Depression Fallout: The Impact of Depression on Couples and What You Can Do to Preserve the Bond

Using the vivid, poignant and personal stories of the members of a website support group she founded (www.depressionfallout.com), Anne Sheffield, the author of two highly acclaimed books on depression, provides an honest record of what happens to a love relationship once depression enters the picture, and offers solid advice on what the non–depressed partner can do to improve his or her own life and the relationship.

Of the millions of people who suffer from a depressive illness, few suffer in solitude. They draw the people they love – spouses, parents, children, lovers, friends – into their illness. In her first book, How You Can Survive When They're Depressed, Anne Sheffield coined the phrase 'depression fallout' to describe the emotional toll on the depressive's family and close friends who are unaware of their own stressful reactions and needs. She outlined the five stages of depression fallout (confusion, self–doubt, demoralisation, anger, and the need to escape) and explained that these reactions are a natural result of living with a depressed person.

Anne Sheffield is the author of two well received books on depression, How You Can Survive When They're Depressed (Harmony, 1998) which won a a Books for a Better Life Award as well as the 1999 Ken Award from the New York City affiliate of National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and Sorrow's Web (Free Press, 2000) which deals with the topic of motherhood and depression. She has worked as a scientist at the Population and Development Program of the Battelle Memorial Institute and has run her own consulting firm. She lives in New York City.