Sorrow's Web: Hope, Help, and Understanding for Depressed Mothers and Their Children

By Anne Sheffield

Book Overview

Drawing on her experience of growing up with a depressed mother and then, years later, of becoming a depressed mother herself, Books for a Better Life winner Anne Sheffield casts long-overdue light on the grave threat to the health and happiness of millions of women and their children posed by maternal depression. One of every four women suffers from depression at some point in her life, often during the prime childbearing years, yet most fail to recognize the true source of their lack of joy in life and in parenting, their irritability and exhaustion, and the flawed personal relationships that characterize this common, treatable disease. With honesty and empathy, Sheffield uses her own story as a springboard to alert other mothers to the dangers their unrecognized depression holds not only for themselves, but also for their children, whose risk of developing the illness is three times higher than the risk to children of non-depressed parents. She draws on extensive research by experts in psychiatry, psychology, and child development to explain why and how children with a depressed mother may lose out on a rewarding social life, perform below their academic potential, or fall victim to substance abuse. Chapters on each age-group--infancy and toddlerhood, school age, and adolescence--pinpoint the symptoms and effects of a mother's depression on her children and offer advice on how to recognize these effects and so lessen or avoid them. And because depression's fallout destroys family cohesion and harmony, Sheffield draws attention to its impact on marital relations and outlines a strategy for fathers that will help them and their children weather the crisis. The detailed information in Sorrow's Web about how to treat depression at any period in a mother's life--during pregnancy or following delivery, when her children are teenagers, or later in life--will help readers of all ages choose wisely from the range of medical and psychotherapeutic options available. Sheffield offers insider tips on how to tell the difference between good and poor practitioners, how to ensure that the illness does not return, and how to recognize and respond to warning signs of depression in vulnerable children. Dedicated to the author's daughter, Sorrow's Web seamlessly weaves together real-life stories with street-smart advice. As the first book to demystify, destigmatize, and humanize a long-taboo subject, it points the way to sustaining and regaining a loving relationship between mother and child.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068487086X
• ISBN13: 9780684870861
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Enormously helpful

Sheffield's biggest contribution may offering an answer to those who have struggled with chronic depression: "Why have I always felt so strange? Where did this all come from?" In other words, the fallout from living with a mother who is depressed -- even someone who has never been identified as "depressed" -- can have lifelong consequences. The book will probably convince those who have been reluctant to get treatment to do so. Much of the rest is a standard round-up of recent literature and the usual advice on what to do when you are depressed --take medication, find a therapist - maybe. Despite its failings and its occasionally cutesy writing, it's probably the book about depression that has been the most personally helpful. I'd give this five stars for the idea and three for the execution.

This is the Book I Needed to Read Decades Ago

Sorrow's Web -- the book I've needed to read for decades. Ms. Sheffield deals with the subject of growing up with a depressive mother in such an insightful, intelligent, and honest way! I found recognition, understanding and comfort from her combination of the personal and the more "scientific" information. I urge mothers, daughters, sons -- and, yes -- fathers, to read this book. It has the potential profoundly affect your life and the life of those you love most.

Light on a shadowed subject

This balanced, frank, and insightful account will make a difference in a lot of lives. Thoroughly explores and illustrates the many aspects and consequences of maternal depression in detail, is packed with valuable observations and information - no wasted words here. Devoted to straight talk. Sheffield offers knowledgeable support to her reader, does not flinch from using her own experiences to illustrate her points, and provides clear, practical advice on therapy choices with no waffling on any of the challenges we will meet in seeking the right treatment for ourselves or others close to us. Provides lists of resources for information, newsletters, local support groups. An illuminating and much needed book.

Read this book!

This is an extraordinary book -- sensitive, revealing and READABLE. I only wish I had it thirty years ago!