Shades of Blue: Writers on Depression, Suicide, and Feeling Blue

I know personally about depression, addiction, alcoholism and feeling blue. I didn't count on the immediate recognition of empathy and identification with the editor Amy Ferris' introduction: 'The Balls-out Truth About Depression'. I didn't expect to be so sucked into such stories of struggle, despair, loss, renewal, irony, acceptance, hope and even amusement in one tragically absurd story of rock bottom in Samantha White's: 'The Dialectics of Suicide.' Or absolutely haunted by Jimmy Camp's: 'A Slip Of The Noose' and Jenna Stone's: 'Upon Being Told To Be True To Myself.' The order of the stories is quite perfect, ending with the attainable and sustainable hope written about in Pam L. Houston's: 'A Kind Of Quiet Most People Have Forgotten.'I read somewhere that thus book was conceived in the wake of Robin Williams' suicide, even in response to it. It's an important book that sheds much-needed light on the lingering stigma of depression, suicide, mental illness and feeling blue.

WHO...among us has not suffered with depression. And if we've not labeled it such ~ ALL of us can claim deep, anguishing sorrow at some time in our lives....when we questioned WHY AM I EVEN HERE? This book? THIS book is the validation that everyone needs to realize we're not alone in this arena of (often) life threatening blues. But it's more. It offers hope that life CAN be better....that it's WORTH the energy learning our own way out of the muck & mire. Kudos to Amy Ferris and every single person who shared their deeply personal story.....along with kudos to YOU if you have purchased this book of (mostly) cathartic memories. EVERYONE would be oh so much closer to others if we'd but share our hearts the way these brave souls have bared theirs. Thank you for this gift to the world....and to your healing selves.

This is a stunning collection of essays. So beautifully crafted, so wonderfully edited. Amy Ferris has done a superb job with this book. It is not a quick read and it is not a light read but it is also not a depressing read as one might think. It is both heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. I read each essay carefully and thoughtfully and at the end of each and every one I wanted to hug the writer. I wanted to thank them for being alive and thank them for their honesty and their vulnerability. If you have ever been depressed, felt suicidal or just simply "had the blues" this book will let you know you are not alone with those dark feelings. There is hope, there is a future yet unseen, yet unlived. Stay alive for it. These writers have and it seems to have been oh so worth it. Their sharing will save lives, I'm sure of it.

SHADES OF BLUE was written in our subconscious eons ago..thanks to Amy Ferris and all the Contributors for bringing it out to light.this book must find its way into the Libraries with a piece of paper inside with hotlines on it.this way our young people and adults have some privacy. i also favor the Armed Forces.the suicide rate in the military and the discharged soldiers are skyrockeding-and nobody and i mean nobody wants to talk about it.everything is hush hush. SHADES OF BLUE must find its way into the VA.Btw i bought 6 copies.yes im proud of it.one is mine-4 i gave away as a present and one i keep in my car.just in case.i also ordered he kindle version..Amy whatever you doing don't stop now.this is a lifesaving book.again big thanks to Amy and all the Contributors

Depression is much more pervasive in our culture than we realize. Why don't we realize the common ground so many of us share with this silent killer? Because it is still in the closet. This book, born out of Robin William's tragic suicide last year, is the beginning of rectifying that. These 35 writers bringing their darkness into the light of our collective awareness through sharing their stories, show us that we are not alone in our struggle. I have battled with depression, suicidal ideation and hopelessness in my young adulthood, and spent over 10 years working with the clinically mentally ill in a state run forensic hospital. Let me tell you, this book is NEEDED and NECESSARY. Please buy this book for yourself, for a friend, for a neighbor. Remember how extremely energetic, zany, and hilariously funny Robin Williams was? I am sure you do, but do you remember his eyes? The sadness in those eyes? Think about people in your life, have you seen that sadness in someone you know? Maybe you are that someone. Then buy this book. Give this book. Please don't wait. You never know when waiting to throw a lifeline may be too late. DON'T WAIT. THROW THE LIFELINE. Shades of Blue is a lifeline to those who think they are alone. They are not. Thank you Amy and the 35 brave souls who shared their stories of blue.

Shades of Blue is a book filled with essays lovingly shared from the heart and the gut. It takes guts to lay yourself bare as these writers have done - sharing darkest moments of personal depression, the pain-riddled aftermath of a loved one's suicide, the downward spiral of a life out of control through drug addiction. And it takes a heart to care enough about others to become publicly vulnerable in a world where stigma is alive and well. Ending the stigma of mental illness and addiction is sorely needed today, if we as a nation are ever going to move to a place of collective health. Thank you to each writer for your willingness to join this crusade and to Amy Ferris for once again bringing together brave souls willing to tell the unvarnished truth of their lives.

It’s the color most associated with the sky and the ocean, but truly—in science speak—it’s the absence of all other colors which create the ‘blue’ we see. Yes, even color is an illusion, albeit optical.And, as heartbreaking by heart-making story is revealed in Ferris’ collection, the absence of color is illustrated in short, uneasy pieces that shift the earth ever-so-slightly so that readers can identify with the veracity of real people.In a world where Facebook posts paint pictures of perfect lives, and Tweets inspire and invade abbreviated time and space, there exist snippets of conversations matched to unphoto-shopped images; the private colors of individuals whose world is sometimes dulled not only by environmental and genetic factors, but further clouded by the perpetuated stigma that accompanies the words ‘mental health’.In social media we may see—then possibly ignore—pockets of posts which contain cries for help; people literally hanging on to and by ‘threads’. In Shades of Blue those threads become vignettes in which we can engage our whole selves in perfectly-sized bytes in order to begin to understand the full spectrum of life.What makes it possible, therefore wonderful, to read about ‘stuff you wish would not happen to people’, is that Ferris edited Shades of Blue in manageable reads, each piece delivering a genuine experience. Through the courage of the contributors, readers are invited to experience their own brave and get public in order to save lives.

Not interesting at all - waste to time.