In the Jaws of the Black Dogs
A Memoir of Depression
by John Bentley Mays He was born in 1941, the sixth John Mays. His father died when the author was in his seventh year, and Bentley and his mother went to live with his aunt and uncle. Bentley did his best to emulate the boy his dead father might have been, and yearned for his imagined "good old days" as a southern plantation owner. Liberalism did not suit him, and in college he was an oddity, a relic from the past. Unabe to enjoy life, angry at himself and at the world, Mays left graduate school, broke down, and went in for psychoanalysis at the age of 28. The psychiatric assistance he received at the time was of no use whatsoever, and Mays resumed his bleak life. Touring on his motorcycle, Mays was astonished when he met a woman willing to marry him. But depression still plagued him. After a suicide attempt landed him in the hospital, Mays met Dr. Rosen, his on and off therapist for the rest of his life(as of the book's writing).
Mays writes his autobigraphy through the lens of depression. He sees depression as black dogs, circling him. In his usual narrative through out the book, he is a likeable character, but the journal entries he uses to display his state of midn at various times in his life have an obnoxious, hateful sort of tone, with too much swearing. In discussing his depression, Mays covers his sexuality, which confuses him overtly, and Prozac, which he claims does not. Mays' view on Prozac left me confused; while he is clear on how Prozac affects him, his diatribe against the worshippers of Prozac is not lucid. This may or may not assist the depressed, but it is not depressing.
Read.
