man. He noticed it was worsening early in 1985 but the symptoms were so familiar to him by then that its’ severity seemed to have sneaked up on him. After a trip to Paris, where he was given a national award, a trip that was tortuous due to his worsening condition, he contacted and saw a psychiatrist. This particular M.D. was either: 1) incompetent, 2) woefully unfamiliar with Major Depressive Disorder and/or 3) needed to change professions. Mr. Styron’s degrading was swift, dramatic and nearly fatal. He relates the encounter with such clarity that the reader begins to understand the appeal suicide has on those suffering from this disorder. Fortunately, he received the help he needed before he followed the Siren’s call of the Big Sleep. It took a seven-week inpatient hospital stay for him to find the stability he needed to recover.
This is not an easy book to read, nor is it one that should be avoided. For those who know the Noon Day Demon personally, it will be a familiar visit with an unwelcomed guest. For those who are connected with those who are suffers, the pain will be in the realization of the depth of anguish their loved ones suffer. For those who have no personal experience with this disease, the uneasiness will be reading a real life horror story. Everyone who reads this book will be well served in learning some of the “what to do” and “what not to do” in response to depression and its symptoms.
The author is fortunate in that he could afford a seven-week inpatient stay to address his illness. To have the resources Mr. Styron had is something that few have available or could afford. There are other recourses for those who are dealing with this issue readily accessible within most communities. Medications that effectively relieve most of the symptoms of depression, for the majority of those so afflicted, are commonly available and are constantly being improved. Mental health professionals offer therapy that can help the depressive in addition to, or in lieu of, the medication.
This book rightfully earned Mr. Styron recognition both for his writing and for his topic. He lived long enough to personally receive the accolades and his death was due to his age, not his own hand. This is the ending message of Darkness Visible – one can overcome such mental darkness and walk in clarity.

Depression afflicts millions directly, and millions more who are relatives or friends of victims. In its graver, clinical manifestation it takes upward of 20% of its victims by way of suicide, and artistic types are particularly vulnerable. Loss of appetite, libido, ability to focus, and hope. Fear of being alone. An inner observer who watches dispassionately as his companion struggles. Its roll call includes Vincent Van Gogh, Virginia Woolf, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, Jack London, Hunter S. Thompson, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, Abbie Hoffman, George Eastman, Cleopatra, and others.

Part of the reason depression can be difficult to treat is that it often has no single identifiable cause. Genetics, chemical imbalances, and past experience/behavior may all be important. It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.'

One of the many dreadful manifestations of depression is a failure of self-esteem/being taken over by self-loathing - one of its most universally experienced symptoms. It is nearly incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it. Symptoms begin with a sense of dread, alienation, and stifling anxiety. Disruption of normal sleep patterns is another devastating feature of depression. A lot of literature concerning depression is breezily optimistic, spreading assurance that nearly all depressive states will be stabilized or reversed if only the suitable antidepressant can be found.

Eventually, the suitable antidepressant is found, and he's released from hospitalization. Before getting there, however, readers encounter some incredible thoughts:

The word 'depression' is inadequate, a 'wimp of a word for an illness that is a 'howling tempest in the brain.' The suffering is 'beyond expression.' As for the value of psychotherapy for one with advance depression - 'virtually nil,' while group therapy is 'hateful,' and art therapy 'organized infantilism.' He fears his accounting of schemes to kill himself will seem 'especially repugnant to healthy Americans, with their faith in self-improvement.' Despite the anguish devouring one's brain, the sufferer must present a face approximating the one associated with ordinary events, try to utter small talk, be responsive to questions, and knowingly nod and frown, even smile. 'But it is a fierce trial attempting to speak a few simple words.'

His most encouraging thought - that 'for me the real healers were seclusion and time.'

I recommend this book to everyone suffering from depression and, as importantly, everyone who has a loved one suffering. He captures the darkness of the pit better than anyone I've read. I was in the pits of my own depression when I read it and part of my depression involved being convinced it was a character flaw and proof that I was a horrid person who didn't deserve to live and if only I would snap out of it.... I'm sure others who have been through this are nodding their heads.

For a Pulitzer Prize winning author to be in a state of depression WHILE WINNING THE PULITZER PRIZE..... he gave me the ability to forgive myself because clearly this was a beast and not a character flaw or a consequence of external realities. We now know it is caused not by a weak will or bad attitude, but by brain chemistry and we are no more to blame than if we were diabetic and our bodies could not produce insulin. Well, some of us do and the rest of us are still getting educated.

Like any good Southern author, Virginia-born William Styron enjoyed his cocktails as he labored over his acclaimed novels, and therefore he was surprised in his early sixties when he suddenly acquired an aversion to alcohol -- "it was as if my system had generated a form of Antabuse". At first it was a pleasant surprise, the author naturally thinking he had progressed to a new level of mental and physical health, the release from demon rum! But it was soon afterwards that he was bothered by an oppressive feeling of uneasiness and malaise. Thus began the major depression which Styron discusses in his 1990 essay "Darkness Visible: a Memoir of Madness". The draining quality of the condition became so overpowering that it finally led to thoughts of suicide, a haunting that Styron describes in detail. At least three of his creations have committed suicide: the confused débutante in "Lie Down in Darkness" and, in "Sophie's Choice", the schizoid intellectual with his lover, an Auschwitz survivor. Following this thought, Styron lists all the famous authors who have taken their own lives, people as diverse as Virginia Woolf and Henri de Montherlant. (The death of the Soviet poet Sergei Yesnin was so bizarre his acquaintances denied it was suicide but rather a "set up" by the government.) I notice there are many one-star reviews in the store.com, the book being dismissed as everything from pretentious to inaccurate. Some readers seem to object that a man with fame and fortune should complain of depression, but I think that shows a lack of understanding the disease itself. (I'm reminded of the actor George Sanders who was wealthy, highly respected in his field, and attractive to beautiful women, yet he killed himself. Why? "Because I am bored," his suicide note said, and in this case I think boredom could be construed as depression.) I have never felt the "ravages of melancholia" which Styron describes so well, but I can appreciate his vivid descriptions and sympathize with his dilemma. Incidentally, his title is from Milton, but he compares himself to Dante, finding himself "in a dark wood", and it's a relief to the reader when he comes out from the circles of Hell and "once again beheld the stars".

It is ironic to be upbeat about a book which delves into the downbeat of one man’s despair and descent into depression. However, in Styron’s short book – actually a modest expansion of an article he wrote in 1989 for Vanity Fair – he uses his enormous writing skills to put into words the life-stopping anguish of anxiety and depression which many have felt yet few can articulate. Throughout his book Styron treads carefully to avoid generalizations about a condition which is so specific and personal. However, the intimate revelations of his own fall into and crawl out of depression may resonate with those who suffer in a similar way, as well as enlighten those who want to support people with depressive illness. I found this book to be an affecting read with its brief flashes of humor to lighten the dark.

Rosalyn Carter pointed out in her 2010 book Within our Reach that one in four people in the United States suffer from a mental disease.
Best-selling author William Styron (1925-2006), known for his The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice and other books, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and other awards, suffered from severe depression, just like the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh and all too many others. But he pulled through and describes his descent into madness and his recovery in this book with his narrative skill.
Styron had achieved public acclaim by 1985 for several of his books and had come to France to receive an award. He had suffered bouts of depression prior to 1985, but the depression hit him hard in France and caused him to act improperly to the people who were praising him.
He describes his depression as feelings of self-hatred, worthlessness, anxiety, and a failure of self esteem, despite his success and public acclaim. His mind was disordered and he lost his ability to think rationally and he did foolish things. He emphasizes that depression is so unusual that people who never suffered from it cannot imagine it. He says that the word "depression," called "melancholia" in 1303, understates the severity of the disease and suggests that a more powerful name, perhaps "brainstorm," should be used.
He describes his embarrassing behavior at the award ceremony, the story of the famed writer Albert Camus who also suffered from depression and who he suspected committed suicide, and sketches the life of others who suffered from the disease, such as Abbie Hoffman, Abraham Lincoln, and a famous beautiful actress who became ugly when she suffered from the disease. He describes his psychiatrist who mouthed platitudes like an ignorant clergyman and encouraged him to talk, his seven week hospitalization, group therapy, art therapy, and medicines, none of which worked, and all of which heightened his feeling of hopelessness. But he got well because, perhaps, the illness simply ran its course. This last observation should give people suffering from the disease some hope.

I picked read this as I'm always interested in peoples' experiences with depression and how they deal with it/emerge from it, as well as how it was for them. I think sometimes I'm depressed but having read this book I think what I have might simply be the occasional blues.

William Styron makes this distinction clear in his memoir "Darkness Visible" where he says that full on depression (a term he deplores as too weak a description - he prefers the label "brainstorm") totally cripples a person. They're unable to do anything, can't get through a day, and contemplating death becomes almost pleasurable as it's an escape from their condition.

I think this was the best thing to come out of reading this book - the understanding between being unhappy with yourself and your life sometimes but still continuing and taking comfort from little things, to being clinically depressed. While a lack of action and a blackness in thought were the things I took from this as being clinically depressed, I never really felt that I understood what it was like to be this way. The best Styron manages is a sort of lethargy that most people can relate to, he can never actually fully articulate the sensation (or lack thereof) of depression (odd as he is a very verbose writer).

A lot of the book is taken up with Styron musing on other famous writers who were depressed as well as the treatment of his depression - nothing particularly special, pills, followed by hospitalisation and counselling.

Though it's a short book, I felt Styron didn't quite put across the experience of depression very well in the book and I came away from it none the wiser having read it. "Prozac Nation" is a less well written but more enlightening read by someone who's also been through the wringer of mental hell. "Darkness Visible" felt like it was written by someone afraid, or unable, to return back to the depths to dredge up the experience on paper and so produced a weaker book as a result.

I don't know, I like the way writes and narrates his suffering, he's very good at describing his experience, you can see his illustrated and clever use of language... But I think that he is too elusive, he just focuses on descriptions and anecdotes of his lived experiences with depression, but I think that he was either too discrete and didn't want to deepen too much on his private thoughts, his past and his personal views about himself and his childhood and young adult life, or he never really cared about that and sought no connection between that and his depression. One or the other it's a shame that there was no attempt from Styron to find meaning and try to re-signify his depressive experience, part of that disorder involves these elements, and is also rooted in our own beliefs, desires and expectancies, it's not all purely neurobiological, as they say-

Clinical depression is a condition that is extremely difficult to describe properly to someone that has never experienced it. For one thing, a person in a depressive state has notoriously poor memory, so it is literally difficult to gauge exactly how you are feeling from the "normal" point of view. For another thing, once a depressive state is over it is difficult, without taking notes, even to remember what it was like in its entirety (if you have undertaken cognitive behavioural therapy, with copious note-taking, you'll know what I mean).

Styron underwent an episode of depression in the 1980s that was acute in severity but relatively limited in time. Writer that he was, he wrote this short pamphlet describing what it was like. Styron's writing is surprisingly light and lively in tone, but he reveals fully the depths of despair that the condition forms. His description of his black paralysis, like a poisonous fog, incapacitating him and lasting almost the entire day, is quoted in psychology textbooks.

This book is ideal for anyone who is curious about what it is actually like to be clinically depressed. Depression is a condition that is insufficiently understood by the public (as Styron points out). On the other hand, it is merely a medical condition; and Styron's retrospective look at the event, detailed yet totally detached, emphasises that there is hope for the depressive and that happiness can come again.

This is a very little book, just a long essay really, but it has a big impact. What triggered my reading of it was an essay in The New Yorker by Styron's daughter Alexandra, recalling her father. She described him as being one of the originators (or perhaps prisoners?) of the image of the hard-drinking, masculine, witty writer. He had many friends who were famous artists, and they spent time at the family's rambling houses in western Connecticut and Martha's Vineyard. He had been well known before the release of Sophie's Choice, but that book made him world famous.

Still, all was not well in the mind of this popular and very successful author. At some point in the 1980s, he began to develop a distaste for alcohol, and over the following months was plunged into a deep depression, something that had never happened to him previously. The book alternates between personal recollections of his illness, discussions of the medical knowledge concerning depressions generally, and references to great artists and writers who also suffered from the affliction. Considering what he went thru, the work is fairly slight. He describes loosely what the depressions were like for him, their onset and daily routine for example, but he seems to hold back a bit what he was thinking and feeling. I know that seems unfair - the guy wrote a very courageous and straightforward book discussing something that most people would not want to tell the world about - but at times this reader felt that he was being shortchanged.

The descriptions could have been more complete and detailed. And how exactly did he recover? He seems to describe it as a parting of the clouds, more or less. He does not hide the fact that his father suffered from this affliction, or his feeling that he never completely mourned for his mother, who died in his thirteenth year, and that this may have been a trigger for the illness. Styron's occasional references to medical literature in no way constitute a review - most grad students could have done more. His descriptions of his meetings with highly regarded psychiatrists are interesting - he views them with a certain amount of contempt, seems to not believe that they can provide much assistance, or to egoistically be unwilling to accept that they might possess knowledge and skills which he does not. It must have been very hard for this brilliant writer to accept that his mind was seriously disturbed. He does not really get into the subject, nor does he mention anything regarding what his spiritual beliefs were. So I felt that there were gaps - but that does not mean this book was not worthwhile.

In her essay, Alexandra Styron reveals that her father's depression returned in the final years of his life. I do not think that any more writings on the subject came from his typewriter, so we may never have the full account of his struggles. But this is still a very powerful memoir/essay. This is well worth checking out by anyone who has had brushes with, or known people who have suffered from this problem - in other words, pretty much everybody.

I'll admit it - the first few times I tried reading Darkness Visible was a disaster. That long, overdrawn anecdote about his trip to Paris was as dry as and enjoyable as sucking on cardboard. Then, I made (or skipped) it to chapter two. Bingo. From there Styron starts talking about Camus, Hoffman and Levi, all of whom had an impact on his life. From there, I started getting some perspective.

Styron can write, that's a fact. And the guy employs more interesting adjectives than Microsoft does workers. But that is a plus and a minus. Sometimes the writing takes too long to hit a point. Other times, his verbiage is dead on and leaves you breathless. To his credit, he is aware as anyone that heavy depression lies beyond words. It's an experience and not one anybody should have to endure. As well, I don't think I've ever seen a better investigation of a man looking at his every emotion under a microscope. Reading up on medication, consuming the DSM-IV like a doctor; he understood his depression more than most psychiatrists can dream to.

After I completed the book, I read it again and it got better. His description of depression will illuminate the sensory feeling of it for the depressed. If you have suffered from depression, I guarantee, you will find yourself here. For the layman, for those who don't know this cruel disease, it will offer, as best words can, a blow by blow account of how it feels day by day, hour by hour.

I do recommend this book. Not as a study but a first hand account. If you want statistics and such, there are plenty of books out there to mull over. Depression, by its nature, can be profoundly confusing and nearly impossible to put into any cognitive thought or words. This is how it feels beneath the dreary emptiness, the inability to smile or make toast. This is the blueprint. If you've endured depression or are, this may offer you some insight to your condition. If you've escaped the black cloud of melancholia but you want to know, this is a good place to start.

Unfortunately, the person I love and have decided to spend the rest of my life with suffers from major clinical depression. While he is constantly trying to describe to me exactly what he is going through, I am constantly struggling to understand. I do not suffer from depression. I have never had a depressive episode aside from the situational depression/sadness after experiencing certain emotional trauma.

Styron is a genius. After I read Sophie's Choice, I looked at a list of his other works, to see if anything else he had written would satisfy my appetite for his beautiful prose. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had written a personal account of his own struggle with major depression. I would have purchased this book from the store, however, I felt so pressed to read this book, I went to a local store and purchased a copy. It is only about 80 pages, so I read it in a single afternoon.

