Living Better : How I

Learned to Survive
Depression
 By
Alastair Campbell
John Murray Press
 THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Last Christmas I almost killed myself. Almost. I've had a lot of

almosts. Never gone from almost to deed. Don't think I ever will.
But it was a bad almost.

Living Better is Alastair Campbell's honest, moving and life

affirming account of his lifelong struggle with depression. It is an
autobiographical, psychological and psychiatric study, which
explores his own childhood, family and other relationships, and
examines the impact of his professional and political life on himself
and those around him. But it also lays bare his relentless quest to
understand depression not just through his own life but through
different treatments. Every bit as direct and driven, clever and
candid as he is, this is a book filled with pain, but also hope -- he
examines how his successes have been in part because of rather than
despite his mental health problems -- and love.

We all know someone with depression. There is barely a family

untouched by it. We may be talking about it more than we did, back
in the era of 'boys don't cry' - they did you know - and when a brave
face or a stiff upper lip or a best foot forward was seen as the only
way to go. But we still don't talk about it enough. There is still
stigma, and shame, and taboo. There is still the feeling that
admitting to being sad or anxious makes us weak. It took me years,
decades even to get to this point, but I passionately believe that the
reverse is true and that speaking honestly about our feelings and
experiences (whether as a depressive or as the friend or relative of a
depressive) is the first and best step on the road to recovery. So that
is what I have tried to do here.
 John Murray Press

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