Rating: 
Summary: A Depression Classic
Review: Styron's Darkness Visible is the definitive depression journal capturing the feelings I couldn't begin to articulate. The writing style is wonderful, far more poetic than any other existing book on the topic. However, I had to keep a dictionary close at hand, and, despite the book's brevity, I did not find it an easy read when I was in the depths of my illness.I've reread it several times, however, and am always overwhelmed at its accuracy. I have read whole pages over the phone to family and friends, saying, "This is EXACTLY how it felt!" Styron's description of his almost desperate attachment to people and physical things helped me and others to understand a condition that was previously foreign for me. Read it (you must!) but add to it books by Thompson, Manning, Jamieson, etc. to gain an even deeper understanding of the recovery process and life after major depression.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing glimpse into depression
Review: While Styron is a wonderful and insightful writer, this account of his depression stays on the surface of his problem, and he never really allows readers into his troubled world. His detached analysis of his journey seems somewhat clinical and not very personal at all. For a very personal glimpse into depression, I would suggest reading AN UNQUIET MIND instead.
Rating: 
Summary: I, too, suffer from depression.
Review: I, too, suffer from depression and am embraced by the gray shroud that Styron eloquently writes of. Unlike Styron, I haven't beat "it" yet, however, his tale of surviving the struggle and beating it offers hope when hopelessness is all that I feel. Like several customer reviewers, I have had great difficulty in getting my wife and family to understand what it's like to be depressed -- surprising because they are medical professionals. I plan to ask my wife to read this book in order to show her that I don't WANT to feel sad. Like another reviewer, I was dissatisfied with the way in which Styron failed to thoroughly describe his recovery process -- how he beat it. Indeed, if he had done that as effectively as he described the descent into darkness, this essay would certainly have earned five stars in my view and would have emerged as an even stronger work. I am reminded of a lifelong favorite author -- Ernest Hemingway -- and the fact that he committed suicide in 1961 after losing his fight with depression. All too often -- as with Hemingway -- hope wanes and the seeming solution of suicide beckons. Suicide, however, is no solution. Thank you, William Styron, for the poetry and the hope that you have re-established in me. I salute your courage in bearing your soul.
Rating:
Summary: Simply The Best Written Description Of Depression
Review: If there were ever a more descriptive (almost poetic) book written describing the horrors of depression, I have not read it. Styron's words are comforting to the sufferer because they are so informative to the supporter. I wish I had passed this book around to my friends and relatives when I was still suffering. This is a book from which society can learn about this destructive brain disorder. It is a book that teaches while providing hope at the same time. It is also a book that will help to diminish the stigma of mental illness. I recommend this book to all my readers.
Rating:
Summary: One of my Top Ten Books
Review: I am both a psychologist and an individual who has suffered with depression. I also have friends and relatives who have had crippling depressions. This book can be read in an hour, has all the beauty of a great author's writing style, and conveys truths about depression in a way that I have never seen before. Although one may not appreciate it while at "the bottom of the pit" it has proven invaluable for a number of people who struggle with depression as well as for those closest to them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent illustration of mental illness without blame
Review: This is an excellent book for anyone who knows & loves someone with a chronic mental illness. Styron tells his tale so simply & quickly. He shows us that mental illness is not necessarily the result of unhappiness, poor parenting, other people, etc. Sometimes, it just is! It is an illness that ebbs & wanes like diabetes. Styron helped me to understand both what is happening to that person, & how much & how little I do about it.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing heartfelt insight into the truth about depression
Review: I could not help but be comforted by the the words of William Styron in Darkness Visible. As his novels intriqued me and delighted me this account of his experience with depression gave me support. It made me realize that no one is safe from this dreaded affliction. What I felt Styron put into words. He made my craziness feel a little less crazy. Styron is a wordsmith of the highest caliber. This book should be read especially by families of those suffering from depression. It gives such vivid descriptions of what it is really like to suffer from depressssion. Sometimes it becomes more real when one so esteemed can express what it is really like. He made me feel just a little more normal and understood. I am sorry I waited so long to read this selfless and inspiring account of a disease so misunderstood. Thank you for your honesty Mr. Styron
Rating:
Summary: Reassures that others, too, can be helped
Review: This small treasure of a book gives the author's personal account of his experience of major depression. Mr. Styron truely conveys the very frightening, alienating, and life-altering nature of depression. The comparisons of his own account to the usual medical descriptions and diagnostic criteria for depression gives the reader a sense of the diversity and individuality of the experience. I especially found his thoughts on suicide and descriptions of the physical symptoms to be quite similar to my own experience. I will be sharing this book with my family and closest friends who have expressed a desire to gain a better understanding of the nature of this illness.
Rating:
Summary: Styron manages to describe the pain, and give hope.
Review: When you suffer from depression, you can't explain how you are feeling when someone asks. Fortunately, in this book, William Styron has done that for us. Then, when I read his comments about Richard O'Connor's Undoing Depression, I read that also. That is also a book offering hope and "explores the dark predicament of depression, and the pathways toward help, with fresh insight." Thank you, Mr. Styron, for your words.
Rating: 
Summary: It's true, but it certainly doesn't make darkness visible.
Review: I speak from experience when I say that what the author has written is true. But, if the author hoped to convey to a reader a sense of the experience of depression, then the author has failed--for the book has no life. There is a strange loop here in that this flat, lifeless quality IS profoundly a quality of depression. But this is not a desirable quality in writing, for it conveys none of the horror of being someone in the midst of depression.
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