Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'I can't remember going to bed the night before my first ECT. Or giving my permission or my wife giving her consent, but she did and for my part I was so confused I would've agreed to be shot at point-blank range by a firing squad.

'Try as I might I couldn't get comfortable that night; I remember the physical distress and the floating stomach and wriggling and rubbing and twitching of my feet in bed before they came to collect me at 6 am exactly. Soon I shall be given a shot of electricity to lift my mood, as they keep putting it. What on earth is wrong with sadness?

'In early 2008, Barry Dickins suffered from insomnia. He went to the doctor, who cited anxiety as the cause and, then, depression. Clinical and severe. He checked in to the Albert Road Clinic, where he was told that he would be there until the joy returned to him.

'But where was it? The joy eluded Barry for months, so he stayed in the clinic, alongside patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and other traumas, but depression was overriding. Depression that could fell you with a single blow. He took his medication and succumbed to the electro-convulsive therapy, which left him unable to grip a pen and riddled his memory with holes.

'The experience marked him for good, and is one that more people share than we might like to consider. Written with Barry's inimitable wit, humour and lyricism - and his ability to find the ridiculous and the jubilant amid the pain - Unparalleled Sorrow charts Barry's journey from the lows of the clinic to the small joys of a game of tennis with his young son. It follows the path to depression - via his salad days in St Kilda and the murder of his housemate - and the road out of it.' (From the publisher's website.)

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia:

    Type of disability Manic depression; various mental disorders.
    Type of character Primary and secondary.
    Point of view First person (autobiographical).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Prahran, South Yarra - Glen Iris area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Hardie Grant Books , 2009 .
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 1 August 2009.
      ISBN: 9781740668033 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

Journeys with a Black Dog Ross Fitzgerald , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12-13 December 2009; (p. 33)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Terrible Self-Knowledge Peter Goldsworthy , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , December vol. 4 no. 11 2009; (p. 22)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems Les Murray , 1997 selected work poetry prose
Untitled Lachlan Jobbins , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August vol. 89 no. 1 2009; (p. 45)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Celebrant of Sorrow Michael McGirr , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 314 2009; (p. 42)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Journey through a Ragged Dickensian World Warwick McFadyen , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 5 September 2009; (p. 23)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Jolted Out of the Dumps, Amusingly Barry Oakley , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 August 2009; (p. 17)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Haunting Reflections in Deep Shadows of Moods Ian McFarlane , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 5 September 2009; (p. 14)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography ; Shadowed Days : Fragments of a Melbourne Boyhood Garry Kinnane , 2008 single work autobiography
Journey through a Ragged Dickensian World Warwick McFadyen , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 5 September 2009; (p. 23)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Celebrant of Sorrow Michael McGirr , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 314 2009; (p. 42)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Untitled Lachlan Jobbins , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August vol. 89 no. 1 2009; (p. 45)

— Review of Unparalleled Sorrow : Finding My Way Back from Depression Barry Dickins , 2009 single work autobiography
Shocking Truths Steve Dow , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 26 July 2009; (p. 8)
Luck of the Perfect Moment in a Life Touched by Sorrow John Mangan , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 2 August 2009; (p. 13)
Last amended 20 Apr 2018 14:50:38
X