Elizabeth Wurtzel's Memoire: Prozac Nation
The Story of a Young Woman's Battle Over Depression
Oct 6, 2008
Elizabeth Wurtzel is a beautiful, intelligent and talented woman who suffered from severe depression since the age of eleven. She struggled to live a somewhat functional life for years as she descended further and further into emotional and psychological darkness. She searched for and cried out for help for most of her adolescence and young adulthood until finally finding a therapist who would not give up on her and medication that ultimately saved her from her suicidal self.
After getting the right kind of treatment and being one of the first patients to be put on Prozac for clinical depression she decided to write her experiences down in a book to share with all of America. Her book Prozac Nation ended up making the New York Times Bestseller list three times.
A Story of Pain
Wurtzel was very honest and detailed in describing her experiences with depression. She did not sugar coat the way she felt or behaved when she was at her worst. She wroter her memoire in such a way that readers are almost able to either feel they way she felt at her worst or feel the way others in her life must have felt as they watched her slowly self-destruct. She made the reader understand what she was going through by making the reader uncomfortable, showing her great talent as a writer and the power of her words.
She told of the intensity of the inner pain she felt and how it made her selfish, self-indulgent and totally dependent on others at times. She told of her suicidal ideations and attempts she made on her own life over the years. She told of how desperate she was to escape the way she felt and the actions she took to try and achieve this.
A Story of a Dysfunctional Family
Elizabeth Wurtzel describes how her family life may have contributed to her depression, though she does not necessarily say it was the cause of her illness. A child of divorce with an overwhelmed single mother and an absentee father, she tells of her struggles with both of her parents and how her upbringing colored the way she looked at relationships and the world.
A Story of Seeking
Wurtzel tells of the many routes she took to try and find help and her experience is one that many individuals with mental illness will be able to relate to. She tells of the hardship of trying to finance treatment. She tells of the problems with finding a therapist who would take her seriously. She talks of the ways she tried to self-medicate and of the times she literally tried to run away from her problems. Wurtzel's words reach out to others who are in similar situations and lets them know they are not alone in their actions, frustrations or the ways they are trying to cope with depression.
Wurtzel's story is also a story of hope. Throughout the book the reader often wonders if the depressed girl being described is too far gone for any treatment to work, if she will ever be able to move forward and if she will ever live any kind of normal life. Though her struggles were long and intense Wurtzel does eventually get better through a combination of Lithium, Prozac and therapy. She admits that she is not cured, but she is better. Her mission is to give hope to others who might be in a similar situation and let them know that death does not have to be the only way out of depression.
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