Andrew Solomon’s “Anatomy of Melancholy”

From The New Yorker's archive: a piercing account of what it means to deal with the inertia of depression.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   View in browser | Update your preferences     Personal History Anatomy of Melancholy Depression affects millions of Americans each year, and many don't know where to turn when it strikes. How one man overcame the greatest struggle of his life. By Andrew Solomon The novelist A. M. Homes once characterized Andrew Solomon's visceral, tactile prose as the kind that can "cut through the sensitive skin." Since 1995, Solomon has contributed dozens of pieces to The New Yorker on a wide range of topics, including the career of the musical prodigy Evgeny Kissin, the evolving history of euthanasia, an ongoing quest for answers by the father of the Sandy Hook shooter, and the legacy of Muammar Qaddafi. He has also published eight books, including "Far from the Tree" and "The Noonday Demon," which was awarded the National Book Award for Nonfiction, in 2001. Solomon's work expertly plumbs the strata of his subjects' interior lives. In 1998, he published a deeply moving personal essay about his own battle with depression. "Anatomy of Melancholy" is a piercing account of what it means to deal with the inertia of depression—and it offers an illuminating rumination on the methods that ultimately enabled Solomon to emerge from the chrysalis of his desolation. He recounts how, in the deep throes of his depression, which came on several years after his mother's death, he was barely able to get out of bed, consumed by the feeling that he was losing his sense of self. "If you trip or slip, there is a moment, before your hand shoots out to break your fall, when you feel the earth rushing up at you and you cannot help yourself—a passing, fraction-of-a-second horror. I felt that way hour after hour," he writes. Solomon's raw expression of vulnerability offers uncommon insight into his journey back from despair. The opposite of depression, he notes, is not happiness but vitality. And the animation of spirit that accompanies vitality can often exist within us even during spells of deep sorrow or grief. Solomon's piece is ultimately about one writer's ability to move beyond his greatest, and most personal, struggle—and to forge a vigorous new path. —Erin Overbey, archive editor More from the Archive     Annals of Psychology The Reckoning From 2014: The father of the Sandy Hook killer searches for answers. By Andrew Solomon     Personal History A Sudden Illness From 2003: What do you do when doctors tell you your symptoms are all in your head? By Laura Hillenbrand This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To insure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com.    For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions.   View our Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe.   Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.