“‘Mr. Gilner.’ Dr. Mahmoud puts a hand on my shoulder. “You have a chemical imbalance, that is all. If you were a diabetic, would you be ashamed of where you were?’
‘No, but–‘
‘If you had to take insulin and you stopped, and you were taken to the hospital, wouldn’t that make sense?'”
. . .
“I sigh. ‘I don’t know how much of it is really chemical. Sometimes I just think depression’s one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there’s so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.'”
~Ned Vizzini, “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”
{This is another book that I highly recommend. As someone who struggles with general anxiety, I found this book to be very encouraging–it was one of the things that helped me decide to seek professional help.}
The Pretentious Librarian 