The Scar: A Personal History of Depression and Recovery

Author: Mary CreganPublisher: W. W. Norton & CompanyHardcover:ISBN 10: 1324001720ISBN 13: 978-1324001720A “searingly honest and riveting” (Colm Tóibín) memoir interweaving the author’s descent into depression with a medical and cultural history of the illness.At the age of twenty-seven, Mary Cregan gives birth to her first child, a daughter she names Anna. But it’s apparent that something is terribly wrong, and two days later, Anna dies―plunging Cregan into suicidal despair. Decades later, sustained by her work, a second marriage, and a son, Cregan reflects on this pivotal experience and attempts to make sense of it. She weaves together literature and research with details from her own ordeal―and the still-visible scar of her suicide attempt―while also considering her life as part of the larger history of our understanding of depression. Review “Compulsively readable.” - Daphne Merkin“Cregan poignantly demonst