Reaction Paper to Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

Shoshana Kowalsky

Reaction Paper to Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

William Styron, in his poignant literary work “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness” writes from a very personal viewpoint of the symptoms and the impact of depression, particularly on his own life. Not only his life in general, but how it impacted his social and emotional relationships with others and even the effect on his own self-image. In a way, Mr. Styron ‘normalizes’ the various reactions and symptoms individuals may have when suffering from depression. He EVEN begins the book acknowledging a moment in his life where it was expected of him to behave and react in a certain manner, yet it appears that he was unable to do so due to his depressive symptoms that he so affectingly describes. It was interesting to read about Mr. Styron’s personal reactions to these symptoms as well as the reactions of others he interacted with. Furthermore, Mr. Styron speaks of the suicide of various prominent members of society (such as Primo Levi, the famous Holocaust Survivor), although a ‘taboo topic’ perhaps, Mr. Styron writes how he believes that these suicides were due to the debilitating symptoms of the illness and how he reached this point in his life as well, and, if not for the support system of his family and friends (especially his wife) that ‘got him through’ he would not remained alive to write the book.

There are many lessons I learned from reading “Darkness Visible”. One of these lessons, which is a lesson gained at my field placement as well; is that we are all human beings. We each have life experiences, some positive, some negative, but we each have emotions and feelings about these experiences. Many of these emotions are felt in a similar manner. Alth...

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...stery.” Would someone with that illness today agree or disagree with that statement? Many of my clients diagnosed with depression can understand where the depression may be coming from. Does that mean the panacea is a mystery? Does this mean that there is no reason to bother treating those with the depression? I certainly hope not!

A statement from “A Memoir of Darkness” which struck out to me (as an objective observer) and which I would like to conclude this responsive paper with regard to an ‘outsiders’ inability to understand the devastation of depression (and perhaps may be generalized to other mental illness as well) is that: “…Such incomprehensiveness [relating to understanding depression] has usually been due not to a failure of sympathy, but to the basic inability of people to imagine a form of torment so alien to every day experiences.” Need more be said?