"To most eyes I look normal, and I can behave normally, at least for two-hour intervals. No one would guess my insides to be so raw, or suspect that I was twice committed to a psych ward, was suicidal for close to two years, and considered electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) after the first twenty-two medication combinations failed," writes Therese Borchard, a writer, syndicated columnist, and popular blogger whose "Beyond Blue" is one of the highest-trafficked blogs on Beliefnet.com. She is editor of The Imperfect Mom and coeditor of I Like Being Catholic.

Borchard is a manic-depressive and has dealt with anxiety, OCD, addiction, and other illnesses. In this combination memoir and survival guide, she explores her experience of depression as "a yawning pit with no exit, rope, or ladder in sight." Yet she also has the courage and resilience to believe, along with Meister Eckhart, that "it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest to all of us."

Borchard begins with her experiences of growing up Catholic which she sees as both a blessing and a curse: her faith was a refuge but it also spawned a fear of not pleasing God. Her first exposure to mental illness is Aunt Mary Lou, her godmother who suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. After dealing with anorexia as an adolescent, Borchard turns in high school to booze which she says replaced God as her best friend. In one of the helpful sections titled "Sanity Break," Borchard shares "11 Ways to Know You're An Addict." A therapist helps her confront her depression in college.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a master's degree in theology, Borchard marries Eric, a young man she meets on the feast day of St. Therese which "makes me think that God somehow sanctioned our marriage." He provides a healthy dose of laughter in her life which she sees as a major antidote to her battle with her impaired bad brain chemistry. Throughout the book she uses humor and sarcasm to spice up the proceedings and lighten the heavy subject matter. Borhard also includes tributes to other "missionaries of truth" who have inspired her or provided role models for dealing with "'the Black Hole of Bile."

During her stint as a mother, the author's depression worsens and manifests itself in conjunction with sleep deprivation, hormonal imbalances, suicidal urges, and heavy doses of drugs. Then Borchard tries alternative therapies including acupuncture, seeing a naturopath, craniosacral therapy, breath work, affirmation tapes, and Tibetan meditation. But none of them work, and the author concludes that she has "flunked Holistic Healing 101." Her seventh psychiatrist tells her that they will find a medication combo that works. Borchard reads in The Economist in December 1998 that "there are 330 million people around the world suffering from depression, 90 percent of whom will not get adequate treatment. The disease affects more people than heart disease, far more than AIDS, and most cases aren’t even diagnosed."