Shoshana KowalskyReaction Paper to Darkness Visible: A Memoir of MadnessWilliam Styron, in his touching literary work “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness” writes from a very personal point of view of the symptoms and impact of depression, particularly on your life. Not just his life in general, but how it affected his social and emotional relationships with others and even the effect on his own self-image. In a sense, Mr. Styron "normalizes" the various reactions and symptoms that individuals may have when suffering from depression. He ALSO begins the book by acknowledging a time in his life when he was expected to behave and react in a certain way, but he appears to have been unable to do so due to his depressive symptoms which he describes so poignantly. It was interesting to read Mr. Styron's personal reactions to these symptoms, as well as the reactions of others with whom he interacted. Additionally, Mr. Styron talks about the suicides of various prominent members of society (such as Primo Levi, the famous Holocaust survivor), while perhaps a "taboo topic", Mr. Styron writes about how he believes these suicides were due to the debilitating condition symptoms of the disease and also how he got to this point in his life and, if it were not for the support system of his family and friends (especially his wife) who helped him overcome the crisis , he would not have stayed alive to write the book. There are many lessons I learned from reading “Darkness Visible”. One of these lessons, which is a lesson also acquired during my field internship; is that we are all human beings. Each of us has life experiences, some positive, some negative, but each of us has emotions and feelings about these experiences. Many of these emotions are experienced in similar ways. Alth... middle of paper... steria." Would anyone with that illness today agree or disagree with that statement? Many of my clients diagnosed with depression can understand where the depression might be coming from. This means that is the panacea a mystery? Does this mean there is no reason to worry about treating those suffering from depression? I sure hope not! A statement from “A Memoir of Darkness” that struck me (as an objective observer) and that I would like to conclude this reactive article regarding the inability of 'outsiders' to understand the devastation of depression (and perhaps it can be generalized to other mental illnesses as well) is that: “...Such misunderstanding [relating to understanding depression] is usually due not to a lack of sympathy, but to people's fundamental inability to imagine a form of torment so foreign to everyday experiences.”?