Since the age of five, Lauren Slater had suffered from
depression. In the essay, “Killing My Body to Save My Mind” she writes about
her experiences with antidepressant, Zyprexa. This drug caused severe weight loss
that led to Slater’s prediabetic state as well as an increased risk of multiple
cancers and illnesses. Despite all of the negative affects of Zyprexa, she
continues to take it because she has chosen to live life over-weight with
health risks rather than thin and suffering constant depression. Slater is a
psychologist and writer with various publications who tries to assist others in
dealing with depression, a struggle she continues to face and know extremely
well. This particular essay describes the imperfections of life and how
everyday, people are faced with decision that cannot fix everything but must be
made in order to survive. She chose her mind, her sanity, rather than her
physical fitness and health; it was not an easy decision but one she had to
make in order to better herself. Through this essay, Slater reached to others
suffering from depression to show them her story and how she is happy with her
decision despite the problems it has caused. Towards the beginning of the essay
she juxtaposed the, “blackness” around her in contrast to, “all the beauty
everywhere” (Slater 256) to connect to her audience, to in a way describe her
depression. This device gave her audience a reason to continue reading allowing
her to fulfill her purpose, to encourage them to do what it takes for their
depression to be, to any degree, subsided. Through strong imagery she described
her new approach to food after beginning to take Zyprexa, which also connected
to people with the same disconnect to food that she used to have, to show them
that it can improve. She described her body later as the, “carcass [she] had to
disown” (Slater 260) to show her body’s suffering, but show the necessity of
her choice to take Zyprexa. Through her writing, Slater was able to connect to
her audience and achieve her purpose.
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| Decisions URL: http://disabilityinbusiness.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/cruel-trick-of-the-mind/ |
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