Conquering the Beast Within: How I Fought Depression and Won . . . and How You Can, Too

"In our minds stalks a beast... a cruel, mean and wicked beast." So begins Cait Irwin's gentle guide to conquering depression--a book she began as a young teenager after being hospitalized for suicidal tendencies. Writing the book was part of her healing process, and she hopes reading the book will help others regain their mental health.

Irwin tells her story of how the "beast" of depression gradually took over her life, accompanying simple yet eloquent text with her own comic-style drawings. These honest sketches, packed with feeling (and surprisingly, humor), in combination with her frank account--set in type resembling handwriting--lend to the sense that Irwin is letting us read her journal. We witness how hard the struggle was for her, through psychological symptoms such as paranoia, frustration, and stress, and the physical manifestations of lack of appetite, blurriness of vision, and exhaustion. But we also see how she climbed out of the pit--the snarling beast first leashed, then muzzled, then reduced to a tiny speck--with the help of her family, doctors, and carefully calibrated medication. Irwin may be young and she may not have a medical degree, but she offers depressed readers something extremely valuable: the wisdom and compassion that comes with experience. --Brangien Davis