Hear My Silence

Surviving Depression

Dublin journalist Karina Colgan was rescued from the apartment she had barricaded herself into by her husband Gerry and son Karl, who feared for her life. Karina – like one in four people in Ireland – found herself unexpectedly fighting depression and for a long time did not know how to win the battle. Here she writes openly and honestly about how she felt overwhelmed by a number of events that happened over a short period of time, which saw her dealing with grief, tragedy, marriage difficulties and financial ruin. Before she knew it, she found herself in the deep, dark pits of chronic depression.

But this is just the opening chapter of Karina’s book, which goes on to tell the stories of some of the 400,000 people in Ireland – women and men, old and young, including young children – who suffer from depression, and separates the myths from the facts. The book also includes practical advice from professionals for sufferers and their families on how best they can recognise and cope with this debilitating illness. Karina also writes of the stigma still surrounding this illness, often at the expense of a sufferer seeking help, and calls for greater resources to be put into providing care and treatment for those affected by it and into education for those who are not.