Writer speaks out on depression, suicide

DURHAM — Best-selling author Elizabeth Wurtzel spoke candidly Thursday night about everything from "Prozac Nation" and her other books to her own battles with depression and addiction.

The University of New Hampshire's Memorial Union Student Organization handed out mock pill bottles to promote the event.

The bottles were representative of Wurtzel's most successful and well-publicized book, "Prozac Nation."

Wurtzel maintained an optimistic standpoint on mental illness as she addressed an audience comprising mainly UNH students, and spoke out strongly against the notion of suicide.

"You cannot be a guest at your own funeral — you will not know that you will be missed," Wurtzel said.

She explained the misconception that some depressed individuals might have that suicide is a "step they will be taking where they can look on high at how much everyone misses them."

Danielle Sardella, a senior at UNH, was impressed with Wurtzel.

"I found her to be quite compelling and accessible in her views on the hardships faced by those suffering from depression," she said.

Wurtzel maintained that there is indeed help available for depressed individuals and that although suicide may seem "very appealing" at some moments, "there is some sort of treatment that will work for anyone."

Also engaged by Wurtzel's speaking was Jennifer Zamanski.

"She was realistic about the pressures we all face but optimistic about the world being filled with good people," Zamanski said. She also noted that Wurtzel laughed at herself, and was modest and thoughtful.

"She offered hope," Zamanski said.

Wurtzel was not shy in expressing her discontent with the motion picture based on "Prozac Nation," calling the film "really terrible."

Wurtzel attributed much of the movie's failure to it being about "straw people," that represented any depressed person anywhere, rather than the more specific, believable characters in the book.

Wurtzel wrote her first novel, "Prozac Nation," at age 26.

The book deals with her own struggles with depression, as well as the issues of medication and mental illness in general.

She has also published two other novels. "Bitch" celebrates defiant, charismatic women throughout the ages who were not afraid to break rules.

Her most recent book, "More, Now, Again," deals with Wurtzel's own struggle with drug addiction.

Wurtzel graduated from Harvard University, where she received the 1986 Rolling Stone College Journalism Award. She also wrote for The New Yorker. Wurtzel is currently attending Yale Law School.