Stay Alive
by Min Deng
GENRE: Non-fiction: Depression and Suicide
BLURB:
In her brave and compassionate non-fiction book "Stay Alive," Min Deng explores the depths of depression and the ominous specter of suicide. She sheds light on the hidden struggles experienced by those suffering from this silent illness by drawing on personal experiences shaped by childhood mental and emotional abuse.
These pages are filled with moving stories about people battling their own demons, struggling with thoughts of self-destruction, or dealing with the grief of a loved one's tragic death. Min Deng bravely breaks down the stigmas associated with mental health by exposing the invisible chains that bind.
This succinct yet potent book illuminates the complexities of depression with heartfelt honesty and unwavering empathy, urging readers to understand the silent battles fought behind seemingly unremarkable lives. It serves as a powerful reminder of compassion's transformative power and that saving lives and healing broken souls requires love, understanding, and empathy.
“Stay Alive” urges us all to work toward cultivating mental health rather than ignoring it. It teaches us that by illuminating the darkness, we can aid in dampening depression’s hold and giving those who are suffering hope.
Purchase on Stay Alive Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Excerpt:
“I think her divorce had a major impact on her.” Her husband Ted went back to work in China a decade ago, and subsequently divorced her.
After her death, Ted was eagerly engaged in dividing the family estate between him and his sons, while showing little interest in planning her funeral. The handgun Naomi had used to kill herself belonged to Ted and was kept in a drawer in their family home where she lived by herself.
“Maybe she finally gave up hope because she had nothing to live for. Ted divorced her. Her older son wouldn’t visit her. Simon didn’t speak to her. She’d distanced herself from her old friends in church circles. She had no one, really.”
“I blame myself for not caring more about her, not trying harder to reach out to her, not realizing she was at risk.” Nancy stared to sob on the phone.
No one would know what the last straw was that had pushed her to take that handgun from the drawer, get into her car, drive into the woods, and pull the trigger before the day broke. No one would know what went through her mind as she’d been going through the motions. She hadn’t been receiving psychiatric care before her death, and she’d appeared normal to everyone in contact with her days before her death. Her suicide was a shock to all who knew her.
Was it an impulse, or had she been contemplating suicide for a long time?
In her profile picture on WeChat, she was an attractive lady dressed in Qipao, an elegant style of traditional Chinese dress that shows a woman’s figure nicely, smiling warmly at the camera, eyes filled with hope and light.
We could not even begin to understand why she’d felt so desperate that she’d believed her only way out was through suicide, why she’d decided to end her life in such a brutal and tragic way, or how she’d gathered the courage to do so in the woods in dark.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dr. Min Deng was born and raised in Wuhan, China on September 11th, 1973. She earned a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008.
As a developmental psychologist, she is interested in parenting, child development, parent-child relationship, marital relationship, domestic abuse, suicide prevention, gender and sexual identity, etc. This book on raising awareness about suicide and its risks is her first of a series on mental health she plans to write.
She is the founder and CEO of Mental Health CPR (MHCPR), a non-profit organization that serves to improve quality of life by increasing the accessibility to mental health resources. MHCPR does this through education, advocacy, and the creation of mental health resources available to all.
She lives with her husband and their beloved dog Coco in Charleston, South Carolina. In her spare time, she loves walking on the beach, learning to surf, hiking, traveling, listening to audio books, and fashion.
5 comments:
I enjoyed the excerpt. Sounds good.
Thank you so much for featuring today's stop on your blog.
This sounds like a good book and I really like the cover.
this sounds like an incredible book. I'll have to read it
This looks like a great thriller. Thanks for hosting this giveaway today.
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