In this book, you will find a detailed account of Styron's personal struggle with depression. He offers his own insights into the disease, and never once pretends to know it all. However, Styron is such a talented writer, he is able to find the words, very few others have been able to find, that can even come close to explaining what depression is like. If you have a loved one who is struggling to cope with their depression, or if you yourself are the victim of this debilitating disease, do yourself a favor and invest in this book. Knowledge is power, and when one is depressed or supporting a depressed person, one can find one's self feeling powerless. I not only understand what my partner is going through to a greater degree than ever, I feel more empathy for the millions who have been diagnosed with and are forced to fight the symptoms of this terrible illness.

Thank you William Styron for letting me into your life in this way. Styron will forever have a special place in my heart, and I will buy this book for everyone I know who is in any way dealing with depression.

Jack

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the summer of 1985, novelist William Styron was overcome with severe clinical depression - a disease that, untreated, has a fatality rate of around 20%. Mr. Styron recovered (unlike Vincent van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, and millions of others) and recounts the course of his illness in this short book.

Mr. Styron's account will be familiar to other victims of depression ("unipolar disorder" in current medspeak) - the denial that one really has a problem, the self-loathing, the disheartening difficulty in getting competent professional help, the agonizing wait to see if this drug is going to work, the patronizing and/or thinly-veiled contempt of family and friends -- all will be sorely familiar. This is the best literary account of depression that I have read.

I'm not sure how the book will read to the non-afflicted. My wife liked it, and remarked on similarities when I was at my worst. Some previous reviews, such as Andrew Ferguson's in the Wall Street Journal , border on the vicious:

[Mr. Styron's disease] moved him to pen this infinitely detailed inventory of his emotions, sell it to a large publishing house, ... and preen for hack photographers from People magazine... [Mr. Styron] would prefer to wallow in his self-esteem deficiencies and write books that earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's just no pleasing some people.

This remarkable review seems akin to mocking a recovered cancer or heart-attack victim for surviving and then having the temerity to talk about it.

Highly recommended for depressives, their families and loved ones.

Review copyright © 1991 Peter D. Tillman

William Styron, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author, gives a personal tour of his dark night of the soul. The writer suddenly found himself beset by depression during the fall of 1985 after coincidently being unable to drink alcohol due to its nauseous aftereffects. "Darkness Visible" is a memoir that lucidly tracks the descent, journey and healing of the pain "most closely connected to drowning or suffocation - but even these images are off the mark." So Styron takes a stab at hitting the bull's-eye, and he does so with quick precision and an economy of words that poets will appreciate

Styron does not lament or proselytize about his woes, but instead states the facts as if he was a reporter noting the vagaries of the illness. At one point he matter-of-factly explains how it becomes easy to contemplate suicide. "What I had begun to discover is that, mysteriously and in ways that are totally remote from normal experience, the gray drizzle of horrors induced by depression takes on the quality of physical pain. But it is not as immediately identifiable pain, like that of a broken limb. It may be more accurate to say that despair, owing to some evil trick played upon the sick brain by the inhabiting psyche, comes to resemble the diabolical discomfort of being imprisoned in a fiercely overheated room. And because no breeze stirs this caldron, because there is no escape from this smothering confinement, it is entirely natural that the victim begins to think ceaselessly of oblivion."

Styron's simple, compelling reminisce about a time that seemed forever dark, is told in a voice that screams with quietness from the cave of depression. "Visible Darkness" resembles a late-night confession by a stranger at a bar, imploring us to listen because Styron's telling is an unburdening and because gems of truth are laid out one by one.

Bohdan Kot

I have not suffered depression, nor have I been close to anyone who experienced the level of depression described by Stryon in this book. For that reason, much of what he talks about feels very foreign to me. Though the writing is good and it does shed some light on the subject, I will echo what Stryon says again and again throughout the book -- you can only understand what depression is if you've been through it, it's impossible to describe. In many ways, that may be true of this book as well.

I will recommend this to others who are dealing with members of their family or friends who are deeply depressed. I'm not sure that I would recommend it to those suffering themselves unless they have pulled out of it already. The "turning point" in Stryon's life rings true, but unlikely . . . not helpful for others suffering to read.

Recommended for those dealing with depressed family and friends - may help to shed a little light on what they are going through.

While it’s hard to describe the pain of any illness, the pain of depression is most especially hard to describe to someone who has not experienced depression. There is simply nothing to compare it with. And because it’s so difficult to get another person to understand what it’s like, a person struggling with depression can retreat even more.

Styron came as close as anyone ever has to conveying the anguish of depression. If someone you care about is hobbled with depression, then read this book.

If you struggle to live with the burden of depression, then read this book – you will feel less alone and you might even experience a glimmer of hope!

It's hard to imagine that someone like William Styron with so much talent and so much to live for could succumb to such a life-shattering clinical depression.Yet nonetheless, he did at the age of sixty, and in this brief 80 page memoir he entails how it was that he came to be depressed, how he endured it, and how he came through and reemerged from it. He also manages to do so with a brief intensity, without dwelling on how the world had "wronged" him or on how tough it is to be a writer-celebrity or bragging about all his achievements. Styron writes with a confidence and deftness which does not attempt false modesty or give us overbearing or pointlessly shocking revelations.
The book starts out rather slow with a trip to Paris to accept a prestigious writing award, and at first I was not crazy about it. Yet soon I found myself thoroughly engrossed and liking it in spite of myself. While he does not fully analyze the causes of depression, I don't think that was his intention in writing this book. He also does not take time to explore casual aspects of this life and seems to obliterate the myth that all memoirs are egocentric. Perhaps what I liked most was William Styron's insistence that while he does not blame others for depression, nor is it the victim's fault, and that suicide is not a cop-out or something to be disguised by relatives, but the tragic outcome of a crippling illness.
I don't think that I will be reading another memoir by Styron simply because I don't think he meant for this book to be a display of his life to the public. What I do hope for is another memoir on depression that is written with his skill and mastery of the English language.

William Styron gives an accurate and compelling description of his personal bout with depression, which should prove interesting both to readers who have and have not suffered from serious depression. I use the term depression, which is judged to be pathological, as opposed to grief or sadness, which comes to all of us occasionally.
However the reader must be aware that William Styron's illness is not a complete description of depression. Mr. Styron mentions towards the end of the book when he is approaching his lowest point, that his wife invited guest over for dinner. He didn't care one way or the other if they came and he had dinner with them or not. Others who have been severely depressed would definitely not be indifferent. They would not want to see anyone and frequently try to isolate themselves and see their presence as a tremendous burden for others. William Styron luckily had a wife, family, and friends that were understanding and supportive. He had access to professional help and was thankfully able to eventually return from the darkness.
His type of depression came on suddenly and left suddenly. Others suffer depression their whole lives. Their lives, from child hood, are not normal, they are unable to make friends, they are unable to keep jobs, unable to establish a family, etc. These persons continue to descend into depression and have no happy family or successful career to return to. I think the reader should be aware that, as bad as Mr. Styron's description is, he actually had a better prognosis than many others suffering from mental illness.
In conclusion this is an interesting book and I appreciate Mr. Styron's sharing his experiences with the public. He does offer hope to many suffers of depression as well as appeal to the general public for understanding

William Styron's "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness" is a slim volume (84 pages) recounting in first person, his deeply personal struggle with crippling depression, the events leading up to his battle with the illness, and many of the terrors surrounding that time.

In language befitting the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Styron articulates the hell of depression with stark beauty, comparing many facets of his bleak existence with the optimistic happenings of everyday life going on all around him, and his desperation at being unable to enjoy even the simplest things.

After seeing Styron interviewed on a talk-show, and hearing him say, long after publication of this book, that it had garnered more attention than any of his other novels, Sophie's Choice and the Confessions of Nat Turner included, combined - he went on to say, as flattering as it was, it puzzled him somewhat and he was growing a little tired of, "...hearing about that damned depression book..."

He said it jokingly, but it made one wonder, all the same; at least it made me wonder.

I was one of the readers who loved that book and loved him for writing it. In fact, coincidentally, at the time I saw Styron being interviewed; I was attempting to write a short note to him, thanking him for writing "Darkness Visible" and also, trying to tell him why it was such an important book and what it meant to me.

In my own sorry state, I remained straddling the abyss far too long, avoiding hospitalization with an irrational fear that bordered on paranoia.

After reading "Darkness Visible", a book written about a situation very similar to my own, and penned by an author I greatly respected, it was as if I had received tacit permission to enter the hospital.

Styron does not sugar-coat hospitalization, far from it, but he does present it as a viable option. For someone like me, that was all it took. I thought he should know how helpful his little book had been.

Why did I feel such a need to write to this author?

Styron's "Darkness Visible", in addition to recounting in vivid detail the darkness of depression and the depths of despair, talks at length about his reluctance to be hospitalized, and about staying too long on the wrong medication.

In the end, I decided to forget about the interview and proffer my gratitude to Styron anyhow. I did tell him that I hoped he didn't mind receiving one more plaudit for his "depression book" trusting that his famous sense of humour was intact.

Some months later, I received this in the mail:

"Dear Ms.I

I was very touched by your eloquent letter. I'm so glad my experience - especially the part concerning the hospital - could have been valuable to you. Your words make me glad I wrote the book and I'm grateful for your thoughtfulness.

Sincerely,

William Styron."

By the time I received his note, I was on my way out of my own depression. Had I not been, I'm sure reading William Styron's very kind words would have helped immeasurably.

As it is, I treasure them still and have the note pasted in the front of my copy of "Darkness Visible", a tiny tome about depression and the darkest stages of the human condition.

More importantly, in the end, the book is about living through depression, and how almost everyone does, something it is hard to remember when one is in the throes of the illness.

For that alone, the book is worth reading and re-reading.By William Styron: Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

About 30 years ago I had an episode that was so close to what Styron describes in this book. The pain was unimaginable. I had no point of reference for what was happening to me. It sure didn't seem like what I thought of as 'depression'. But it was profound and horrible. It lasted maybe 6 months. Eventually, I got better with a lot of help from my friends. Even with professional guidance I never quite got what had happened to me and thought I was unique until I discovered this book.

Since then, many things have happened - best friends have died, illness, career setbacks. Many wonderful things too. But this 'Darkness' has not returned, nor do I expect it to. Like Styron, I don't imagine I will ever understand fully why this happened. But I am so grateful for this memoir, knowing I am not alone in this experience and hopeful for the future.

Although published in 1992, it is still so relevant for those who have suffered from or are suffering from depression. In the end, it lends one great hope that this too will pass with whatever works for you. Though never suicidal, I went through a lot of what he describes. I re-read this very recently and still found his style so compelling

There is that scintillating, revelatory moment all voracious readers have come to cherish: When an author's words reverberate so deeply within the core of self-identity, when unexpectedly you see yourself mirrored on the page, like a baby discovering his or her reflection for the first time or a lonesome star first encountering its binary companion, it becomes nearly impossible to avoid an instinctual, convulsive movement in response to the feeling. Internal process of emotion overflows to the external. Tears, laughter, anger, gratitude.

Companionship, its stirring sense, its inkling just visible within the deepest sands of depression. That what was previously thought beyond description could in fact be impossibly written, impossibly read, impossibly redemptive, impossibly healing.

As a long time sufferer of depression, Styron accurately describes both the symptoms and despair of this crippling disease. One feels the gloom and doom depression holds over you for long periods of time. In recent months I found myself in throes of despondency and yet through pharmacology, I was able to escape the ravages he observes. This is the most accurate depiction of depression that I have ever read.

In this short work (actually a long essay), the well-known author William Styron chronicles his descent into depression, his increasing suicidal fantasies, his eventual hospitalization, and his eventual recovery. Where many books on depression fall into the "self-help" genre, Styron's remains truly a memoir, with a very "writerly" tone that sets it apart from more clinical books on depression.

That said, "Darkness Visible" won't give you exercises, techniques, or voyueristic psychoanalytical thrills, but it will clearly summarize one man's experience with a numbing, mysterious mood distrubance.

Styron's simplest insights are the ones that are most memorable. He states that he believes it is impossible for the healthy to imagine the upheaval that happens in the brain of a depressed person. He also posits the converse, that those striken with depression "forget" or perhaps never can remember what it was like to have a healthy brain.

He also writes about early childhood loss, and how he believes it is the loss (death) or disappearance of a parent can wound a child in irreprable ways, setting the stage for a life-long vulnerability to mood disorders. From anecdotal evidence, I would have to agree that a pre-adolescent parental trauma is a common thread amongst most depression cases.

I recommend this short work to someone who has struggled with depression or is concerned they may be sliding towards it, or as a "teaching volume" to less-clinically inclined friends/family members of depression victims.

My appreciation goes to this Pulitzer Prize winning author for writing this memoir concerning his personal fight against depression. As one who is in the early throes of this condition, it is helpful to experience another's battle. So many of the people in a depressive's circle of acquaintances have no understanding of what the sufferer is going through. Now, I have a soul mate...an individual who offers strength through hope. He writes, "By far the great majority of the people who go through even the severest depression survive it, and live ever afterward at least happily as their unaffiliated counterparts." I have had this slim book, 84 pages, in my possession for three weeks and have read it from cover-to-cover three times, finding solace and comfort with each reading. Again, my sincerest thanks.

Waking at 2 a.m with my right arm paralysed from the pressure of my body, I reach once more with my nimble arm, for the solace of Styron's 'Darkness Visible'. The depressed self is a repugnant subject for robust and industrious folk. It was no easy task for the celebrated author to admit the depth and despair he'd succumbed to at age 60, soon after ceasing to self-medicate with alcohol. This is a torchlight into his darkness. Suffering insomnia as I do, resorting to this brief tome is a litmus on my own depths. Its brevity helps me to regain focus in much the same manner as Alain de Bottain's consort with philosopy's consolations, or Gordon Livingstone's sagacious self-help manual,'Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart'. Styron laments the bland banality of the noun,'depression' qwhich lacks the magisterial presence of the older,'melancholia'. When all hope is extinguished there is a crushing of the soul worse than the psychical neuralgia of pain. When the lethargy from synthetically induced sleep is unbearable, when the talking cure is deemed a waste of time by the wraithlike, watching self,hospitalisation, the purgatory of safely sequestered withdrawal, is an answer. Here, the plastic knives incapable of cutting anaemic Swiss steak present no danger for self-harm. Even daily doses of group talks and moronic art therapy bide the time that heals. Despair's
'merciless daily drumming' recedes behind grey routines. Out of unsettling pessimism, out of the tough-minded cosmic loneliness Styron sees in Albert Camus, is aroused enigmatic promise.

Coming someone who struggles with this aweful disease, I found this book to be pretty shallow and unfulfilling. A lot of therapists recommend it and I honestly don’t know why. I guess this is what they think depression is for the average person, and maybe it is, but the cuts can go far, far deeper than Styron describes. It actually kind of pisses me off that people use this as the standard memoir of depression when things can be so much worse. Adittionally, he give little time or insight into his recovery

I have bought over 30 copies of this book, as gifts to friends, colleagues, and relatives. I hope you readers see that that is the highest recommendation one can give.

It explains, in a very concise manner, major depression to those who have not experienced it. And an "Amen" from individuals who have experienced it.

Depression is perhaps THE under-diagnosed illness of our time (along with diabetes). Yet the medical profession really knows little, and it is near impossible for the suffering individual to describe exactly what is going on (chicken & egg?). William Styron is an award-winning, gifted, writer - who is able to put the indescribable into words that mean something to everyone. That is why this small book is important.

Everyone knows someone suffering from this disease, even if they don't recognize it yet. So, Everyone needs to be familiar with major depression. Science needs a Lot more work -- the current biological and psychological treatments are inadequate, to say the least -- especially considering the high risk of suicide with this disease. Everyone needs to know how to get beyond the crises. Lives can be saved.

