Escaping the Rabbit Hole: My Journey Through Depression

by Eric Kuelker Ph.D. (Foreword by), Julie Saeger Nierenberg (Illustrator), Julie Saeger Nierenberg (Editor)

Overview

On August 20, 2015, after enduring years of intense workplace stress, bullying and harassment, Tracey Maxfield, a hard working, highly skilled, caring and compassionate nurse, hurtled headfirst down into an abyss of darkness, despair, pain and sorrow (she affectionately named the rabbit hole). Despite being no stranger to depression, having made its acquaintance many times throughout the years, nothing could have prepared her for what was about to happen to her life, her heart, her soul, her very being.Escaping the Rabbit Hole: My Journey Through Depression is a brutally honest, raw, and vivid description of what life is like after experiencing an acute depressive episode. Through a series of blog posts, journal entries and a letter to self, Tracey shares the excruciating emotional and physical pain she endured, the never-ending feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and sadness which left her inert and unable to function, and her ongoing battle against DBS (death by suicide). Every single day, she had to make a choice: to fight the battle to live, or to surrender and die. She chose to live, and so began her most difficult and challenging life journey yet, to try and escape the rabbit hole. This book is a must read for anyone living with depression or caring for someone with depression, and for anyone who wants to know more about this greatly misunderstood mental health illness. Tracey shows us that words can be powerful and healing, and with time, it is possible to emerge from the rabbit hole of darkness and despair and reclaim your life. This is a story of courage, of hope, and of never giving up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781981165780
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/27/2018
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Tracey Maxfield is a nurse with over 35 years experience in the healthcare field. She is certified in gerontology and dementia care and is a passionate dementia advocate and educator. She has written articles about dementia in the column Dementia Aware: what you need to know featured on www.castanet.net and TheScrutinizer.org. She is also a regular guest on well known author and radio host Peter Rosenberger's show Caregivers with Hope on WLAC and iHeart Radio in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tracey experienced her first episode of clinical depression in her twenties and lived with chronic depression ever since. However, nothing prepared her for the acute depressive episode she experienced in 2015. After enduring years of intense workplace stress, harassment and bullying, she plummeted into an abyss of darkness, hopelessness and despair the likes of which she had never experienced before.
Encouraged by a psychologist, Tracey started a blog, Escaping the Rabbit Hole: my life with depression, to better help her friends understand her depression. Over time, Tracey began to heal and found that, out of the darkness and despair, there is hope, there is life after depression.

Born in Wales, U.K. Tracey moved to Canada in 1987. She currently lives in the Okanagan Valley in beautiful British Columbia. This is Tracey's first book.