Shades of Blue

Writers on Depression, Suicide, and Feeling Blue

by Edited by Amy Ferris

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Pub Date Sep 29 2015 | Archive Date Sep 29 2015

Perseus Books Group, Seal Press | Seal Press

Health, Mind & Body | Self-Help

Description

The silent epidemic of depression affects millions of people and takes dozens of lives everyday, while our culture grapples with a stigma against open discussion of mental health issues. Editor Amy Ferris has collected these stories to illuminate the truth behind that stigma and offer compassion, solidarity, and hope for all those who have struggled with depression.

Contributors to Shades of Blue include:
Barbara Abercrombie
Sherry Amatenstein
Chloe Caldwell
Jimmy Camp
Debra LoGuercio DeAngelo
Marika Rosenthal Delan
Hollye Dexter
Beverly Donofrio
Beth Bornstein Dunnington
Matthew Ebert
Betsy Graziani Fasbinder
Zoe FitzGerald Carter
Pam L. Houston
David Lacy
Patti Linsky
Mark S. King
Caroline Leavitt
Karen Lynch
Lira Maywood
C.O. Moed
Mark Morgan
Linda Joy Myers
Christine Kehl O’Hagan
Jennifer Pastiloff
Ruth Pennebaker
Angela Giles Patel
Alexa Rosalsky
Elizabeth Rosner
Kathryn Rountree
Kitty Sheehan
Jenna Stone
judywhite
Samantha White

Shades of Blue brings the conversation around depression and sadness into the open with real, first-hand accounts of depression and mental health issues, offering empathy to all those who have been affected by these issues.

It’s time to scream out loud against this silent annihilator: We are not alone.

The silent epidemic of depression affects millions of people and takes dozens of lives everyday, while our culture grapples with a stigma against open discussion of mental health issues. Editor...

A Note From the Publisher

Amy Ferris is an author, editor, screenwriter, and playwright. She has contributed to numerous magazines and literary anthologies, and her memoir Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From a Midlife Crisis was adapted into an off-Broadway play in 2012. Ferris co-edited (with Hollye Dexter) Dancing at the Shame Prom, and authored the young adult novel A Greater Goode. Ferris has written for film and television, and was nominated for best screenplay for Funny Valentines. She serves on the advisory board of the Women’s Media Center and is an instructor for the San Miguel Writers’ Conference. She lives in northeast Pennsylvania with her husband, Ken, and two cats who think they’re human girls.

Advance Praise

“If you’ve ever been depressed, read this book. If you’ve ever lost someone to depression, read this book. I have no doubt whatsoever that Shades of Blue will save lives—maybe even yours.”
—Laura Davis, bestselling author of I Thought We’d Never Speak Again, co-author of The Courage To Heal, and founder of The Writer’s Journey

“It takes courage to tell the truth about what it feels like to have lost hope. These brave essayists decribe the darkness, and their efforts, not always successful, to stare it down. By sharing their stories, they are making it a little easier for others to get up in the morning.”
—Suzanne Braun Levine, author of Inventing the Rest of Our Lives

“Depression and suicide grow in secrecy and darkness. What a feat to bathe them in understanding and humor.”
—Martha Frankel, author of Hats & Eyeglasses and director of The Woodstock Writers Festival

“This book belongs to all of us who have ever felt the pang of despair or the full blown crush of depression, or worried about someone precious who may be struggling this very minute.”
—Nina Gaby, editor of Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women

“I expected this collection to pull me into a maelstrom of darkness. Instead, story after story, I found myself surfacing into the light of appreciation and hope.”
—Victoria Zackheim, editor of He Said What?

“Ground-breaking, raw, honest . . . Shades of Blue can help us heal that which needs healing.”
—Tom Zuba, author of Permission to Mourn: A New Way To Do Grief