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https://studentshare.org/psychology/1680556-book-the-cat-in-my-head.
The Book Review: The Cat in My Head The book, “The Cat in My Head”, is a 100 pages philosophical book written by KristenBonin and published in the year 2014. Bonin wrote the book with a great philosophical discretion where she uses her personal life experiences to explain the social problems caused by sicknesses and depressions. Bonin wrote the book after she had battled with depression for almost ten years after being diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depressive disorder (Bonin 17).
In the book, Bonin describes her first-hand life account with clinical depression in life though she uses a character with the name of Sullivan. Bonin uses the character, Sullivan, to provide an in-depth description of the situations and happenings that the depressed, the anxious and the mind obsessed undergo. Bonin uses depressing life situations that Sullivan experiences to explain why people choose suicide as a viable option in escaping from everyday’s life pains.The general story of the book relevant to psychology of adjustment class is relating to the processes that Bonin went through including depressions, anxiety and mind obsessions.
The book, “The Cat in My Head”, illustrates the three time of adjustment the character experiences. The character first faces an unexpected health medication therapy situation where she gets diagnosed with a primary disorder of depression, anxiety, and compulsive disorder of obsession. The character then experiences self-mutilation where she feels contemptible, invaluable and worthless. Lastly, the character develops suicidal thoughts after having believed that she is unworthy and does not see a sense in living.
The character handles the situations of depression, mind-obsession and anxiety by first accepting them and then adopting the clinical medications to help her solve the situation. The character had her behavior adversely affected since she developed a disparaged and negative view of herself. The character, Sullivan, resolved that life was entirely unfair and that she was downtrodden, belittled and unable to live or achieve anything valuable in life (Bonin 68).The character did not change her thought about the situation of depression as she considered committing suicide as the only solution out the situation.
However, the character consequently avoided any action or thought likely to cause the situation of depressions, anxiety and mind obsessions. She pursued an aim of moving from her “dark” life to a better life free from depressions by seeking for depression diagnosis and treatment. The characters in the book, “The Cat in My Head”, particularly Sullivan, learnt that people dictate their life experiences (Bonin 76). Everyone’s problem, irrespective of how adverse and obsessing the situations might be, has a way of solution.
In addition, every person is as valued and precious as they think of themselves.What I have learnt from how the character, (Sullivan), dealt with adjustment is that, every situation, no matter how worse it might be, can get better. There is virtually no problem without a solution if only we can be willing to get the solution and make our lives better. It is useless to consider ourselves worthless when faced with problems (health problems) like depressions. Rather, in all life problems that we might face, it is imperatively necessary to view the bright side of it on how get a solution.
Works CitedBonin, Kristen. Cat in My Head: A First-Hand Account of Life with Clinical Depression. S.l.: Tate Pub & Enterprises Ll, 2014. Print.
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