Therefore, understanding - by sufferers and those who care about them - is key. Such understanding will help non-sufferers provide the assistance and support that he/she wants to give to the depressed person. Without such understanding, so-called "supporters" inadvertently make things worse.

This book is a quick, engrossing, read that may Really help. Highly recommended.

Darkness Visible is not a complete description of depression. It depicts only one example of many varieties and symptoms of the disease. What makes the essay wonderful to me is because it is a written personal experience, rather than an encyclopedic reference. What startles me about my own experience of the disease is the fact that even after I have recovered from it, I am still somewhat left in the dark. This, I thought, is parallel to Styron's story. Although he was obviously aware of the possible culprits of his illness, in the end he really wasn't sure. Indeed, one frustrating aspect of depression is the fact that there are still so many unknowns of its nature. Styron found solace in knowing that others, such as the literary friends that he mentioned a great deal in the essay, suffered from depression. My reason for reading this essay was because I wanted to find someone to relate to because for the longest time it felt as if I was the only one suffering from it.
The book is so conveniently short and makes a great reading for those suffering depression or know of one. To be honest, I failed to finish this book the first time because I had a ridiculously short attention span during my illness. I read it after recovery and felt that it may be the best way to explain what I was going through to to loved ones.

(This is from the recorded version, read by the author.) I have listened to this book several times over many years. I do think he does a fine job of describing the actual feeling of being depressed, and does a great service by saying it is at bottom simply indescribable, and also incomprehensible by people who have never experienced it. Thus the well-meaning admonitions to 'buck up', 'get a hold of yourself' and 'most people are as happy as they set out to be' are torture to the person suffering from depression.

However, much has been learned about depression since he wrote the book. It's so obvious that he was an alcoholic who went cold turkey in June and was still suffering from the effects of alcohol withdrawal in October, which can take months to subside. Then, to complicate things, he doped himself up with sleeping pills, so his system was flooded with foreign chemicals, replacing one he was adapted to with a new one. The result, a profound inability to function, and depression, would now be a surprise to no one but him.

His attempt to link suicide to sensitive artistic temperaments was more a roll call of alcoholics---Hemingway, Jack London, Poe, etc. There may be a link between all three (sensitive types, suicide, and alcohol), but it's a three-legged stool, and Styron is loath to acknowlege his alcohol use as the third leg. Maybe he feels depression is more romantic than alcoholism, or at least more socially acceptable.

The spectulation about repressed mourning, early death of mother, etc. is not nearly as important as his familial tendency to depression, his drinking, and his pill taking. Since he says the hospital did nothing for him but take away the pills, and he got better, that would seem good evidence for their role in his illness.

In his obituary in 2006 it was mentioned that he had to be hospitalized several more times after the first time described in the book.

In short, read the book to experience, as much as possible for an outsider, what depression 'feels' like, but don't buy the diagnosis of what causes it.

This is a very slim volume, just 84 pages long, which started life as a lecture given at a symposium sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. It was later developed into a piece for Vanity Fair before being published as a book.

Styron was hit by serious depression at the age of 60, and describes most evocatively his own struggle with the life-threatening illness from first symptoms, through his treatment, his brush with suicide, hospitalisation to eventual cure. Along the way he includes the stories of friends and others so afflicted - many of them also writers.

It's the honesty of the book that makes it so compelling. It was one of the first "insider" accounts of depression, and captures extremely well just what it feels like. (You have to have been there to know.) I agree with him that the word "depression" is totally inadequate, sounding more like a mild case of the blues rather than something that fills your soul with dread and despair. (

A couple of years ago, I learned that I suffer from depression. It was a major eye-opener and explained a lot of my behavior over the 50+ years of my life. I've begun reading more about the disease over the last few months and this monogram came to my atttention through my wife, who also reads.

As I read through the first part of Styron's story, I was petrified. His descriptions of his feelings so mirrored my own experience. The words were penetrating and his writing is precise when he describes his experience. I did not know if I could finish the book because of this.

But, I perservered because I knew that he must have made it through the cycle of depression. After all, he lived to write the book. I'm glad I finished reading it. He tells the story with passion and clarity and I appreciate his candor.

I finished the book with a mixture of hope and disappointment. Hope because if he made it through his depression, I might very well make it through my own; disappointment because he found no cure and I may not either. All in all, I highly recommend this book for those who need to know about the disease, whether because they experience it directly or because a loved one is depressed. There is insight in it.

In the mid '80s William Styron developed severe depression and lived to tell about it; the result is this very readable memoir. Styron's book is better written than almost any other autobiographical account on the subject you're likely to find, and I strongly disagree with all the complaints that the book is (1) self-serving, (2) stilted, or (3) shallow. Stryon is hardly the first to point out that writers are far more likely than Joe Average to contract severe depression, that some of the very greatest authors have suffered from this disease; and in doing so here I doubt that he's trying to impress the Nobel Committee.
Nor can I fault him for failing to explain conclusively what triggered his malady. I've gone through one major depressive episode, which I have explained to myself a hundred different ways without settling on a hard-and-fast answer. Styron does as well as one could reasonably expect. He's lucid, articulate, and occasionally (I'm thinking of his episode with Art Therapy) funny. At under 100 pages, "Darkness Visible" has plenty to offer for what little time it demands from readers.

Darkness Visible is William Styron's account of his descent into a terrible depression. He begins the narrative with a bang, letting the reader know that his condition could have a "fatal outcome". After grabbing the reader's attention, Styron goes back to before the illness struck. Knowing what lay in store for him, it was difficult to put the book down. He gives a few brief accounts of his close friends who suffered the same malady, and how the disease was victorious. Styron continues to demonstrate the subtleties of the early forms of depression until he returns to Paris. It is there that the severity of his affliction is fully revealed.

It is at no point unclear that the book is written by a talented author, making it a little difficult to relate to Styron. I couldn't help but imagine that part of his story was written to sell the book. Darkness Visible reads like a fictional narrative, rather than an actual account of a real person. Styron's gift with words works against him in this case. It is important to note that I am not criticizing Styron's work. I am rather impressed by how vividly he is able to describe his horrific experience. It just seems that he is more focused on discussing how he was affected by depression instead of defining depression itself. Though given the subject matter, this is understandable.

He mentions constantly that to one who has not suffered the severest form of depression can never understand it. Having read such a detailed account of his journey to Hell, a detailed definition of depression is unnecessary. It becomes apparent as the memoir continues that the effect of the disease is more important than the disease itself. Styron is, at first, unable to come to terms with the illness. He claims the effects are just a result of his withdrawal from alcohol. Although he does create an appointment to see Dr. Gold, he portrays the image of a normal adult to the public. The extent of the depression is not fully realized until he is forced to admit his declining condition to a complete stranger. It is at that point that I saw how much the depression had destroyed him.

Whenever I thought of depression, I always associated it with an intense feeling of loneliness. I imagined you could be anywhere in the world, surrounded by as many people as you could ever want, and still feel completely alone. That was how I defined depression. Although I am not wrong in considering the above scenario as depression, Styron's work made me realize that depression takes many forms. Each account of depression may even be unique to the afflicted person. It can result in a catatonic state, or it lead to suicide. The latter is more of a shock to me. I imagined suicide being an ill-decision made by a weak person. It would seem that Styron might have shared the same notion before his own encounter with the ailment.

Styron at first criticizes suicide being the philosophical question. He is therefore very puzzled when his friends start to commit suicide after their encounter with the affliction. This is, of course, before he reaches the catastrophic levels of depression. It is not until then that he realizes how suicide becomes a viable option. If it were not for the help he received at the hospital, he even admits that he might have shared the tragic fate of his friends. Although I was not as deeply moved by this work as I originally imagined I would be, it did offer me a great deal of perspective on depression. It is definitely worth a read to anyone who is curious about depression.

His writing uses a very precise English, but with a rather pompous tone. I thought the value in this book was in describing the feelings and trying to reduce the stigma. I was treated for clinical depression (meds and therapy) at one time and he does capture some of the feelings I experienced, especially the descriptions of the rapid thought patterns coupled with fatigue. Its as if you get exhausted just thinking. The section where he describes the inadequacy of the word "depression" ("a wimp of a word for such a disease") was brilliant, I thought. I agree with his position that many people discount or disregard the condition ("snap out of it" or "we all have bad days, what's your problem" are usually heard when you try to explain it to someone). And after working for a crisis intervention/suicide prevention service I can attest to the accuracy of his description of the "shame" that survivors of suicide often feels towards those who attempt or complete suicide. If you haven't been there, its tough to understand the feelings and motivations (or more precisely lack of motivation - it feels like you will never WANT anything again) of someone who is suicidally depressed.

However, I did not find much value in the descriptions of his recovery other than the acknowledgement that it can be alleviated if not "cured" through professional intervention and that his subjective experience is not universal (your results may vary).

I really did not enjoy this book. I had heard such great things about it, and how moving it was suppose to be, and how it's suppose to really captivate what it's like inside the depressed persons mind, but I just felt bored throughout the entire short book. I was required to read it for my course on Suicide, but, I felt like the author could have done a much better job considering their obvious ability to write. I was very bored and felt myself spacing out through most of it and having to go back and reread what I had already read. That's the worst!

William Styron Has done it. He has written a book that I'd gladly buy in stacks, and hand out to all and sundry around me, who's got not even the faintest of ideas of what darkness looks like, smells like, feels like when one finds oneself in the midst of it.
No medical expert, no poet, no writer has come close to jotting down this experience as has Styron. He acts like the guide who takes you into the heart of a city you've lived in all your life. Through his descriptions and his insights, his tales and his stories you actually get to know your own environment.

Even though I too am a professional writer (and of course: my quality doesn't come even close to that of Styron), I have never managed to get into the nooks and crannies of yet another dance with demons and dragons. Words somehow never manage to convey what's it like. What's it really like.

"Darkness Visible" gave me the words I couldn't find.
It handed me the ability to see 'a thing' for what it is, and so learn to play with it.

This is a must read for everyone who finds him- or herself on a seemingly endless, downward emotional slope. Or for those nearby.

"Darkness Visible" is a moving and sometimes devastating account of depressive illness as experienced by the award winning author of "Sophie's Choice" William Styron. Starting with the first obvious manifestation of the "disease" during a trip to Paris to receive a prestigious literary award he charts his personality's deconstruction to partial recovery in beautiful but simple prose. His main contentions are that firstly depression is a physical illness caused by among other things a vitamin deficiency, namely low levels of serotonin. It is also as dangerous as heart disease and cancer as it leaves the sufferer in a state of such mental opacity and meaninglessness that often it results in self-harm. Within the book he lists some famous sufferers such as Vincent Van Gogh, the actress Jean Seberg and her ex-husband the writer Romaine Gary who succumbed to depression in his way. He makes references to artists and other famous people including Abraham Lincoln throughout this short book who suffered with the disease. He also uses them as an example of it curability.

In this sense his thoughts are contradictory. He describes how drug therapy had a devastating affect on his condition making it worse. He is merciless in his caricaturing of the psychiatric community, to the point of ugliness; he insists that the condition is incurable yet the book ends with the redemptive power of memory and music. A sudden realisation or discovery of what is really important to you which saves you from the mistake of suicide.

In the long run I have no right to be hard on Styron for his contradictions as unlike most debilitating conditions its causes are mysterious and its symptoms for those who experiencing them confusing and hard to explain. This is one f his most powerful messages as anyone could tell you unlike an obvious physical ailment depression is invisible and mostly borne alone.

This is a brave book an I wish there were more of like it. He avoids "self-help" and for this reader this too is one of the most important messages of the book which is the acceptance of this almost unexplainable condition.

If you seek a book on depression, you are probably looking for clinical texts written by people in the health professions. You may hardly expect this slim book by novelist William Styron--a memoir, but also a literary self-analysis regarding his condition.
DARKNESS VISIBLE is a revealing and engaging look into the life of a particular man who suffers this disease. Although I can only imagine how a victim of depression would respond to such a book, I would suppose it would offer something like companionship or camaraderie with someone who has experienced what they feel others can't understand, as well as a glimmer of hope if read to the end.
As a reader not afflicted with depression, the book was a story that illustrated his philosophical dilemmas, agonizing psychological pain, and his experiences in a personal and thoughtful way. If it was not as entertaining as the novels of his that I have read, I'm certain it wasn't meant to be. But if you suffer from depression, treat people who suffer from depression, or are just interested in the affliction, you might be interested in reading about Styron's attempts to grapple with and understand this often fatal disease that strikes so many people.

"Darkness Visible" is a moving and sometimes devastating account of depressive illness as experienced by the award winning author of "Sophie's Choice" William Styron. Starting with the first obvious manifestation of the "disease" during a trip to Paris to receive a prestigious literary award he charts his personality's deconstruction to partial recovery in beautiful but simple prose. His main contentions are that firstly depression is a physical illness caused by among other things a vitamin deficiency, namely low levels of serotonin. It is also as dangerous as heart disease and cancer as it leaves the sufferer in a state of such mental opacity and meaninglessness that often it results in self-harm. Within the book he lists some famous sufferers such as Vincent Van Gogh, the actress Jean Seberg and her ex-husband the writer Romaine Gary who succumbed to depression in his way. He makes references to artists and other famous people including Abraham Lincoln throughout this short book who suffered with the disease. He also uses them as an example of it curability.

In this sense his thoughts are contradictory. He describes how drug therapy had a devastating affect on his condition making it worse. He is merciless in his caricaturing of the psychiatric community, to the point of ugliness; he insists that the condition is incurable yet the book ends with the redemptive power of memory and music. A sudden realisation or discovery of what is really important to you which saves you from the mistake of suicide.

In the long run I have no right to be hard on Styron for his contradictions as unlike most debilitating conditions its causes are mysterious and its symptoms for those who experiencing them confusing and hard to explain. This is one f his most powerful messages as anyone could tell you unlike an obvious physical ailment depression is invisible and mostly borne alone.

This is a brave book an I wish there were more of like it. He avoids "self-help" and for this reader this too is one of the most important messages of the book which is the acceptance of this almost unexplainable condition.

If you seek a book on depression, you are probably looking for clinical texts written by people in the health professions. You may hardly expect this slim book by novelist William Styron--a memoir, but also a literary self-analysis regarding his condition.
DARKNESS VISIBLE is a revealing and engaging look into the life of a particular man who suffers this disease. Although I can only imagine how a victim of depression would respond to such a book, I would suppose it would offer something like companionship or camaraderie with someone who has experienced what they feel others can't understand, as well as a glimmer of hope if read to the end.
As a reader not afflicted with depression, the book was a story that illustrated his philosophical dilemmas, agonizing psychological pain, and his experiences in a personal and thoughtful way. If it was not as entertaining as the novels of his that I have read, I'm certain it wasn't meant to be. But if you suffer from depression, treat people who suffer from depression, or are just interested in the affliction, you might be interested in reading about Styron's attempts to grapple with and understand this often fatal disease that strikes so many people.

This book may or may not makes sense to someone NOT struggling with depression. However, Mr. Styron's courageous candor and honesty can help someone with depression survive, perhaps long enough to come out the other end.

Those who have not suffered depression (I don't mean temporary situational sadness) do not have a CLUE. The CLUELESS include the doctors who attempt to treat depression.

If you suffer from depression, read this book. It won't cure you. It will let you know that others have experienced this terrible journey and lived to tell about it. That much will help. Don't give up.

