Description

By Sarah Burdett

ISBN: 978-1-84991-913-5
Published: 2012
Pages: 60
Key Themes: Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety, Anthology, Diary

Description

Much of the material constituting The Stranger in the Mirror is taken directly from the diary kept by Sarah during her time at the University of East Anglia. The content is thus incredibly raw, and sincere. Even the more fictional writings are deeply rooted in personal experience. Whilst certain pieces capture the anger, self-loathing, and isolation experienced whilst the depression was at its worst Sixty Minutes , The Life of the Misanthropist , The Fisherman , others convey the hope and strength renewed in the author during her rehabilitation process Re-Awoken in The Spring, Hope. The concluding poem The Book is Sarahs most recent creation. Written much later than its predecessors, The Book is unique in that it focuses on the writing process itself, exploring the authors initial apprehensions concerning the publication of the anthologys exposing material. The poem presents the sufferers progression from abashment and concealment, to acceptance and disclosure. It is this precise progression which Sarah seeks to incite in fellow sufferers of depression.

About the Author

Sarah Catherine Burdett was born on the 22nd March 1990 in Enfield, North London. She attended Chace Community School from 2001 to 2008, before starting a degree in English Literature at The University of East Anglia, in September 2008. During her second year at University, aged 19, Sarah was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. She was started on a course of anti-depressants and referred to a cognitive behavioural therapist. Failing at first to respond well to the medication, it was suggested that Sarah intercalate from her studies and return to University once better, but she was determined to complete her course. Her determination paid off, when, in July of 2011, Sarah graduated from UEA with a Starred First Class Honours Degree, and was awarded the Faculty prize for Outstanding Academic Performance in the Final Year. She is now studying for a postgraduate degree in Romantic and Sentimental Literature at the University of York. Sarah admits to having initially been afraid of opening up to others about her depression, for fear of being perceived as weak, or mad, and thus used writing as her only means of liberation. Having since experienced first-hand the benefits of confiding in others about her illness, Sarah hopes that through offering such unaffected accounts of her experiences, she can inspire fellow sufferers of depression to break their own silence, by assuring them that the illness is not something of which they should feel ashamed, and seeks simultaneously to encourage her readers that even the most severe feelings of hopelessness can be overcome.

Sarah is incredibly grateful to chipmunka publishing for enabling her to turn something so negative, her battle with depression, into something so positive, the publication of her first book.