Shelf Help - Depression

Meet Julie - a women who suffers from periods of depression. Julie and her family help readers to understand what depression is, what it is like to feel depressed and how it can affect their family life. She explains how coping with depression can sometimes be very difficult but there is support and help available that can relieve the feelings of depression.

It was Winston Churchill who popularized the phrase Black Dog to describe the bouts of depression he experienced for much of his life. Matthew Johnstone, a sufferer himself, has written and illustrated this moving and uplifting insight into what it is like to have a Black Dog as a companion and how he learned to tame it and bring it to heel.

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems and is estimated to affect around 15% of people at some point during their life. For many people depression is a life-long disorder which starts during the teenage years around 10% of teenagers are estimated to have an episode of depression and many more experience persistent low mood.