When I was 23, a work colleague--someone I hardly knew--casually passed me a copy of DARKNESS VISIBLE telling me that it was a really good book and I should read it. I couldn't figure out why she felt compelled to give me this slim, beat-up hardcover. I never really gave her any idea of of the types of books I enjoyed nor did I have any idea what this book was about. I had however, just begun to notice that I had been feeling really terrible, lost and miserable--inexplicably so. I remember several times, looking out the window at work and having an internal debate about whether or not I wanted to jump. I would try to judge how attractive ending my life would be and if I found that I didn't want to go through the mess of killing myself, I figured that this meant that I was OK. But I wasn't. And it wasn't made clear to me until I read this book and suddenly I was reading on paper all the exact same feelings I was having. Feelings that I could not describe, feelings that equalled a name I couldn't dare utter aloud or even in my own head: depression. In many ways, this book saved my life.

The title is poetic. How can you see darkness?

Is darkness visible with our sense of sight?

No. It requires a different state of mind; that

which can provide the senses of psychotic

perception. In deep depression, darkness

is visible.

I am not surprised that Styron should like Camus

so much. Upon picking up the small volume and

starting to read, I was impressed by the succinct

and lucid writing style, and the self-conscious

observation of reality's impact

on the human psyche; the regretful fatalism too,

over things that are tentatively in our grasp.

Despite the melancholy tone that Styron shares with

Camus's writings, he has a sense of humour, albeit ironic and

self-efacing. "I'm sick,"..."un probleme

psychiatrique." The loss of his Prix del Duca cheque

is embarrassing, humiliating, and an indication of

just how values change under the influence of clinical

depression. The experience of depression, with its

attendant anxiety is particularly anguishing because

the cerebral part of consciousness seems to remain

intact, while the emotional world collapses. I was

struck by Styron's insight into the schism of this

experience, for example when he says:

"A phenomenon that a number of people have noted

while in deep depression is the sense of being

accompanied by a second self -- a wraithlike observer

who, not sharing the dementia of his double, is able

to watch with dispassionate curiosity as his companion

struggles against the oncoming disaster, or decides to

embrace it." [p 64]

Indeed, it is very much like watching your own

torture and trying to decide how to escape it.

Perhaps, it is this knowledge about depression that

led the Greeks to name mental illness "schizophrenia",

literally meaning a split of the mind or head. The

naming of madness is not a frivolous thing. I was

struck by Styron's suggestion that another word

should be coined for the DSM to refer to depression.

I share his view on this matter because of the

associations and treatments that follow the word.

If you called depression "neurologic degeneration"

or "dendrite erosion" you might get a completely

different result from everyone who hears and understands

or thinks he understands the illness. More

important, you might get a different treatment.

Epilepsy and Alzheimer's after all, are brain diseases with

completely different associations and treatments.

Not many psychiatrists, no matter how Freudian, will

try to treat Epilepsy with cognitive therapy.

Styron knows that depression is a somatic disease that

affects consciousness:

"The madness results from an aberrant biochemical process.

It has been established with reasonable certainty

(after strong resistance from many psychiatrists, and not

all that long ago) that such madness is chemically induced

amid the neurotransmitters of the brain, probably as the

result of systemic stress, which for unknonw reasons causes

a depletion of the chemicals norepinephrine and serotonin, and the

increase of a hormone, cortisol." [p. 47]

From a didactic point of view, the greatest contribution

he makes in his book is the emphasis on just how serious

the illness is, remembering many of his personal friends who died

of depression-induced suicide as well as writers and artists.

(Romain Gary, Jean Seberg, Abbie Hoffman, Randall Jarrell)

The one who experiences depression has a completely different

level of understanding and evaluation of the disease, than the

one who must rely on external reports such as the Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual (DSM) and medical textbooks.

For example, when Dr. Gold tries to

help him with a new antidepressant, after the psychoanalytic

approach failed, Styron writes:

"Further, Dr. Gold said with a straight face, the pill at the

optimum dosage could have the side effect of impotence. Until

that moment, although I'd had some trouble with his personality,

I had not thought him totally lacking in perspicacity; now I

was not at all sure. Putting myself in Dr. Gold's shoes, I

wondered if he seriously thought that this juiceless and

ravaged semi-invalid with the shuffle and the ancient wheeze

woke up each morning from his Halcion sleep eager for

carnal fun." [p. 60]

As for the causes of the disease, he considers a number of

possible triggers, such as his mother's death when he was

a teen, (incomplete mourning later in life)

the addiction to and perhaps withdrawal from,

alcohol, his overuse of Halcion and other sedatives,

but at last reflects on the themes of his writings and

his life, and how suicide and and melancholy have been

the constant ones. His own father suffered from deep

depression and was hospitalized, and his favourite

authors wrote of the darker side of life.

In self-reflection, he believes that the

abyss was always there, perhaps genetically, perhaps

through unresolved grief from an eary age, maybe

both but merely covered by alcohol, escapism, and rationalizations.

I was very happy to discover this book. Styron's

style is of the American South type - my favourite.

If I missed anything in reading the book, it is the

precise details of his treatment in the hospital, which

as refuge and asylum, contributed to his recovery.

/Squiggles

I read this book when it was first published, in 1990, and have revisited it many times. William Styron was my favorite author at the time, and so reading about his suffering and depression was very gripping for me.

As a psychotherapist, I have found few more compelling accounts of the journey through deep depression. Styron pulls few punches, and invites the reader to share his experience of great darkness.

As a reader of literature, I found this book fascinating, as it explains a great deal about Mr. Styron's ability to create compelling characters. He has lived through great pain and great joy, and infuses this wisdom in his characters.

Thank you, Mr. Styron, for sharing your story with us.

Styron's Darkness Visible is the definitive depression journal capturing the feelings I couldn't begin to articulate. The writing style is wonderful, far more poetic than any other existing book on the topic. However, I had to keep a dictionary close at hand, and, despite the book's brevity, I did not find it an easy read when I was in the depths of my illness.
I've reread it several times, however, and am always overwhelmed at its accuracy. I have read whole pages over the phone to family and friends, saying, "This is EXACTLY how it felt!" Styron's description of his almost desperate attachment to people and physical things helped me and others to understand a condition that was previously foreign for me.
Read it (you must!) but add to it books by Thompson, Manning, Jamieson, etc. to gain an even deeper understanding of the recovery process and life after major depression.

Several reviewers have "dinged" Styron for portraying depression as a romantic affliction of the creatively gifted. My feeling is that Styron is writing an extremely personal account and therefore, colors his viewpoint by virtue of what he knows. The fact that highly accomplished people suffer from the disease in much the same way that we "ordinary" people do, shows that the disease doesn't discriminate based on social or professional standing.

Having suffered from and continuing to suffer from depression as critical or more so than Styron's, I appreciate the way in which he has managed to describe the thought processes and impairments which occur in severe depression. Although we are very different people, certain aspects of his disease and mine have demonstrated commonalities, which grants a measure of comfort in that I realize that I am not alone in my feelings.

His descriptions of the experience of severe depression are the most accurate I've read (or more properly, similar to my own experience). What I would have liked to have read was more about his recovery and remission. It would have completed the story and given hope to readers and loved ones affected by depression.

While we may all question Styron's theories of the root of his disease, we shouldn't condemn him for trying to find them. There also seems to be a moral judgement among the critics concerning his alcoholism. We must not forget that this, too is a disease and probably clouded his view of its effect. I, for one, applaud him for being diligent and honest enough to mention it regularly.

I recommend this book for anyone curious about how debilitating and dangerous major depression can feel. Styron's writing abilities illuminate the internal experience of depression like nothing else I've read.

Like the author, I too suffer from depression, which I have been able to treat somewhat successfully with SSRI's. Styron's harrowing account of his onset of clinical-style depression at the age of 60 manages to convey the sheer darkness and hopelessness when one is in this state.

I applaud his courage in making this very personal story public for the purpose of helping others; also his clear-eyed analysis of the mechanism of despair.

All sufferers should read this brief, erudite memoir.

Author William Styron found himself slipping into severe depression on a trip abroad to receive an award "that should have sparklingly restored my ego." This does not occur, however, and he becomes ill. Styron charts every step of his downward spiral in painful detail. He prefers the term melancholia to depression, as it is a "true wimp of a word." He removes any doubt the reader may have, however, that depression is not a serious medical illness. He explores the effect depression has had on writers historically, as well as his own slow progression back to health. His style is often poetic and the account of his dealings with physicians are tinged with black humor. Styron does not really explore what cured him and this may frustrate readers, but this is a journey worth reading about.

This is the best book I have ever read on depression. I have read and re read it several times. The fact that Styron is such a good writer is what makes this so informative. And as someone else pointed out the fact that the book is small and short helps also. It is beautifully written. I always recommend it to anyone suffering from depression. I am sad to say I recently read somewhere that near the end of his life Styron's depression returned. He had not been cured of his depression. It just lifted for a time. I like that he explains how drugs did not help him but made his depression worse. By getting off the drugs he began to get better on his own. Everyone is different but not everybody needs drugs. I also recently read that depression is anger turned inward. Knowing that I suggest getting a punching bag and hanging it in the back yeard and hitting it hard everyday.
Seriously I got a great deal of comfort from A DARKNESS VISIBLE. It is worth noting that Styron's depression hit him after he quit drinking alcohol after a lifetime of abusing alcohol.
Seems to me that doctors should always recommend this book to their patients suffering from depression. The book offers hope to those afflicted by depression.

If someone you love has committed suicide or is battling depression, Darkness Visible will give you insight to what they're going through. I like how he explains that a depressed individual who commits suicide should not be viewed as weak or a failure and loved ones shouldn't feel guilty or ashamed. Styron creates art with words which makes for beautiful writing, but it can be difficult to understand at times. This is not a self-help book. If you're looking for advice on how to overcome depression, you're not going to find much of that here.

When I read Darkness Visible, I was in a 14-16 day black hole of madness and depression. Styron's memoir moved me to begin exploring more deeply and honestly the degree of loss I have experienced in my life and how it has affected me mentally. The book helped lift me out of the my dark bout. Later it helped me be more open and knowledgeable with both a colleague and a student suffering from depression. I gave Styron's book to both of them. They were both very grateful and both passed the book on to others. I was especially happy that my student enjoyed the book -- from the point when she read it until the end of the quarter she seemed liberated, more confident, and certainly more open. I think Styron opened her eyes to possibilities for herself as a sufferer of depression that she hadn't seen before.

When this book was recomended to me by a friend and fellow depression sufferer, I was skeptical. Depression is not easy to describe, even to my psychiatrist. As I started to read, though, I realized that not only had Mr. Styron managed to share his experience of the nebulous monster that is depression, but he was able to lead me to a greater understanding of my own struggles with it. I passed the book along to a friend who had stood by me in the long nights but had never experienced the illness first hand. His impression was very different from mine, in part because he read it as a reference, but more so because he could not personally relate. Perhaps the greatest lesson this book delivers, then, is that understanding depression may only be possible (if it is possible at all) by those who have experienced it. If you suffer from depression, this book may help to remind you that you are not alone. If you don't, it may only enable you to further understand (though not completely) the disruptive, pervasive nature of the disease.

Styron is unquestionably an amazingly gifted writer. In this intense depiction of clinical depression, Styron describes in the elegant prose he is so well known for, the onset of his depression, alcohol and prescription drug abuse, and he vividly recounts how it feels to be caught in the grip of mental illness and suicidal ideology, penned in a style that I've never seen in a memoir before. He later goes on to tell of his seven week stay in a hospital and his recovery.

This memoir is completed by a brief biology, photos, and an actual letter. I recommend this book for anyone who suffers from depression, anyone who loves someone with depression, or anyone who is a fan of Styron's.

"Darkness Visible" is an 85 page essay about Mr. Styron's experience with depression, a condition that nearly killed him, as it has so many writers and artists and others. His little book is stark and pragmatic, deeply informed and feeling, without a hint of self pity, and indeed, with no small measure of hope. As someone who's felt this particular woe, I found the topic resonant and grievous, and a call to arms, to recognise depression as serious a disease as any other, one that we cannot always explain or treat, and most of all, to stop treating suicide as shameful blameful acts.

I could not help but be comforted by the the words of William Styron in Darkness Visible. As his novels intriqued me and delighted me this account of his experience with depression gave me support. It made me realize that no one is safe from this dreaded affliction. What I felt Styron put into words. He made my craziness feel a little less crazy. Styron is a wordsmith of the highest caliber. This book should be read especially by families of those suffering from depression. It gives such vivid descriptions of what it is really like to suffer from depressssion. Sometimes it becomes more real when one so esteemed can express what it is really like. He made me feel just a little more normal and understood. I am sorry I waited so long to read this selfless and inspiring account of a disease so misunderstood. Thank you for your honesty Mr. Styron

I read the whole book yesterday and found a lot that I could realate to. I never been a drinker, but I can understand how it could be used to mask a serious condition for many years. I do think that Styron places too much of the blame on Halcion, but this may be a defense to deflect some of the blame to something external to himself. In all though his description of the downward spiral and the symptoms that accompany it were dead on to my own experience and also his comments about how people who have never exeperienced this kind of depression look on you as haveing somehow failed morally or mentally by allowing such severe depression were also dead on. A great book for anyone who wants to understand what severe depression is really like.

A depressed friend recommended reading this little book, really a long essay. He said Mr. Bill Clinton had also recommended it, having read it after his friend, the attorney Vincent Foster, committed suicide.

Styron experienced depression as a disturbance in his brain, induced in part by withdrawal from alcohol and concurrent with the use of drugs, such as halcion, prescribed as anti-depressants.

His depression began when he was 60 and, after hospitalization, he indicates that he overcame the depression.

Styron writes about other artists and authors who have experienced clinical depression (as opposed to non-clinical depression, which would be less serious, supposedly).

He is convinced that his depression, and that of other artists, originates internally, with disturbances of the brain biochemistry. This is the general opinion of the medical profession at this time. What we don't know, from this book anyway, is how much his drinking and prescribed drug use affected the nature and onset of his depression.

For that perspective, we would have to read a memoir of someone who experienced clinical depression without ever having had a drinking problem and without having used prescribed or non-prescribed drugs.

Styron otherwise does not cite his environment as a contributory factor, except to say that he was depressed by turning 60, by a disappointment about his career achievements at that point, and by the stress of having to fly to Paris to receive an award.

His "clinical" memoir is therefore interesting, but limited in perspective. Maybe it should be combined with some other such memoirs so readers can have a more rounded idea of what clinical depression is all about. Diximus.

Ever since I first read DARKNESS VISIBLE ten years, after my second hospitalization for depression, I have tried to write to William Styron to thank him for putting my life and confusion into words. While depression still returns from time to time, I never have felt as alone as I did before I read this book.

The book is also helpful in educating people about mental illness. When a famous and respected person, like William Styron, has the courage to write about his own battle with depression, a subject that is often seen as self-indungence and discussed in hushed tones, he gives credence to the condition's being a disease, not a lack of self-control. Depression is less of a stigma than it was 10 years ago and part of that change is due to William Styron and DARKNESS VISIBLE

After reading so much David Foster Wallace, to me the bar has been set quite high on the subject of depression. This book is probably more helpful for someone that is going through this medical condition, though, since it is as much the tale of the experience as the overview of the disease on a grander scale. I suppose it was quite important back when it was first published, though.

and since then, I've re-read it and learned a bit more about its author. As you can see, my present opinion of the book is that it rates 3-Stars.

What have I learned about William Styron since I wrote my first review? Mainly, that he was a rather typical southern alcoholic-writer whose real claim to fame is his big historical-fiction book about Nat Turner's confessions. And Darkness Visible (itself?) was a too-hasty compilation of Styron's own confessions - and of course, us depressives take comfort wherever we get it and are incredibly appreciative of any Great Writer being able to get anything down in writing.

So be it. EVERYONE who has never been clinically depressed should read this book. But a great book about depression awaits its author.

In this 83-page memoir, William Styron provides an indispensable education for those who have not experienced depression, a consolation of shared experience for those who have, and an essential read for those who treat the disorder. Styron attacks the popular confusion of the more mundane varieties of depression with the crippling effects of severe mood disorder. Although one of the themes is the inability of those who have not been severely depressed to understand the disorder, Styron comes as close as may be possible to writing an account that may help achieve that understanding. A courageous, noble and beautiful book.

