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Living Around the Blues

When the people around you suffer.

by Anthea Rowan

Anthea Rowan is a British journalist based in Tanzania. See full bio

October 29, 2009

In Celebration of Insanity

Jeanette Winterson writes in praise of the crackup.

And I am reminded of a year-long project when it seemed imperative to celebrate the creativity born of madness. Read More

October 20, 2009

Creating Gaps. Closing Doors.

I think that my mum's illness, its sly and stealthy onset so that at first we could believe what she told us - I'm just having a bad day - coincided with the collapse of her role as mother.

Not entirely, of course, the job is never taken away entirely: once a mom, always a mom. Read More

September 24, 2009

Imagine a table magnificently set for dinner with the finest bone china and cut glass, the most brilliant silver, each place laid with thoughtful precision, every knife and fork and spoon at exactly the right angle, imagine a vase of beautiful flowers neatly arranged as a centerpiece. Read More

August 30, 2009

Roots and Wings

My son was eighteen last week.

My eldest daughter begins at boarding school next week.

Small pieces of me are breaking away; splinters of myself.

My mother remembers the feeling well. The loud fluttering of young wings that faded to silence when we'd all gone. Gone to school. To college. Read More

August 24, 2009

Shhh ... Whisper it ... She's well.

My mother is well.

Right now she is feisty, happy, fulltothebrimbursting with joie de vivre and laughter and energy and positivity and smiles.

I'm always afraid to say it out loud: my mum's well.

Afraid I will tempt fate. Afraid that Depression will overhear me, misinterpret my delight as complacency. And clamber back in. Read More

August 10, 2009

Family Skeletons

Somebody I know, somebody I know well, somebody quite close to me, said, ‘You know: you shouldn't write about your mother's illness the way you do; you shouldn't do your dirty laundry in public'.

Dirty laundry? Dirty laundry! My Mum?

Oh please.

Everybody's got family skeletons. Read More

August 2, 2009

What does Madness look like?

My mother is not a candidate for madness. Read More

July 27, 2009

Loneliness

That's what it does to you sometimes.

Loneliness.

It messes with your head.

And that's what I am. Often. Lonely. An isolation borne of my geography. Read More

July 16, 2009

Waving Not Drowning

Now, now in high blue white African winter (a misnomer, surely? winter? in Africa?) the pool is brittle blue cold. The sun dances a waltz on the bottom, holding hands with the water. Shifting. Swaying. It'll slow and then stand still when I turn the pump off. Read More

July 12, 2009

The Dangers of heeding Good Diet advice

Mum was once persuaded by a nutritionist (who I thought was too fat, given her profession) that her diet was the root cause of her vulnerability to Depression.

My initial doubt (flashing red beacon: but we already do that whole three, or is it five? helpings of fresh fruit and veg thing every day) ought to have served as a warning. Read More

Depression Basics

Some 15 million Americans struggle with depression—an illness that comes in many forms—from major depression and seasonal affective disorder, to dysthymia and bipolar disorder. While some people are flat-out dysfunctional, others thrive in spite of it.

Go to the Depression Basics page for more on Depression including:

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