I had a black dog
Matthew Johnstone
"There are many different breeds of Black Dog affecting millions of
people from all walks of life. The Black Dog is an equal opportunity
mongrel. It was Winston Churchill who popularized the phrase Black Dog
to describe the bouts of depression he experienced for much of his life.
Matthew Johnstone, a sufferer himself, has written and illustrated this
moving and uplifting insight into what it is like to have a Black Dog
as a companion and how he learned to tame it and bring it to heel."
I had a black dog is a difficult book to describe, is it an
autobiography? A self help book? Comic? All of the above?
What it most certainly is. Is the heartbreaking and
inspirational story of a man battling his depression and finding the light at
the end of the tunnel.
The book resembles a childrens story book, each page
featuring a minimalist sentence or two accompanied by superb illustrations by
the author himself.
It helps set the book out from the countless “dealing with
depression” books and lends it a very personal touch that can be absent from
the traditional self help book.
The author personifies his depression as the eponymous Black
Dog, a looming hulk of an animal, constantly getting in the way of the author’s
life.
We see the dog sitting upon a table, paws in the authors
meal, stopping him eating, wrapping his tail around his neck stopping him
speaking.
In one particularly heartbreaking panel we see the author
brought down to his knees, harbouring the black dog within his broken frame,
literally a shell for his depression to live within.
I have been fortunate to have never personally experienced
depression though it is an illness that has touched upon my life through people
very close and dear to me. This book presented me with many images I recognised
from these people and offered me explanations of many things I had found hard
to deal with.
One of the best things about the book is there is no sense
of self pity, the black dog is treated as a literal creature, one that not only
interferes with the author but also frequently interferes in the lives of those
around him. It’s a frank, honest account of depression and the most accurate
description I have ever come across.
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