Best book on depression ever ! I do wish he had more information on how to treat depression...He offers an honest appraisal in regards as to how hard it is to treat and how little the non depressed person gets how devastating the disease is..

I'll keep this review as short and sweet as the item. This 85-page book, now twelve years old, is still unmatched in its brevity (contrast with Solomon's "Noonday Demon," at over 400 pages), its bravery, and its straightforwardness (contrast with Moody's "The Dark Veil"). It takes less than an hour to read. If you have depression, or would like to know more about how it affects those who have it, start with this book. I had seen Mr. Styron speak about this illness at a recent DRADA conference at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and he is very articulate about his experiences. Highly recommended, especially for fellow sufferers.

I suspect it's the build-up.

Styron's "memoir of madness" is referenced so frequently and fulsomely in the literature on depression that it had taken on some kind of epic status in my mind, a sort of Infinite Jest of mood disorders. Perhaps nothing could have lived up to that kind of hype, but certainly not this slim volume, which features the original Vanity Fair article with its extended opening restored.

Darkness is serviceable enough; Styron's voice is strong, his references erudite. He seems, however, to have taken a step back from his own life, and his narrative lacks the kind of visceral punch memoirs of this type generally pack. Perhaps that's due to the work's evolution from a speech at Johns Hopkins to a magazine article intended for public consumption; perhaps Styron, for all his madness, didn't want to look too crazy. We've come so far in the societal attitude toward mental illness that it's difficult to remember how groundbreaking an author outing himself this way really was, and not unreasonable to suspect he may have cleaned it up a bit (or stepped back a bit) to keep from shocking the general populace too badly. Whatever the reason, it reads today as bloodless, more of a historical point of interest than a true soul-baring.

For such an emotional topic, this memoir was surprisingly detached and clinical. Never felt like I got a true understanding of the pain experienced by the author. It felt rushed and shallow. Disappointed.

While experiencing a personal struggle with depression my wife checked this book out from the local library. As I read it I found myself finding that Styron's experience with depression matched my own, even in some of the harrowing, innermost details.

This book, along with one by Dr. Archibald Hart ("Unmasking Male Depression") convinced my that I was, indeed, suffering from depression. It seems that the symptoms of male depression are generally somewhat different from female depression (on which most of the traditional diagnostic symptoms are based). While female depression turns anger and other neagative emotions inwardly against self, male depression generally turns anger and other negative emotions outward against others, especially those closest to us emotionally (such as wives and girl friends).

I owe Styron and this book a big vote of gratitude. I am writing this review in the hopes that it may encourage some suffering wife, mother, child or girl friend of a man you suspect of suffering from undiagnosed depression to buy this book. Give it as a gift and encourage him to read it.

I read it. I'm glad I read it. Thank you, William Styron. RIP

Now I know why so many of Styron's characters suffer from irrepressible character flaws and often times depression. This eighy-four page essay in which Styron bares all in his own personal struggle with the disease is utterly revealing of the deeply private daily struggle depression heaps on its victims.

Having a gifted novelist like Styron record his battles allows the reader keen and accurate analysis and observations of a fully-aware writer being lost in the grips of the darkness. Here is a man who was winning international prizes and could barely sit and stand long enough to receive them. At the same time, he asks difficult questions of the medical community for their prescribed treatments of the disease.

A great book that shall be read for years to come.

This book is the most accurate depiction of severe depression that I've found. Whether you've experienced it yourself or just know someone who has and want to take the time to absorb these short 85 pages in order to better understand and empathize with this struggle, it is a must read!

This book is a very chilling read into how clinical depression was overcome. It is a very quick read totaling only 84 pages and provides stunning detail into how the mind works. It is a very interesting book for those in the health profession or those with just a casual interest in medicine. It is an excellent textbook for classes who want to talk about clinical depression as a disease that has to be cured. Stryon's efforts were truly impressive and shed light on a very important disease that needs to be fought with newer medicines.

Having suffered with, what is now called Rapid Cycling BiPolar I since my earliest memories, the depths of darkness and pain that Mr. Styron so eloquently conveys was something I had not found in another until the reading of this book. I have felt it in his novels and in those of many other writers. I have sensed it in film makers not knowing their particular experience. Birds of a feather I suppose. However reading his own very personal internal experience transported me to a place of strange kindred perception. Not having known the man himself, his expression of that void - that place that transcends flesh, ego, personality, separateness - provided a comfort thus far elusive. Being there, one is alone, and one is reminded of how alone we all are, thereby rendering death a place void of fear. The only existing emotion is pain, excruciating yes, avoidable never. He creates a haven for those of us unfortunate, or fortunate, enough to experience this place. From it springs an understanding one cannot vocalize, yet Styron manages to convey it through the rich, textural and intimate development of his characters. It is an understanding that transcends traditional learning and plummets to depths of what it is to be human, to be alive as two people, one within and one without. His ability to remove and don the mask and his inability to do so gave him the most valuable insight one can have into the nature of being, and not being. A brilliant writer; his pain, a gift of understanding, and his gift to us, to write that pain with such an eloquence that it can transport the reader into the souls of the people to whom he penned flesh and blood.

This is a crucial read for not only for we who know this place, but also for those who love us and exist with us side by side. Their pain, though it cannot comprehend our own, is as exquisite and "real" as our own. It is not only we who need to be understood, but also those who love us. Thank you Rose, for standing next to him, with him. Your gifts to him are also gifts to us all. You are as courageous as he.

With much Gratitude and Respect,
Kristina

I think Styron's book is a good starting point of trying to understand clinical depression. Styron does not try to give any easy answers -- he only speaks from his own experience. In that sense I believe the book is helpful. It certainly helped me see my own depression in a different light. Whether depression is caused by genetics, chemical imbalance, alcohol abuse, or by life's stresses, one thing is clear -- the person who goes through it can't just "snap out" of it. Drugs and psychotherapy may be helpful but it takes time for a person to recover. Hospitalization may be required as well. Depression should not be viewed by society as a personal failing. It is a crippling illness that claims many lives. I think Styron accomplishes of bringing the complex mood disorder to a wider public awareness.

--Alexander Shaumyan, poet, author of Spirit of Rebellion

Excellent book on depression. The author deftly examines how the word itself is mediocre catch-all term for scores of psychiatric mood disorders; each person's may be unique.

Medical books age quickly. There wasn't a whisper of Prozac or St John's Wort in 1990. So, worthwhile as this book may be, it cannot pharmacologically pass the test of time.

On suicide: "The subject taboo . . . a matter of secrecy and shame."

"The stigma of self-inflicted death is for some people a hateful blot that demands erasure at all costs."

Having experienced clinical depression more than once in my life, I am absolutely in amazement at how accurately Styron describes the experience. In describing something that even he admits is almost beyond the descriptive power of words, he's done a masterful job. This book should be required reading for anyone who has a friend or loved one suffering from depression, and has never themself been able to understand what it's all about. Finally, people who have never experienced this horror can get at least a glimpse of what it is like from a truly gifted writer.

"Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness" is an autobiographical work in which distinguished novelist William Styron recalls his battle with clinical depression. A lean 84 pages, this is a straightforward and eloquent book.
In an author's note, Styron explains that this book started out as a lecture given at a symposium sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The lecture was developed into a "Vanity Fair" essay before ultimately becoming this book.
Styron describes depression as "an insidious meltdown" of the mind, a "tempest in my brain." He reflects on the depression and suicide of other individuals whose lives had touched his. He describes in detail his own struggle with suicidal thoughts. Also covered are the medications he took, as well as his hospitalization and therapy.
Styron's book is both a fine piece of literature and a very informative window into a particular mental illness. Styron has been in the pit of despair, but has survived; I commend him for his courage and candor in sharing his experience in "Darkness Visible." Recommended companion text: Audre Lorde's "The Cancer Journals," about a poet's battle with breast cancer.

If you have never experienced depression - or have not learned what tools there are to cope with it - this is as good a place as any to begin to find out about it. Late in a successful life with a happy family, Styron was afflicted with a serious depression and nearly killed himself. He describes it with such anxious clarity that it is almost unbearable to read if you or someone close to you has suffered like this. He recovers, of course.
What is lacking in his story is a clear understanding of what it may have meant - why he became so depressed at that time in his life. Instead, it is viewed more as an illness that attacked him from the outside, though he does acknowledge some personal issues obliquely. And a large part of his cure is finding the right kind of medication, with talking therapy as an adjunct. This was disappointing to me, as I think that there must have been issues that meant something throughout his life and in the immediate circumstances that set it off. Instead, it appears we are to believe it is more genetic than environmental. Perhaps it is, but I would have preferrred more introspection and as such felt this was superficial. However, this is my bias.
Recommended as a starting point.

William Styron's short memoir concerning his battle with depression is poignantly painful. He recounts the course the disease took in his own life and his struggles to emerge from the suicidal effects in this short book. Sadly, his point that no one who hasn't experienced this debilitating disease can ever understand the physical and emotional pain it causes is absolutely correct. For those who don't suffer from depression, he offers insight, although it's impossible to convey the scope of the pain. But for those who have struggled with this disease, I suspect there's an understanding here that will reach out and assure them they are not alone. And that is what makes the book worth reading.

If you ever suffered depression or know anyone that did, this is a good memoir. He is able to write about his struggle with it and his victory over it in such a way that you can't put the book down, and when finished wish there was more. I've only read one of his books, Sophies Choice, but now I will try and read the rest, as he's a good writer.

Being an optimist I have not thought about depression very much being of the pull yourself together variety. This book certainly showed how depression takes over your life. Worth the read to open your mind

In this slim volume, William Styron documents his descent into near-suicidal depression and his eventual recovery to something near normalcy. He eloquently describes his condition, and discusses some things about depression and how it's sometimes different for each individual. By telling of his journey, he offers a sense of hope through the depths of depression. I do wish this book were longer, if only to hear more about his battle and to see more clearly the path he walked.

with all of the "self-help" and "how-to" books out there on major clinical depression, this one, to me, was in a category all its own. i have seen and read several of the other books about depression - just trying to find some connection. i felt no connection because i believe several were written by people never having to deal with this disabling disease. i would read "darkness visable" and think "hey i feel like that too sometimes, i am not the only one out there that does". i felt it,(the book), explained how "i" felt (w/depression) so accurate that over the years i have purchased several copies and have givin them to family and friends i know, and told them "ok THIS is how i feel". for friends of mine who also had depression problems i would buy them the book, tell them to read it, and get back to me because i wanted to know what they thought. sure enough, they felt the same way or very close to the same way i did. it was like a burden lifted off of all of our shoulders. i don't want to get into the book because everyone should read it that battles depression or someone who is trying to understand someone who is battling depression. i can't begin to tell you, it was the start in understanding who i was, accepting myself, and trying not to feel shame about about something i was born with. if i could ever help someone i would do my best. this book changed my life and i read it 10 years or more ago. :) :) thanks W.S.

This book is terrific at articulating the depths and horrors of depression and its ability to debilitate those who come under its power. Mr. Styron makes much use of literary and artistic references like Camus, Dürer, and other authors which may be not common knowledge for those who have not been introduced to such literary and artistic works. The book is easy to read and quite illuminating in Styron's clear and distinct prose style. The troubles that he goes through are truly frightening but the text is short and not overwhelming for those who want to understand what other people (perhaps loved ones) go through when they descend into madness (i.e. psychosis). Having experienced much of what Mr. Styron has written in this book, it was enlightening to read that someone else has been through what I once experienced, and was caring enough to leave a document for others who may enter into such a state of terror. It is not a book for someone who is presently in the throes of madness (of course), but perhaps it is worthwhile for that person to read when they are ready and come out of their psychotic state of melancholia.

His lucid, descriptive account of a torturous journey. If you have a family member or friend who is suffering from depression, you'll want to read this book to better understand them and what they're going through. At 84 pages, it's a quick read and worth the time.

When you suffer from depression, you can't explain how you are feeling when someone asks. Fortunately, in this book, William Styron has done that for us. Then, when I read his comments about Richard O'Connor's Undoing Depression, I read that also. That is also a book offering hope and "explores the dark predicament of depression, and the pathways toward help, with fresh insight." Thank you, Mr. Styron, for your words.

to the depths of the most dark part of the human spirit.
As in La Divina Comedia, you can feel like Dante, guided by the most bright mind and the more sensitive spirit in our times...
The Most Terrible Mind Disease.. That is Depression: Those who have not felt it can`t understand the heinous pain that can drive a person to end his/her life.
But this man can show it in his book... If you have the talent and the sensibility to watch... fasten your seat belt to life, because you are going for a visit in hell

I speak from experience when I say that what the author has written is true. But, if the author hoped to convey to a reader a sense of the experience of depression, then the author has failed--for the book has no life. There is a strange loop here in that this flat, lifeless quality IS profoundly a quality of depression. But this is not a desirable quality in writing, for it conveys none of the horror of being someone in the midst of depression.

Since I have suffered from depression, I can relate to this book in many ways. For me, it is uplifting in ways to hear an accout of another who has suffered in similar ways and to ultimately hear of his triumph over the disease. He describes the disease well, emphasing how difficult it is to exaplain to others the terrible disabilitating effects of the disease.
It is good that this book is a short, easy reader that does not waste time. The personal accounts are great. Lets others know they are not alone.

Darkness Visible is about eighty pages long. It's a great short book ...I particularly like the section where he recounts an incident where a `therapist' reduces a woman to tears in a group `therapy' session as I experienced the same elsewhere!
Therapists can't be trusted!!! The psychiatric 'profession' attracts some of the worst!
The book started as a lecture at a symposium sponsored by the Psychiatry Department of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The lecture was developed into a "Vanity Fair" essay before becoming ` D V '.

Also see Goldberg's discussion of this book in THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (2000).

It is wonderful that a writer of Styron's calibre has given to us such a cogent and humane description of one of the great plagues of our times -- depression. He has truly opened his soul and showed us the agony of depression with, fortunately, a "happy" ending. At the very end there is a glimpse of hope; that commodity for which the depressed soul yearns. I cannot recommend this book too highly. After reading it I felt I became more of a member of the human race!

William Styron is perhaps best known for his bestselling novel, Sophie's Choice, which was converted to screenplay and released as an Academy award-winning motion picture starring Meryl Streep. Many critics acknowledged Styron's seemingly natural ability to evoke a sense of bitter, submerged despair through subtle understatement. The reviewers who lauded his work had no way of predicting that Styron would eventually become afflicted with a more personal misery, a depression so severe it would drive him to suicidal obsession.

Styron's harrowing struggle with clinical depression is the subject of his non-fiction bestseller, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (Vintage Books, 1992). In a mercifully brief 84 pages, Styron eloquently demonstrates how the most brutal and debilitating stages of psychotic depression often hurl patients into an existential nightmare from which the only perceived escape is death (and according to Styron, this misperception constitutes one common, potentially lethal distortion of thought in depressed patients).

Darkness Visible opens with a pointed epigraph from the book of Job. This reflects Styron's perception that like Job's trials, depressed patients are beset by something inexplicable and powerful that threatens to destroy the fruits of their life and labor, the relationships they hold dear, and their very understanding of spirituality. Like Job, depressed patients struggle to find cosmological meaning in their suffering. And like Job, depressed patients who petition God to provide this meaning for them may only receive partial answers or worse yet, a silence that reverberates from an expansive, ominous void.

