Sherman Alexie is depressed (audio)

Dr. Danielle Keenan-Miller, Larry Mantle, KPCC; Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

 

Famous Native American writer Sherman Alexie is depressed, too depressed to continue his successful book tour, which had a recent stop in Los Angeles at ALOUD.

Last week writer Sherman Alexie wrote a deeply personal Facebook post recounting his current  struggle with depression and announcing that he was cancelling part of his book tour.

 

Thought I was happy, been depressed.

The tour was a promotion of Alexie’s latest book, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, a memoir about his late [emotionally absent] mother. The tour, explains Alexie, has been an experience of  “rebreaking my heart night after night. I have, to use recovery vocabulary, been retraumatizing myself.”

 

In the wake of Alexie’s honesty, SoCal Public Radio (scpr.org) today asks listeners with mental illness how they’ve dealt with serious bouts of depression.

I know how to party!! Whoo-hoo!

Has the stigma surrounding mental health problems lessened?  Can we be as honest as Alexie with our family, friends, and employers? More+AUDIO

• AIRTALK GUEST: Assistant Adjunct Professor and Director of the UCLA Psychology Clinic, licensed clinical psychologist Danielle Keenan-Miller, Ph.D.
• Dr. Mate: Why are we depressed and addicted? 
• Mental health resources: here