If we're being pedantic, I'm not sure if it's really considerate to bang on about killing and dead bodies following an article about depression.

I don't think you know what depression is. It's not just feeling sad or apathetic. They're not talking about some sort of lifestyle pill.

Well you're lucky you've found a med that works for you. I've tried various meds over a decade and none of them have worked, so a new discovery is a good thing. At present roughly 30% of people won't respond to any that exist.

When whatever meds they give her start working, things will only get worse. Imagine discovering that 80% of the population delighted in your misery. How is a person supposed to get better after that?

She probably thought she was helping them. I feel sorry for her really. Misguided, but probably well intended.

I think there's a big difference between childhood sexual abuse and emotional abuse/control issued via a sports coach to older teenagers/young adults. I don't think it's really a fair comparison.

Am I the only person who read it and thought, 'the coach sounds like a closeted lesbian'? Obviously I don't mean that in a homophobic way, but it's as if she used the sport as an excuse to physically touch the girls and frequently view their bodies, in a way her fanatical religion wouldn't allow.

The coach sounds a lot like my mother really. The obsession with the girls' weight and keeping them virgins basically sums up my teenage years. I'm not sure if I'd call it abuse, as much as misguided 'helping'.

It sort of skips generations in my family. I've had episodic depression for a decade, whereas no-one else in my immediate or extended family is (at least openly) affected. But then I look at one of my grandparents, and their siblings, and most of them were full blown alcoholics, some of whom died from it.

Although experiencing that would really damage a person. It's probably 50/50.

That reminds me of waitressing a few years ago. I don't watch reality tv singing competitions, so we had nothing to talk about.

Ha, me too. I think everyone in this thread would get on well.

Can you describe some of the 'weird' interests and so on?

At least Hemingway fictionalised everything. Imagine being Elizabeth Wurtzel's mother...

As far as his/Plath's children go, I always wonder if the whole mythology surrounding the parents causes the depression. Imagine knowing your mother was basically the patron saint of misery.

This site loves cats; the guy's former home houses loads of them! He should be worshiped here!

I don't really agree with that. In The Sun Also Rises, the protagonist (who mirrors Hemingway in a lot of ways) is literally castrated. He seems to feel some sympathy for the bulls, and appreciates the Spanish culture for its authenticity more than anything else.

The writing in his novels is actually very down to earth. Despite having been written in the 1920s, it seems current. Just really easy going and unpretentious.

I can never tell if it's 'bad' genes or bad upbringing. Sylvia Plath's son killed himself too.

My psychiatrist went to a dinner party with Hemingway's son. She said he sat in silence and binge drank the entire time, while his wife did all the talking and revealed who he was.