For people who have never experienced the devastating depths of major clinical depression, it may be difficult to empathize with the life and death struggle these patients wage from within the depths of their spirits. Well-meaning friends and family members may mistakenly attempt to encourage the depressed patient by offering preachy platitudes and pleas that lack depth of perception and compassion, such as, "Life is hard sometimes, you can't let it get you down," or "It can't be as bad as you think," or "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," or "Everybody gets the blues from time to time." These mistaken "helpers" often confuse clinical depression for situational depression (which is less debilitating, usually temporary, and often explicable through environmental factors, such as the recent death of a loved one). For professional caregivers and loved ones who may be struggling with their own responses to a patient's depression, Darkness Visible provides invaluable personal insights, and therefore plays a significant role in dismantling those experiential barriers that allow the "healthy" to separate themselves from the "sick."

Depression is an insidious disease. It gradually robs patients of their ability to experience pleasure. The insidious disease launches an attack on biochemical, cognitive, and emotive aspects of being. Depression may even manifest as a spiritual crisis, as it deteriorates a patient's ability to experience meaning in life. Styron conveys this quality of depression through dreamlike trains of thought reminiscent of Franz Kafka's fiction.

The disease invades the delicate, temporal realm of the empirical and sensual. The subjective lens of the depressed patient distorts shades of vivid color, fading them to washed-out grays and browns. Sensitivity to touch is often drastically reduced, and many depressed patients describe a sensation of feeling like they are enmeshed in gauze, mummified, unable to touch the world, others, or even themselves. Styron describes an associated sense of "drowning" or "suffocation."

Interpretation of sensation is another factor in depression. A warm home is perceived as a cold prison. The softness of a comfortable bed is experienced as the earthen padding of a silent, beckoning grave. And in William Styron's case, an internationally prestigious award ceremony may become an arduous exercise in endurance.

Depression assaults the emotive experiences of patients, as joyous and even celebratory events are transformed into harrowing exercises in futile endurance. In the opening of Darkness Visible, Styron describes his journey to Paris, where he was scheduled to receive a much-coveted award for his lifetime literary achievements. Despite the immense prestige and recognition, Styron was unable to enjoy the experience, and nearly collapsed in exhaustion and stupor before the conclusion of the ceremony. Worse yet, Styron is befuddled by the inexplicable nature of his gloom. He can find no demonstrable cause for his catastrophic reaction to this pinnacle event.

Depression is a psychiatric disease with social implications. When a patient goes through a sustained period of depression, well-loved friends and family members can become alien and suspect. This is compounded by the frustration of loved ones who genuinely wish for the depression to cease and for life to resume as "normal." These loved ones may add insult to injury by offering emotional encouragement that lacks empathetic understanding. When a loved one tells a depressed patient to "get over it", the effect is similar to a situation in which a gym coach screams the words, "Walk it off, sissy!" to his lead athlete, who happens to be nursing a compound fracture.

Styron makes no pretense of being a qualified physician, but he does recommend that clinically depressed patients exercise caution when utilizing pharmaceutical remedies. He focuses his concern on Halcion, a benzodiazepine that has been correlated with anxiety, amnesia, delusions, hostility, and suicidal ideations. Styron adds his name to the list of critics who claim that Halcion may exacerbate depressive symptoms in some patients, essentially reducing the therapeutic process to a cynical game of psychiatric Russian Roulette in which the only guaranteed winners are the pharmaceutical companies and their stockholders.

While medication can provide short-term relief from depressive symptoms, it should never be administered without careful oversight from a qualified physician. Many of the modern serotonin-oriented remedies for depression cause a plethora of eclectic side effects ranging from blurred vision and nausea to lethargy and sexual side effects (as if lack of ability to achieve orgasm would not in and of itself become a depressing factor). Additionally, pharmaceutical therapies should most often be supplemented with psychological therapy. Medications can provide symptomatic relief for qualified patients, but drugs cannot teach those patients the cognitive, emotional, and social coping skills necessary to prevent a relapse of depression.

Darkness Visible sheds light upon its dreary subject, but all is not gloom. Styron actually manages to convey a comedic sense of irony through his prose. This irony is subtle, attitudinal, submerged in his account and descriptions. This attitude is betrayed when he lists the names of several writers (Virginia Woolf, Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, etc.) who have suffered from depression, himself numbering among them, as if to recount the roster of a truly elite group - melancholic writers - of which Styron is proud to be a member. By surviving to write this book, Styron is an active participant in shaping and extracting his own meaning from the experience of depression.

Depression is a disease that can produce the bittersweet fruit of lasting fellowship among those familiar with the hidden blessings of wisdom resulting from living through madness and despair. This esoteric, intimate knowledge can only be obtained by wrestling with "the dark beast within" and by working out one's own salvation (with fear and trembling, no less). Depressed readers who peruse Darkness Visible may find a valuable sense of community (in fact, the book could very well serve as a valuable therapeutic supplement for specific patients in recovery). And readers who have been fortunate enough to skirt the yawning abyss of depression will find themselves one step closer to dancing, though ever so briefly, with the specter of madness.

On a personal note... I struggled with clinical depression thirteen years ago, culminating in a suicide attempt and subsequent hospitalization. I can attest that Darkness Visible is the deepest, most subjectively accurate description of this disease that I have ever read. Though the subject matter and style of the book are gloomy, I feel an extraordinary sense of optimism in the experience of completing this book. It's as if the articulation and elucidation exercised by Styron has managed to demystify, and thus disempower, the darkness he sheds light upon.

I take issue with the reader who found it dry. Quite the contrary in my estimation. I was riveted and felt like "I was there". A great read at many levels. If you or someone you know is clinically depressed, this is as close as you'll get to understanding an un-undertandable human condition. Mr. Styron describes the indescribable.

Styron describes depression through his eyes and we walk into the visible darkness. Depression is very difficult to describe in words, but he certainly did a good job in doing so;...that it even reminded me of my own experiences. Is that good or bad? Well, it's terrible to be reminded of your own experiences, but I chose to read the book to understand more Depression and other points of views of solving the problem. This book doesn't go into depth about solving depression, but it does give good insight on the symptoms (although each person may experience it differently, but there are similarities).

This is an account of his depression by the distinguished American writer William Styron. It is written with grace and skill. But it does not have the moving depth of other personal works on depression. It somehow does not reach the deepest level of all this.

I do not mean to say or wish that William Styron should have suffered more so that he could write a better book. But somehow my feeling is that ' this is one of the lesser works ' of this painful genre.

It is wonderful that a writer of Styron's calibre has given to us such a cogent and humane description of one of the great plagues of our times -- depression. He has truly opened his soul and showed us the agony of depression with, fortunately, a "happy" ending. At the very end there is a glimpse of hope; that commodity for which the depressed soul yearns. I cannot recommend this book too highly. After reading it I felt I became more of a member of the human race!

William Styron is perhaps best known for his bestselling novel, Sophie's Choice, which was converted to screenplay and released as an Academy award-winning motion picture starring Meryl Streep. Many critics acknowledged Styron's seemingly natural ability to evoke a sense of bitter, submerged despair through subtle understatement. The reviewers who lauded his work had no way of predicting that Styron would eventually become afflicted with a more personal misery, a depression so severe it would drive him to suicidal obsession.

Styron's harrowing struggle with clinical depression is the subject of his non-fiction bestseller, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (Vintage Books, 1992). In a mercifully brief 84 pages, Styron eloquently demonstrates how the most brutal and debilitating stages of psychotic depression often hurl patients into an existential nightmare from which the only perceived escape is death (and according to Styron, this misperception constitutes one common, potentially lethal distortion of thought in depressed patients).

Darkness Visible opens with a pointed epigraph from the book of Job. This reflects Styron's perception that like Job's trials, depressed patients are beset by something inexplicable and powerful that threatens to destroy the fruits of their life and labor, the relationships they hold dear, and their very understanding of spirituality. Like Job, depressed patients struggle to find cosmological meaning in their suffering. And like Job, depressed patients who petition God to provide this meaning for them may only receive partial answers or worse yet, a silence that reverberates from an expansive, ominous void.

For people who have never experienced the devastating depths of major clinical depression, it may be difficult to empathize with the life and death struggle these patients wage from within the depths of their spirits. Well-meaning friends and family members may mistakenly attempt to encourage the depressed patient by offering preachy platitudes and pleas that lack depth of perception and compassion, such as, "Life is hard sometimes, you can't let it get you down," or "It can't be as bad as you think," or "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," or "Everybody gets the blues from time to time." These mistaken "helpers" often confuse clinical depression for situational depression (which is less debilitating, usually temporary, and often explicable through environmental factors, such as the recent death of a loved one). For professional caregivers and loved ones who may be struggling with their own responses to a patient's depression, Darkness Visible provides invaluable personal insights, and therefore plays a significant role in dismantling those experiential barriers that allow the "healthy" to separate themselves from the "sick."

Depression is an insidious disease. It gradually robs patients of their ability to experience pleasure. The insidious disease launches an attack on biochemical, cognitive, and emotive aspects of being. Depression may even manifest as a spiritual crisis, as it deteriorates a patient's ability to experience meaning in life. Styron conveys this quality of depression through dreamlike trains of thought reminiscent of Franz Kafka's fiction.

The disease invades the delicate, temporal realm of the empirical and sensual. The subjective lens of the depressed patient distorts shades of vivid color, fading them to washed-out grays and browns. Sensitivity to touch is often drastically reduced, and many depressed patients describe a sensation of feeling like they are enmeshed in gauze, mummified, unable to touch the world, others, or even themselves. Styron describes an associated sense of "drowning" or "suffocation."

Interpretation of sensation is another factor in depression. A warm home is perceived as a cold prison. The softness of a comfortable bed is experienced as the earthen padding of a silent, beckoning grave. And in William Styron's case, an internationally prestigious award ceremony may become an arduous exercise in endurance.

Depression assaults the emotive experiences of patients, as joyous and even celebratory events are transformed into harrowing exercises in futile endurance. In the opening of Darkness Visible, Styron describes his journey to Paris, where he was scheduled to receive a much-coveted award for his lifetime literary achievements. Despite the immense prestige and recognition, Styron was unable to enjoy the experience, and nearly collapsed in exhaustion and stupor before the conclusion of the ceremony. Worse yet, Styron is befuddled by the inexplicable nature of his gloom. He can find no demonstrable cause for his catastrophic reaction to this pinnacle event.

Depression is a psychiatric disease with social implications. When a patient goes through a sustained period of depression, well-loved friends and family members can become alien and suspect. This is compounded by the frustration of loved ones who genuinely wish for the depression to cease and for life to resume as "normal." These loved ones may add insult to injury by offering emotional encouragement that lacks empathetic understanding. When a loved one tells a depressed patient to "get over it", the effect is similar to a situation in which a gym coach screams the words, "Walk it off, sissy!" to his lead athlete, who happens to be nursing a compound fracture.

Styron makes no pretense of being a qualified physician, but he does recommend that clinically depressed patients exercise caution when utilizing pharmaceutical remedies. He focuses his concern on Halcion, a benzodiazepine that has been correlated with anxiety, amnesia, delusions, hostility, and suicidal ideations. Styron adds his name to the list of critics who claim that Halcion may exacerbate depressive symptoms in some patients, essentially reducing the therapeutic process to a cynical game of psychiatric Russian Roulette in which the only guaranteed winners are the pharmaceutical companies and their stockholders.

While medication can provide short-term relief from depressive symptoms, it should never be administered without careful oversight from a qualified physician. Many of the modern serotonin-oriented remedies for depression cause a plethora of eclectic side effects ranging from blurred vision and nausea to lethargy and sexual side effects (as if lack of ability to achieve orgasm would not in and of itself become a depressing factor). Additionally, pharmaceutical therapies should most often be supplemented with psychological therapy. Medications can provide symptomatic relief for qualified patients, but drugs cannot teach those patients the cognitive, emotional, and social coping skills necessary to prevent a relapse of depression.

Darkness Visible sheds light upon its dreary subject, but all is not gloom. Styron actually manages to convey a comedic sense of irony through his prose. This irony is subtle, attitudinal, submerged in his account and descriptions. This attitude is betrayed when he lists the names of several writers (Virginia Woolf, Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, etc.) who have suffered from depression, himself numbering among them, as if to recount the roster of a truly elite group - melancholic writers - of which Styron is proud to be a member. By surviving to write this book, Styron is an active participant in shaping and extracting his own meaning from the experience of depression.

Depression is a disease that can produce the bittersweet fruit of lasting fellowship among those familiar with the hidden blessings of wisdom resulting from living through madness and despair. This esoteric, intimate knowledge can only be obtained by wrestling with "the dark beast within" and by working out one's own salvation (with fear and trembling, no less). Depressed readers who peruse Darkness Visible may find a valuable sense of community (in fact, the book could very well serve as a valuable therapeutic supplement for specific patients in recovery). And readers who have been fortunate enough to skirt the yawning abyss of depression will find themselves one step closer to dancing, though ever so briefly, with the specter of madness.

On a personal note... I struggled with clinical depression thirteen years ago, culminating in a suicide attempt and subsequent hospitalization. I can attest that Darkness Visible is the deepest, most subjectively accurate description of this disease that I have ever read. Though the subject matter and style of the book are gloomy, I feel an extraordinary sense of optimism in the experience of completing this book. It's as if the articulation and elucidation exercised by Styron has managed to demystify, and thus disempower, the darkness he sheds light upon.

I take issue with the reader who found it dry. Quite the contrary in my estimation. I was riveted and felt like "I was there". A great read at many levels. If you or someone you know is clinically depressed, this is as close as you'll get to understanding an un-undertandable human condition. Mr. Styron describes the indescribable.

Styron describes depression through his eyes and we walk into the visible darkness. Depression is very difficult to describe in words, but he certainly did a good job in doing so;...that it even reminded me of my own experiences. Is that good or bad? Well, it's terrible to be reminded of your own experiences, but I chose to read the book to understand more Depression and other points of views of solving the problem. This book doesn't go into depth about solving depression, but it does give good insight on the symptoms (although each person may experience it differently, but there are similarities).

This is an account of his depression by the distinguished American writer William Styron. It is written with grace and skill. But it does not have the moving depth of other personal works on depression. It somehow does not reach the deepest level of all this.

I do not mean to say or wish that William Styron should have suffered more so that he could write a better book. But somehow my feeling is that ' this is one of the lesser works ' of this painful genre.

Was recommended to me by a friend. The book recounts William Styron's bout with mental illness. It is a very good book to help people relate to what a troubled person is going through. As they say..."You can't understand it, if you haven't gone through it yourself".

The book I read is called Darkness Visible by William Styron. The book is a compelling story about a man who, in 1985, gets a crippling disease. At the same time he's trying to receive an award. I enjoyed this book very much. It gives good infomation about depression,a disease thet affects millions of Americans. It doesn't have lots of action, but the book overall is a great book to read.

I suffered from depression and suicidal tendencies (and attempts) when I happened to find that book. What a coincidence. I was looking for Styron's 'Lie Down in Darkness' and found this one. It struck me that what Styron describes in 'Darkness Visible' was exactly how I felt in that very moment. My biggest problem was that people I thought were good friends turned away from me because they didn't understood my illness, thought I use the word 'illness' as an excuse to be lazy, or use it in order to blackmail them. Styron had the same experience. I wish more 'healthy' people would read this book. Less 'friends' would turn away.

As someone who's survived the storms of depression, Styron gives a commendable account of this devastating illness. For those fortunate souls who have not struggled with the 'cancer of mental diseases', Styron's account is the best yet given. His tone, jaded by the relentless malaise, carry the genuine despondence of a genteel perceptive spirit who has made it : "I felt myself no longer a husk but a body with some of the body's sweet juices stirring again. I had my first dream in many months, confused but to this day imperishable, with a flute in it somewhere, and a wild goose, and a dancing girl."

