Publisher's Synopsis
"I was. . . going through all of the motions, doing all of the things I needed to do, saying all of the things I was supposed to say. But I wasn't really there. And although I was already dead, I still managed to die more and more each day." Accomplishments, education, titles, and possessions. . . We frequently look at these as markers for evaluating a person's life. We erroneously assume that successful people are happy people. We often make the mistake of looking at someone's public persona and thinking that we know that person's inner make-up. But the age-old adage is true, "You can't tell a book by its cover." Worldly success can be one of the most effectively deceptive facades. And just beneath its veneer, there is often a depth of carefully disguised emotional pain. In Struggling to Breathe: My Triumph over Depression, Dr. Joslyn A. Vann shares her testimony of fighting to achieve amid abuse, loss, and subsequent self-destructive behavior. She sheds her protective veneer as a healthcare professional and educator in order to challenge us to look beneath the surface and see the inner turmoil of the people in our lives who are suffering in silence. She implores us to see clinical depression as an illness requiring treatment and a system of support, rather than a weakness to be ashamed of and hidden. She forces us to acknowledge that some of the strongest people we know, suffer from depression. In fact, the ability to keep going each day while embroiled in a bitter, ongoing battle with depression is one of the greatest acts of strength imaginable. With self-deprecating humor and brutal honesty, Dr. Vann shares anecdotes from her past in order to teach us that it's okay to laugh at our mistakes, so long as we learn from them. She dares us to take a long, hard look at ourselves and our lives to develop a self-awareness which will enable us to be honest with ourselves and those who love us about who we truly are and what we are truly feeling. She beseeches us to stop living our lives based on others' expectations of who we should be and what we should do, as she has found this to feed the beast of depression like nothing else. And she gives her recipe for overcoming depression - hard work, determination, and a whole lot of faith. In Struggling to Breathe: My Triumph over Depression, those of you who love people suffering from clinical depression will gain a greater understanding of this debilitating disease and how to best support your loved ones. Those who suffer from depression themselves will learn how to triumph. . .
