[hahahahah]

I'm going through a difficult time right now and I know reading helps me feel productive and engaged. I just purchased Prozac Nation since the movie was ok, I thought the book may be better. It's a memoir of a woman who goes through depression in college. I don't want to worsen my situation (hence avoiding re-reading The Bell Jar).

Ooooh. I think it really depends. I contemplated for a while if it was actually good for me to be on these forums actually. Haha, in the end it just comes down to how I'm feeling on the day to day basis. If I want to go on the forums, I will. If I don't feel like it, I won't. But yes sometimes I feel like reading about it makes it worse.

I read The Bell Jar for the first time a month ago and man that was one crazy ride. The beginning was so slow but I was beyond scared when I finally read her meltdown. I was terrified that if a girl who was so talented and intelligent and felt the same ways I did couldn't find a happy ending by the end of the book how could I possibly find one. Aka terrifying till the last page. But it was such a beautiful read so I'll definitely end up reading it again.

Let me know how Prozac Nation goes! I've heard good things. Like I mentioned earlier, I guess just take it day by day and see how it goes. If you're not feeling so great after reading some of it, put it down for a while.

Best of luck!

[Rohag]

Goodness. I'm having a hard time answering your question; it seemed simple.

The vast majority of the time the material here does not trigger me. That may in part be due to my personal experience of depression, which is marked by greatly diminished affect.

[atomicc]

I can't say for depression but I know that when I read about anxiety it causes me to become very anxious. I don't know if it's a trigger in my brain that switches on but I avoid material at all costs. I would start reading when you're in a decent mood and then go from there.

I tend to deal with it alone or with a t. The books make me less alone. Romance anything makes me feel more alone.

You can see one of my earlier posts just today about the bell jar and girl interrupted. I find these two books in particular to be linked in a lot of ways. They were written 10 years apart... Pre and post hippie gen. If you are interested there is also a non fiction book about mcclean hospital... The hospital they both stayed in.

I didn't read Prozac nation but saw the movie. I suggest paying attention to perceptions of treatment and meds at the end of the story compared to perceptions today. Loved to know what you think

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[Altered Moment]

It is a mixed bag it seems like. When I first joined these forums I thought, why would I want to read all these depressing posts when I am depressed and have no hope. Seems like these people have no hope either. I find it very validating though. I am amazed at how much our symptoms are the same. I need constant validation that I have a disease and that it is not my fault. That I am not just some lazy dead beat. I have been starting to feel better lately and today feel pretty good. Already I am feeling totally guilty that I have not been acting like a "normal" human being. Why am I not working, why am I not exercising, why am I not showering, feeling totally guilty like I don't even have this disease. All of this over night. So I think I have a real need to understand this disease and to get the validation that it is a disease.

I agree with zinco. When I'm feeling particularly depressed, I am drawn to the Depression forum because it does make me feel validated. If I'm having a better day though, I don't want to read about people's severe depression because it can be triggering.

[venusss]

I don't like miss Wurtzel... she seems to flaunt herself bit too much, and tries to be controversial.... at least in her articles on the net, about how 9-11 was beautiful visually, how saying Israel shouldn't bomb Gaza makes you anti-semite and is at level of holocaust... and "oh nooz, I am getting old and I used to be the hottest things on the block".

So I think Prozac nation would make me kinda... mad rather then depressed. Although friend who shares my view on MH and such loved the book and said the author is being very honest about some things and is kinda out of the narrow box.

So who knows. Try read and if it's too triggery, toss it across the room

LOL, reading >how< people answered this question tells me whether they like to read or not!

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[recentdiscovery]

Yeah, i'm having a great day so was a little apprehensive about logging on here today.

Just trying to avoid the super sad threads for the day, no offense meant to anyone!

[Altered Moment]

I love to read and have always read lots of books. The last year and a half I have not read anything. Just can't get the concentration up. I recently started to try with a book my sister in law sent me.
"Mans Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankyl

I can only read a couple pages at a time. The first part is tough to get through. He is a survivor of a concentration camp in Germany in WW2. I am in no way comparing myself to the suffering they went through but I can relate. I know what it is like to totally lose the will to live. In a way I have felt like a prisoner trapped in a defective body for many many years. No way to escape. I am anxious to get through the first part and to the second called logo therapy. He was a psychiatrist himself before going into a camp so has an interesting perspective.

[Denman]

I'm not big on reading up on books regarding the negative impacts of medications. I do a lot of reading on Depression, and self-help books that may help me work thru and improve my state of depression, offering good advice and recommendations for strategies to improve my situation and emotional and psychological health. Yes, reading these types of books does improve my mood.