Author Elizabeth Wurtzel spoke to UW-Madison students Wednesday night about her memoir, Prozac Nation."" Sponsored by the Jewish Cultural Collective and UW Hillel, Wurtzel provided an in-depth presentation about her own personal struggles with depression.
""There is no worse problem than depression,"" Wurtzel said, reading an excerpt from her book ""because capable, talented people are tied down and it becomes impossible for them to do anything else.""
She said depression can not only have a drastic affect on a person's life, but can also render them ambivalent. Coping with depression is very different than leading a normal life according to Wurtzel, describing sufferers as like the ""walking, waking dead.""
While her mental breakdown led Wurtzel to write ""Prozac Nation,"" Wurtzel acknowledged she is a writer, and not an expert on depression. However, as a self-proclaimed ""not nice person,"" she did have to ""rise to the occasion"" to commiserate with fellow depressed people as her book took off and became a national phenomenon.
Wurtzel became an accidental spokesperson for depression as a result of her book's success.
When most people think of great works of art, they usually think of a brilliant, depressed mastermind behind the creativity according to Wurtzel. She said there is an involuntary ""tendency"" for people to think that greatness is linked to depression. Yet she emphasized there is a difference between ""madness"" and depression.
""Madness is delightful to the beholder. It is Jim Morrison swinging suggestively from the seventh story window of the Chateau Marmont,"" Wurtzel clarified. ""[But] it is too glamorous a term to apply to [depression].""
Wurtzel said she offers her own ""key to happiness."" She encourages everyone to forget the regrets of their past, to not worry about the future and to simply live in the present, even if it is difficult to do so. Wurtzel said she urges people to somehow have faith.
""Don't give up five minutes before the miracle happens,"" she said.
Andrea Steinberger, rabbi at the Hillel Foundation, is in agreement with Wurtzel's outlook.
""What's most comforting about Wurtzel's work is that she concentrates on being an ordinary human being, and not being bogged down by all the unnecessary details. That way, life is more meaningful,"" Steinberger said.
