When Living Hurts

When Living Hurts is for people who want to help people who are in trouble.  This insightful, direct book can help you interpret the early warning signals, get help when the problem is urgent, and cope creatively with anxiety, anger or frustration, sadness, loneliness, or depression.

With wisdom, humor, and style, Dr. Gordon acknowledges that we live in an imperfect world.  There are things to worry about and everyone feels hopeless, helpless, and unloved sometimes.  Yet there are things we can do that will lead to a new understanding, new hope, and new meaning in life.  In a time when depression and suicide are taking ever greater tolls, Dr. Gordon makes it clear: You and those you care about can find help when living hurts.

"The first in-depth book in suicide prevention and crisis intervention... it points the way to hope and help," says Julie Perlman, Executive Officer of the American Association of Suicidology.

School Library Journal praises it as "concrete and concise... accessible, helpful."

"Interesting, practical," says Psychology Today, "and very much to the point."

YA A book directed at teenagers who may be feeling suicidal as well as their friends and family. While the advice may not be much different from that in other books such as Klagsbrun's Too Young to Die (Houghton, 1976), the format and the tone are different. The advice is concrete and concise. In advising how to deal with someone who is feeling depressed or suicidal, Gordon does not give general ideas of what to say or do; he states, ``Say this, not that. Do this, not that.'' This specificity should be helpful and comforting. The format is inviting, with many black-and-white photos and drawings. The page layout is open. There is no index, but the table of contents is complete. Among the topics discussed which may cause depression are troubles with parents, loss of faith, sex and love worries and troubles with peers. Gordon gives suggestions for further reading, and in one case suggests asking a librarian for guidance. A list of crisis and suicide prevention hotlines nationwide is included. Although the book is published by a Jewish organization, Gordon emphasizes that the few religious messages could be applied to any faith or be ignored by those of no faith. An outstandingly accessible, readable and helpful book that should be in every library serving teenagers. Betsy Shorb, PGCMLS, Md.

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