Styron writes (p. 7) "depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way is becomes known to the self-to the mediating intellect-as to verge close to being beyond description." Nevertheless, he manages to write a stunningly eloquent and accurate description of the emotions involved in depression. When starting to climb out of the ravages of my own depression, I found great comfort in reading words that so beautifully describe the experience. I recommend this book most to those who are recovering from depression or who are depressed and able to read. I also recommend it to mental health professionals who want to better understand what their depressed patients are going though.

This insightful book views suicide from the side of one who has suffered from a desire for self destruction. For the survivors of a suicide it is difficult to answer so many questions following the event, this book begins to answer questions of the thought process leading up to suicide.

Another excellant book to consider reading on the subject is "No Time to Say Goodbye, Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One" by Carla Fine. It draws from the experiences of many who have been through it and offers counsel.

I first read William Styron many years ago when one summer I found Lie Down in Darkness. Others books followed. A psychiatrist recommended it to me as a help with my depression. While interesting it lacks a human touch or feeling. It is too intellectual and dry and it succeeds only because of the stature of the author. Martha Manning's Undercurrents takes the reader into the soul of a person in deep depression and makes you feel the pain and finally you both break out. It's a small classic.

After all the hype I'd heard about "Darkness Visible", I found it a bit disappointing. Styron is clearly a great writer- few would dispute that. Nonetheless, I found his description of the subjective feeling and experience of depression to be somewhat lacking. Of course, it's very difficult to describe any subjective mental state, but nonetheless I didn't find his attempt too compelling. On the other hand, the book is very well-written and stylistically pleasing. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

He tells his story with brutal truthfullness, which is hard to find. I am tired of simply hearing that "it will all be all right." This booked dealt with personal facts and showed me that this is a livable disease.

Lie Down in Darkness is one of my all-time favorites along with Sophie's Choice so I've had an interest in Styron's later life. He readily admits he didn't understand his depression. He calls it madness which is more melodramatic than accurate. He was a lifelong hypochondriac.

Amazing what kind of strength William Styron had to muster to open his life up enough to write about such a personal illness...and one with such stigmas and opinions attached to it!
This book is beautifully written and has touched so close to home for me personally. I couldn't have put the experience of depression into better words if I tried.
I would recommend this book to people who suffer from depression or to their loved ones. It's a very enlightening and informational essay.

There is redemption in this tale, but be warned that this is an incredibly depressing work. It is amazing that Styron could capture his story so well and in such a moving way. I struggled to work through this because of how hard it is to read about his experiences. (Also, I acknowledge other readers that, at times, Styron can be pretentious. However, I feel that he remains true to himself while describing his life).

This is a fine book recounting one man's nightmare as he fought a very serious depression. He has a great, vivid writing style and recalls many details about how he felt at various stages of the illness. He came through it, so his story ultimately is encouraging. Highly recommended.

What follows is a contrarian view of Mr Styron's "memoir of madness." Near the end of his 84 page essay, Styron places much of the blame for his dark depression on "incomplete mourning." The delayed mourning (almost 50 yrs prior) of the death of his mother. (His mother died when he was 13). I call BS on this conclusion. For 30 or 40 yrs Styron was a drunk. At age 60, when serious depression reared it's ugly head, Styron could no longer drink. It made him physically ill. His body had had quite enough alcohol. Quite common for drunks. For decades he drank "abundantly, almost mercilessly." A self-admission. It was a near lifetime of alcohol abuse. Think there might be a connection? Is it possible, or even likely, that after 40 yrs of heavy drinking that Styron damaged his brain, causing depression? He seems to dodge the connection. He would prefer to blame poor analysis and Halcion. Incomplete mourning. BS. Here is a snapshot of Styron's daily routine as a writer: Out of bed at noon, eat, drink, smoke, listen to music, take a walk, do a little writing. He owned a cozy little farmhouse in CT, summered at Martha's Vineyard, hung out in NYC, travelled to Paris and other beautiful places. He had a supportive wife, daughters, friends, acclaim and on and on. Does that not sound like a life of extreme leisure? It does to me. He opens his book with a quote from Job. He's going to compare his plight with that of Job? Job was a righteous man, not a heavy drinker and a man of leisure. Styron should have read the Book of Job a little more carefully. Styron's library must have been filled with medical books and medical journals. He was a hypochondriac, a self-diagnoser. You can also tell from the book that Styron was self-absorbed. The man self-medicated with alcohol most of his adult life. Alcohol is a depressant. He depressed himself, he destroyed his brain cells with excessive alcohol. He can blame an assortment of things but he needed to look squarely in the mirror. Many of my favorite writers were alcoholics: Fitzgerald, Wolfe, Hemingway, Faulkner, Kerouac, Bukowski and others. They all flamed out. Faulkner had a terrible medical incident while on a hunting trip at age 40 and was quite lucky to survive. Too many bottles of Four Roses. Are creative people self-destructive? Perhaps, I don't know. Styron almost drank himself to death. His time at the hospital at age 60-61 was little more than detox. I have digressed from the subject. Bottom line, I put much of the blame of Styron's problems squarely on his shoulders. Seems like common sense to me. PS: I understand that depression is a serious mental health issue. My comments are aimed only at Mr Styron and conclusions I drew after reading his book.

I have no doubt as to the veracity of Styron's experience with depression, but it seems to have so little to do with the average reader's experience that it made me angry. As a renowned author being festooned with awards, traveling from Martha's Vineyard to Paris on his Pulitzer-sized royalty checks, being cared for by his ever-tolerant wife with access to every possible medical resource, I found him impossible to relate to.

"B-but...none of those superficial things matter, of course, when you are in the midst of depression" I can here many of you say. Let me be the one to throw the bulls*** flag out on that play right now. Anything's a hell of a lot easier with money, especially something as stigmatized and misunderstood as mental illness. I'd probably feel like s***fshit even if I did have a Mercedes, but it won't exactly hurt my mood if I could afford to pay my bills and had a personal chaffeur right now.

But I can't really blame Styron for having what appears to be a great life when others weren't dealt the same hand. What I do blame him for an utter failure to offer any insight into the mindset of depression, which is something unforgivable in an author so wonderful at writing about despair. Was his episode so minor compared to mine? I'm left wondering. Perhaps so, and if that's the case I may be too hard on Mr. Styron. But in my experience of the hell he falls so short of capturing here, this "Memoir of Madness" is a glancing and superficial one at best.

Parts of this book made me cry because I identified so closely with Styron's descriptions. I want my family to read it so they can really understand what I have gone through. Styron describes it in a way I have never been able to and the book is short and to the point. I loved it.

This is an excellent book for anyone who knows & loves someone with a chronic mental illness. Styron tells his tale so simply & quickly. He shows us that mental illness is not necessarily the result of unhappiness, poor parenting, other people, etc. Sometimes, it just is! It is an illness that ebbs & wanes like diabetes. Styron helped me to understand both what is happening to that person, & how much & how little I do about it.

My husband of 32 years suffers from major depression to the point where his doctors and therapists are "stumped." We don't know if he will ever come out of it. This book is excellent reading for those who live with depressed loved ones. It generates a great deal of empathy in the reader toward those who suffer this appalling malady. I highly recommend it.

I believe that this book is one of the best out there dealing with depression. I have read many books on depression and would rate this one near the top, in the same league as most anything by Jamison even. Styron is very brave to share such a story of personal triumph. Five stars!

Mr. Styron is able to capture the uttermost desperation of a person suffering from depression. He is able to express so artfully and skillfully the pain associated with this illness. Even though depression is such a mind and spirit paralyzer, this book helps one realize that with proper treatment a person can win the battle against depression.

I bought the Kindle Edition for my school assignment to safe myself from typing by copying the text I need but the program limited me to the amount of information I could copy

I thought by reading this book I will learn how he solved the depression, but there is no information about that

William Styron presents a vivid and haunting description of depression. I was engaged on an intellectual level by his lucid, elegant prose. Likewise, Darkness Visible elicits a visceral, emotional response vis 'a vis Styron's candid descriptions of his dissent into the depths of his depression and emergence from his harrowing sojourn. In general, Styron's struggle evoked feelings of sympathy and empathy as well as an interest in the prognosis and outcome of his therapy. The therapists and treatment interventions employed with Styron helped to highlight the elusive quality of depression, presenting as many unanswered questions to the patient, therapist and reader regarding the development, understanding and treatment of this baffling disease. The above issues will be examined in detail, as I attempt to picture myself in the hospital/treatment setting and try to discern what it would be like to undergo such turmoil.

I think one of the central elements of Styron's ability to relay his tortured tale lies in his ability to communicate in an elegant, literary style, which transcends psychiatric jargon. For example, his reference to Dante, Dickinson and other literary figures as well as artists such as Van Gough, reveal not only the breadth of his knowledge, but also the common thread between the arts and psychology. His profound ability to communicate and write allows a therapist to gain an insider's perspective of the bleak wilderness of depression.

Furthermore, Styron's literary ability provokes a "gut" response, as he describes the perils of his illness. For example, he contrasts the treatment of other serious physical illnesses with the hidden dilemma confronted by those who suffer from psychological disorders, such as depression. He states, "... the sufferer of depression... finds himself... like a walking casualty of war, thrust into the most intolerable social and family situations" (p. 62). Certainly, this imagery aptly evokes a realistic version of what it must be like to suffer an illness, which is not readily apparent and sympathized with by others.

Styron presents a unique view of the therapists and the modalities they employ with their clients. Dr. Gold is presented as a sort of secular priest, ordained by Yale University, who becomes for Styron, "the receptacle for an outpouring of woes during fifty minutes that also provides relief for the victim's wife" (p. 52). Albeit, I do not think Styron is altogether fair and even handed in his description of the therapists and their attendant treatment modalities. For example, his description of Art Therapy as "organized infantilism" (p. 74) is rather cynical and also reveals a certain ignorance of the value in utilizing art therapy in adulthood. Jungian psychologists have long understood the importance of art and employing mandala symbolism in their client' s later years. Nevertheless, his description of the narcissistic, " odiously smug" group therapy leader with the Freud wannabe beard, should resonate with most people who have been exposed to a great deal of therapists (p.73). His analogy comparing modern debates over theories of depression to the archaic issue of blood letting is revealing. His defense of ECT(electro-convulsive therapy...aka...shock treatment), which will probably be regarded as our modern version of the aforementioned, is somewhat suspect. It's interesting that he himself did not personally experience this modality.

At the risk of seeming overly critical, Styron seems to swallow whole the orthodoxy of modern psychiatry, bypassing some of its most distasteful elements. Likewise, he describes the disease as taking" full possession of my system"(p.47). There is more than one occasion in this book where "evil spirit" or "devil" could be substituted for disease and one would be transported back to a medieval description of demonic possession. The similarities between religion and psychiatry are all too readily apparent as Szasz points out in Ideology and Insanity: Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man. Although Styron cites Camus's existentialism as a source of literary inspiration, I was sometimes left wondering if a student of Sartre would describe his "possession" as a repudiation of modern existential concepts, such as "bad faith" and free will.

In conclusion, I have attempted to picture myself in his hospital setting. Certainly, this is highly unlikely due to the contrast between the ordinary person's means of procuring affordable treatment and Mr. Styron's ability to obtain the gold standard of treatment, which he readily admits. While Styron seems to credulously embrace the hospital setting as beneficent, for me it held the possibility of a more negative outcome. After meeting and seeing Dr.Thomas Szasz speak last year and being aware of the pitfalls of misdiagnosis as well as the custodial nature of some institutions, I am more likely to agree with Dr. Gold's view of the hospital as a last resort. Perhaps, for Mr. Styron this was, indeed, the case. Anyhow, the Author's hospital setting and its imagery, replete with green institutional paint, was far from therapeutic. Ironically, I found Styron's objectivity may have been obscured by the very malady he attempted to describe.

References

Styron, W. , (1990) . Darkness visible. New York: Vintage Books.

Szasz, T. , (1991) . Ideology and insanity: essays on the psychiatric dehumanization of man. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.

This book was pretty outstanding as one man's account of his personal experience with depression. Lucidly written it drew you right into it - and then stopped. just like that, all of a sudden. the book is unseemingly short but nevertheless is a damn fine read.

I did not read this book. I gave it to my son who suffers from depression. He said it described him perfectly, authenticated his feelings, and gave him a clearer understanding of his own condition - plus offered him hope for getting out of the darkness.

Mr. Styron is able to capture the uttermost desperation of a person suffering from depression. He is able to express so artfully and skillfully the pain associated with this illness. Even though depression is such a mind and spirit paralyzer, this book helps one realize that with proper treatment a person can win the battle against depression.

I bought the Kindle Edition for my school assignment to safe myself from typing by copying the text I need but the program limited me to the amount of information I could copy

I thought by reading this book I will learn how he solved the depression, but there is no information about that

William Styron presents a vivid and haunting description of depression. I was engaged on an intellectual level by his lucid, elegant prose. Likewise, Darkness Visible elicits a visceral, emotional response vis 'a vis Styron's candid descriptions of his dissent into the depths of his depression and emergence from his harrowing sojourn. In general, Styron's struggle evoked feelings of sympathy and empathy as well as an interest in the prognosis and outcome of his therapy. The therapists and treatment interventions employed with Styron helped to highlight the elusive quality of depression, presenting as many unanswered questions to the patient, therapist and reader regarding the development, understanding and treatment of this baffling disease. The above issues will be examined in detail, as I attempt to picture myself in the hospital/treatment setting and try to discern what it would be like to undergo such turmoil.

I think one of the central elements of Styron's ability to relay his tortured tale lies in his ability to communicate in an elegant, literary style, which transcends psychiatric jargon. For example, his reference to Dante, Dickinson and other literary figures as well as artists such as Van Gough, reveal not only the breadth of his knowledge, but also the common thread between the arts and psychology. His profound ability to communicate and write allows a therapist to gain an insider's perspective of the bleak wilderness of depression.

Furthermore, Styron's literary ability provokes a "gut" response, as he describes the perils of his illness. For example, he contrasts the treatment of other serious physical illnesses with the hidden dilemma confronted by those who suffer from psychological disorders, such as depression. He states, "... the sufferer of depression... finds himself... like a walking casualty of war, thrust into the most intolerable social and family situations" (p. 62). Certainly, this imagery aptly evokes a realistic version of what it must be like to suffer an illness, which is not readily apparent and sympathized with by others.

Styron presents a unique view of the therapists and the modalities they employ with their clients. Dr. Gold is presented as a sort of secular priest, ordained by Yale University, who becomes for Styron, "the receptacle for an outpouring of woes during fifty minutes that also provides relief for the victim's wife" (p. 52). Albeit, I do not think Styron is altogether fair and even handed in his description of the therapists and their attendant treatment modalities. For example, his description of Art Therapy as "organized infantilism" (p. 74) is rather cynical and also reveals a certain ignorance of the value in utilizing art therapy in adulthood. Jungian psychologists have long understood the importance of art and employing mandala symbolism in their client' s later years. Nevertheless, his description of the narcissistic, " odiously smug" group therapy leader with the Freud wannabe beard, should resonate with most people who have been exposed to a great deal of therapists (p.73). His analogy comparing modern debates over theories of depression to the archaic issue of blood letting is revealing. His defense of ECT(electro-convulsive therapy...aka...shock treatment), which will probably be regarded as our modern version of the aforementioned, is somewhat suspect. It's interesting that he himself did not personally experience this modality.

At the risk of seeming overly critical, Styron seems to swallow whole the orthodoxy of modern psychiatry, bypassing some of its most distasteful elements. Likewise, he describes the disease as taking" full possession of my system"(p.47). There is more than one occasion in this book where "evil spirit" or "devil" could be substituted for disease and one would be transported back to a medieval description of demonic possession. The similarities between religion and psychiatry are all too readily apparent as Szasz points out in Ideology and Insanity: Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man. Although Styron cites Camus's existentialism as a source of literary inspiration, I was sometimes left wondering if a student of Sartre would describe his "possession" as a repudiation of modern existential concepts, such as "bad faith" and free will.

