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Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression | 
 enlarge | Author: Sally Brampton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Category: Book
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £6.89
You Save: £9.10 (57%)
New (21) Used (5) from £6.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 9273
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0747572410
EAN: 9780747572411
ASIN: 0747572410
Publication Date: January 21, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Recommended reading for anyone suffering from depression or for anyone living with someone who is suffering from depression October 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an important and powerful book. It treats what is often a taboo and misunderstood subject with a rare combination of knowledge, sensitivity and understanding, which flow from the author's direct personal experience. It is also a very brave book. To have the courage to describe an illness which often causes a stigma to be attached to the people who suffer from it - for the sake of promoting a wider understanding of depression - makes this an admirable book worthy of reading.
Sally Brampton writes a weekly column on relationship issues in the Sunday Times Style Section. For anyone not familiar with her work, Ms. Brampton is an extraordinarily perceptive and insightful 'agony aunt' with an uncanny ability to get to the heart of the matter in any situation. That she should apply her talents as a writer to providing such a frank and open account of her own journey through depression will help many people cope with what is a horrible and debilitating illness.
The author's style is both engaging and accessible. She is a brilliant communicator. But what makes 'Shoot the damn dog' such an effective 'self-help' book is the graphic descriptions of the pain and despair she felt. If you suffer from depression, it will help you see that you are not alone. More important, you'll find it is a source of hope and encouragement. Ignore criticisms of the technical content. These are important in self diagnosis. In particular, the Beck Depression Inventory and American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are important tools in objectively assessing whether you need help, (see Wikipedia for more info on these).
I read this book because my wife is suffering from depression. I didn't realize it at first. And when I did twig that she had a serious problem, I didn't understand what had happened, how serious it was or have any idea about what to do about it. This book helped me help my wife by giving me a proper fact-based understanding of the illness, including its symptoms and causes, and not just its effects. In fact, 'Shoot the damn dog' really does much to advance a wider understanding of depression. It is not an academic treatise, but a simple and practical description of its realities.
Ms. Brampton makes two very important points. One is that while 'victims' of depression often need help to overcome the physical symptoms of the illness - which really can be very real, such as the sense of being choked, or total lethargy, which Ms. Brampton felt. Two is that true recovery requires an ongoing commitment to understanding the issues that lead to depression, i.e. therapy with a trained counsellor.
I am no expert on depression. But my own second-hand experience of this illness together with Ms. Brampton's analysis convince me that it results when we bottle-up pain inside ourselves. It is what happens when we refuse to admit or express powerful negative emotions that come from childhood traumas or other negative experiences. We often have a tendency to bury such hurts, or we are not allowed to acknowledge them. But when we deny their existence, or hope that, if we ignore them, they will go away, they do not disappear. Instead, they fester like some deep wound and then explode when some other stress exerts a hold over us. When they do eventually come out, these repressed feelings attack us with interest.
Of course, it is different for everyone. But 'Shoot the damn dog' will provide a solid general framework that will allow you to develop your own understanding of the condition. And that is vital in getting timely help. Of course, it is not a substitute for the professional help of a trained psychiatrist/ psychologist, but for some it will be a vital step in realizing you need help as well deriving greater benefit from it when you finally seek it.
For others, this book will be a true friend and companion as they grapple with this illness. Another aspect that makes it so easy to endorse is that it addresses the shame people feel. You know what I mean: I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm sorry, but depression is no respecter of intelligence, wealth, class or social position. People don't want to admit they've got depression for fear of being written-off, so they suffer to the point of breakdown before getting help.
Ultimately, in writing this review, I believe this book is genuinely useful resource in coping with depression. I hope it will prove as helpful to you as it did to me. It was worth every penny.
Thank you, Sally Brampton.
Excellent! September 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As someone who runs groups for people who struggle with depression, I found this book really, really good and would recommend it for anyone who either suffers from or is trying to understand depression. Sally's relationship with her friends through this time is really special, and her tips on finding a way through it all is extremely helpful. Highly recommended.
A book to be grateful for August 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who has suffered from depression. `We read to know we are not alone' it goes, and so it is here. The author successfully articulates the feelings associated with depression: the inability to function at a busy party; the wish to avoid watching upsetting news programmes and instead watch old films; eating food but feeling like you have ashes in your mouth; waking up at 3.20 every morning, infuriatingly. We read this and we think: you as well!
The complexity of depression is rife for intellectual assessment. Brampton, who is an intelligent writer, not only details her horrible experiences (and they are sometimes difficult to read) but discusses solutions. Yoga, talk therapy, vitamin supplements, interest in science, gardening and quiet, short meals with friends are some of the things offered as panacea.
She talks about antidepressants a fair bit and on one page lists the possible side effects of one particular drug. They are so horrendous as to be hilarious. It's little details like this that stop the book from being monotonous.
The book benefits from being written by a secular author, so no silly mystical or supernatural `solutions' are offered. If you're a depressive it's the book you might have been looking for for a long time, as it's one that offers more solace than many self help guides.
There's a surprising happy ending too - at least in book terms, because in life, there are no real endings: everything is temporary, everything keeps moving.
cautious July 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having a Black dog myself I found the book very good on facing up to the recognition of such a state of depression.It highlights very well the fundamental problem[s].However, I simply don't believe in the fairy tale ending. Firstly it is not an option between Happiness/death. Happiness is such an effervercent concept and simply not reality.In my experience it is about solid ground work.Happiness is momentary. To imagine another human being can wave a magic wand and dispel all internal problems is 'pie in the sky' In other words, the Black Dog cannot be shot, simply acknowledged and the pain eased through self help therapies.
 Worthy but not engrossing July 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought mine from a charity shop and the previous reader - clearly someone who suffers from depression - had written all over it, as she obviously had been touched very deeply and found it very true. Sadly, I only got halfway through. I'm not sure why, but it felt a bit like a reader for mental health students and I didn't feel engaged (empathy?) with the author, although of course I felt for her. I really feel I ought to recommend it, but...
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