In conclusion, I have attempted to picture myself in his hospital setting. Certainly, this is highly unlikely due to the contrast between the ordinary person's means of procuring affordable treatment and Mr. Styron's ability to obtain the gold standard of treatment, which he readily admits. While Styron seems to credulously embrace the hospital setting as beneficent, for me it held the possibility of a more negative outcome. After meeting and seeing Dr.Thomas Szasz speak last year and being aware of the pitfalls of misdiagnosis as well as the custodial nature of some institutions, I am more likely to agree with Dr. Gold's view of the hospital as a last resort. Perhaps, for Mr. Styron this was, indeed, the case. Anyhow, the Author's hospital setting and its imagery, replete with green institutional paint, was far from therapeutic. Ironically, I found Styron's objectivity may have been obscured by the very malady he attempted to describe.

References

Styron, W. , (1990) . Darkness visible. New York: Vintage Books.

Szasz, T. , (1991) . Ideology and insanity: essays on the psychiatric dehumanization of man. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.

This book was pretty outstanding as one man's account of his personal experience with depression. Lucidly written it drew you right into it - and then stopped. just like that, all of a sudden. the book is unseemingly short but nevertheless is a damn fine read.

I did not read this book. I gave it to my son who suffers from depression. He said it described him perfectly, authenticated his feelings, and gave him a clearer understanding of his own condition - plus offered him hope for getting out of the darkness.

As a chronically depresses person, I find it very difficult to explain how the mental pain feels. Most books about depression are written by doctors and are very clinical in nature. DARKNESS VISIBLE is a first hand tale of the pains of depression. I wish I could express the feeling as William Styron has.

I recommend that anybody with major depression should read this. I felt such relief reading a description of exactly how I feel and knowing that I am not alone in my depression. Also invaluable for family members of depression sufferes.

It would be lovely to believe that depression can be cured as it was for him. That all it takes is hanging in there long enough, and eventually it will go away. I can appreciate that this author feels that having gone thru what he did, that he knows what he is talking about, but sadly he doesn't. I don't know if his depression was a result of alcoholism. The way he writes, I don't think so, I think that the alcoholism was a result of the depression. I also don't think you are ever "cured" from depression -- it will always linger in the back of your mind, waiting.....

I suffer from depression, and I certainly don't mean to belittle Mr. Styron's painful experience with the illness. But I read his portrayal of that experience with the same kind of horror that one might feel when a family member gets drunk and ruins a party. "Say, isn't that your brother over there?" "Who him? No!" I felt Styron was pompous in the rendering of his suffering, eager to use his illness to prove his depth, his brilliance, and his place with great writers. A Mercutio madness, to be sure, and, finally, an empty memoir.

I can't thank William Styron enough for this book. Suffering from depression myself, I had days in which I was counting breaths just to make it through the day. This book got me through another day in the darkest of places.

The book describes the symptoms of depression from the viewpoint of one who has experienced it. It does not attempt to explain the 'why' but rather gives the 'what'. If you want to know what someone suffering from depression feels and thinks then this is the book for you.

I have just finished reading Styron's book Darkness Visible and I have to say that I was quite under whelmed. The reader is left with little insight into Styron's battle with severe depression. Maybe this is just me, but I find that writers seem capable of expressing their feelings of despair and suicide in only in the loftiest of literary terms. Their writing screams, "I'm famous, well respected and admired, therefore I cannot express myself the way that an ordinary person would. That would be too plebeian." That and the frequent name dropping made me feel alienated from the author. For this reason the reader gets no clear understanding of the nature of his depression. We get glimpses but don't feel privy to his deepest thoughts. In fact, I cannot fathom why he even wrote the book. It certainly doesn't speak to the common people - especially those of us who have spend our lives trying to get the mental health system to advocate for us. Many of us are treated more like criminals than someone with a disease that needs adequate treatment - something that is not going to be found in the state mental health institutions in which the ordinary person is held.

Styron's recovery is almost an afterthought. After spending weeks in a psychiatric hospital (I would guess McLean), he is cured. How is he cured - time. Give the illness enough time and the patient will get better. Actually, in my own experience as someone with severe depression with multiple suicide attempts, the passage of time does place a barrier between my suicidal thoughts and my recovery. But time alone does not cure - it postpones. On page 75 (soft cover) Styron states, "Save for the awfulness of certain memories, acute depression inflicts few permanent wounds." Well, bully for him. But I think that he would find most depressives in disagreement with this statement. At least for myself, my depression has left deep wounds for the past 30 years or so.

Apparently, this was Styron's only episode of depression and thoughts of suicide (unless he has relapsed since this book was published). He attributes the causes of his depression to the loss of his mother, his father's illness, abstaining from alcohol (alcohol and mental illness are not a good mix and only worsen a person's symptoms), and turning 60. It's great that he can pinpoint so precisely the origins of his illness. For many people depressed and suicidal we just can't point to the causes of our illness. As research on the brain advances, we know that chemical imbalances in the brain have a lot to do with many mental illnesses. But ask someone who attempts suicide why they wanted to hurt themselves and many times your answer will be, "I don't know - I just don't know."

On page 76 he states, "Most people in the grip of depression at its ghastliest ..... may require on the part of friends, lovers, family, admirers [!], an almost religious devotion to persuade the sufferers of life's worth, which is so often in conflict with a sense of their own worthlessness, but such a devotion has prevented countless suicides." In my experience and that of others, family and friends have no clue as to how to help a person in so much pain. They want to help and be supportive but they don't know how. And who can expect them to? Yes, having support is gratifying but in the end not as helpful as one would hope. For myself, "such devotion" has never stopped me from hurting myself or attempting suicide. When the despair is so great and the spiral down into the abyss is impossible to climb out of, thoughts of family, friends, loved ones are completely absent from my mind. They're gone - insignificant. The only hope is that someone or something can grab my hand and pull me out of that bottomless hole.

Also lacking insight is Styron's statement on 77. He writes about a camaraderie with a celebrated [what else would we expect from Mr. Styron's coterie of friends and admirers] newspaper columnist and good friend who was manic depressive. Because of the commonality of their illnesses, they have "engender[ed] lasting fellowship." So hey, one of the perks of those feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, despair, anguish and pain is that you might be lucky enough to find yourself a good friend.

This is the first time that I have read an account of a man's experience with mental illness. It is not my intention to sound sexist, but my experience in reading women authors writing about their battles with mental illness is that they are much more candid and forthright. I suppose that Styron's stilted and abbreviated account of his recovery from depression could just be the difference in which the opposite genders express their innermost thoughts.

As a fan of Wlliam Styron's fiction and a fellow depressive, I began reading this book with high hopes. It is a quick read, an essay really, that chlonicles Styron's struggle with depression at age 60.

When I finished the book, I was beyond disappointed. In the book he does nothing to describe how his actual " recovery" came to be.. He talks of his hospitalization... but he says group therapy didn't help... he made somewhat sacastic remarks about art therapy..and he doesn't really express too much regarding medication that worked for him...

So... I believe I expected something different. I expected a book that would fill me, as a depressive, with hope and fellowship... My expectation was WAY too high.

I would not recommend this book. I would especially not recommend this book to someone who is suffering from depression.

... and maybe enlightening to some people who had never dealt with depression, twrnty-five years ago. It's just not aging well, and is a chore to read unless you're enamored with literary greats and fancy awkward, painfully impersonal prose that draws one seas apart from any human connection or empathic response.

This book was very frustrating for me to read, I do not feel like Styron painted a very accurate portrayal of depression, he seemed to believe that is a disease that you get and then can just get over and he leaves out many factors which should probably carry a lot more weight (he was an alcoholic for years, and he suffered some childhood trauma, which he does not elaborate upon). Also the way he both decides to live and the way in which he overcomes his depression seems glib and unrealistic.

To a liberal, life is a tragedy; to a conservative, a comedy -An Accurate Aphorism
William Styron suffered a clinical depression in 1985, after he ended 40 years of alcohol abuse. He subsequently turned that experience into a lecture, a Vanity Fair article and this extremely slight (84 pages) memoir. The process of explaining his mental illness seems to have rendered him schizophrenic, if he was not already.
When I reviewed Sophie's Choice (see Orrin's review; Grade: C), I noted, without knowing of his depression, that Styron seemed to have some psychological problems. I based my belief on his decision to write his novels from non-white, female or other ethnic perspectives; he seemed like a man who was so profoundly uncomfortable with himself and consumed by White Liberal guilt, as to be unbalanced. It can hardly have come as a surprise to anyone that he descended into a nearly suicidal spiral of depression. But, lo and behold, it surprised him and this is symptomatic of the problems with the book. On the one hand, Styron seems to want to bare his soul and win our sympathy for others like him, but on the other hand he is so dishonest and/or obtuse, that he offers little of value to his audience.
I'll just point out two other areas where his analysis fails the reader. He labors mightily to exonerate the depressed from moral judgment and portray them as mere victims of an organic condition, but as he notes, the chemical changes in the brain that exacerbate depression are preceded by some prior, purely psychological, condition--stress, guilt, what have you. Now, I do not mean to suggest that susceptibility to Depression is necessarily indicative of moral weakness, surely we can all understand and sympathize with the bereaved parent or spouse who falls prey to depression after losing a child or partner. But I am suggesting that in many cases, the mindset and moral philosophy of the sufferer seems to be a contributing factor in the development of depression.
This seems especially clear, and is annoyingly ignored, when Styron discusses the other famous sufferers of depression, most of whom committed suicide--Virginia Woolf, Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, etc. It escapes his notice that these are all figures of the Left, plagued by the same tormented liberal guilt as he. The two friends and fellow victims who he discusses are Art Buchwald and Mike Wallace; the three of them have moped through the past forty years, attacking their country, their society and the inequities they perceive. Of course, they are depressed, they hate themselves and the world they live in. Significantly, the two great conservative sufferers, Churchill and Lincoln, both great believers in the ultimate goodness of man and democracy and their countries, were able to overcome their black moods without psychiatry or pharmacology. It seems logical to suppose that the group of catterwauling suicidal wretches that Styron associates himself with are predisposed to self-destructive depression by their political pessimism and moral anxiety, but this issue is not addressed, so we'll leave it for another day.
This is a mildly interesting trifle about a unique manifestation of depression. It in no way belongs on this list.
GRADE: C

I found thatt the author was more intent on making himself sound like a literary genious than with telling a story that others could find meaning in. He was overly verbose to the point of making one nauseaous! His constant use of french had no point but to point out his own puffed up sense of himself. the book had very little good content on depression or any description of what other than a hospital stay helped to pull him out of his madness. As a person who suffers with depression i found the book had no merit

If you want to read a great book on personal illness by a fine writer, read Reynolds Price' "A Whole New Life." The prose is authentic and there is not a touch of pretense in it.

Styron's lack of insight into his illness is topped only by his lack of knowledge of abnormal psychology. His declaration that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance is disturbing, because it mixes cause and effect. His assertion is tantamount to attributing global warming to melting glaciers. Mixing cause and effect is not something one would attribte to a writer of his distinction, as it is the essence of clear thought.

Yes, the intensity and distribution of various neuro-chemicals have been found to be compromised among those suffering depression who have been tested. But how are they compromised? Contrary to the author's belief that "the madness results from an aberrant biochemical process," and that "such madness is chemically induced," it is the commonly-held view today that psychology plays the decisive causitive role in mental illness, as that psychology is formulated and developed throughout life, and is influenced by situations, including loss, misuse of drugs and alcochol, and unconscious dilemmas, among others.

That an organic etiology has been surmised in many cases of schizophrenia and other psychosis, as well as in profound obsessions, certainly "rules in" brain damage, whether it is evident at birth, or the result of other physical and emotional trauma later in life; but it does not rule out psychology and the higher order mental functions we attribute to consciousness.

Reads like a lyrically written PR pamphlet for the mental health biz. Drugs, psychotherapy, ECT, blah blah blah. Good god. It's pretty clear at this point that lot of mood and behavioral problems are driven by things like: gut pathology, infectious organisms, nutrient imbalances, environmental toxins and exposures. This makes Styron's book look both quaint and absurd. There has never been any evidence that depressive states are the result of simple biochemical glitches in the brain. Medicalizing depression is specious, except as a symptom of underlying bodily disease. If depression is the result of existential despair, then makes no sense to pretend, as Styron did, that drugging the patient constitutes treatment.

Also, he was a heavy drinker. The focus of medical treatment should have been on cleaning up his diseased liver (another possible driver of mood problems) rather than on some fictional brain disease.

His writing is at times insightful and smart, at other times he is trying too hard to be profound.

I thought this was feeble; banal, unsympathetic and evasive.

The author starts by telling us that in suffering from a depression, he looked to literature for insight but found no prior writer was able to communicate what depression felt like. He then ends with the fanfare that, on re-reading his own novels, he found himself to have written with notable intuition on the subject.

He's tiresomely repetitive of the same bald point - " ... and then I knew I was really ill ... I was really ill and I knew it ... nobody understood how really ill I was ... and I really was ill ... I was, really."

The man strikes me as a Charlie who, on the evidence of his trite writing here, learned little about himself, little about the illness and nothing about others at all.

A pompous little snivel of a book.

This portrayal is of a depression that is clearly the result of alcoholism (long term effects and then withdrawal) followed by drug abuse--a temporary depression that has a clear cause, and a clear remedy. Not a typical case of clinical depression, not a good representation of the "disease" (his term, incorrectly used here in my opinion). When he checks himself into a hospital (his psychiatrist does not feel this is necessary, but the psychiatrist, in Styron's eyes, is a moron), the adorably incompetent but well-meaning staff of therapists take him off the pills he has been eating like candy (not as prescribed) and...wow, he gets better! Imagine that. Then he has the audacity to conclude that if people with depression would just wait it out, they will eventually feel better...he feels he can conclude this because he has BEEN there, If only all of the famous artists who have committed suicide (he brings them up a lot) had just waited it out and taken a vacation at an expensive funny farm, they'd be here today (he claims that it was the "getting away" that cured him, not the actual therapy--which he mocks--or the cessation of his drug abuse). It really worries me that people with depression or their loved ones may turn to this book to gain insight. I believe his experience of pain was authentic and it is a worthy subject for a book but, again, this is an example of a temporary depression with a distinct cause, not the illness of clinical depression. It is irresponsible to represent it as such. The author clearly romanticizes the illness and wants to be part of this club of "creatives" (he brings up the "artiste" thing many times). Well, lots of people get depressed, some of them are going to be famous, some of them are going to be creative, most of them will not have the energy for that...it's not a club. Most people with depression, if it lasts, as it does for many, can barely get out of bed and go to their job as a waitress or accountant or take care of their kids, let alone write a library of award winning novels, have two homes, a perfect wife, and travel the world. Again, I am not saying he did not suffer, I am just saying it is irresponsible to frame his depression as he does in this book. I am really surprised at how this book has been embraced. And I haven't even mentioned the corny, over-blown, flowery style that weighs the book down and feels so terribly dated for a book written in the nineties...I'm glad this book seems to be helpful to some people, but I worry that it is detrimental to many others.

I too got bored with the self-pity permeating this book. There's also something a bit "off" about the author repeatedly making the case, in one way or the other, that depression is a disease, has nothing to do with character, we shouldn't judge suicides as lacking in some way cause they're dealing with so much pain, etc.

But...against these arguments is the author's own history. He abused alcohol for 40 years, and admits he used it to avoid dealing with strong emotions. And, he didn't stop out of any sense of responsibility to himself or those around him, but because his aging body couldn't tolerate it anymore. With this background, is it all surprising he fell into a depression?

And maybe it is helpful to place blame, if for no other reason than to be honest and not leave readers with the impression that depression is a disease like any other, that strikes out of the blue. In this case, the author reaped exactly what he sowed.