Summary of Monochrome Days (Chapter 1)

Cait Irwin reluctantly visits the darkest days of her life in her book Monochrome Days to teach and offer help to those that are unaware of or currently experiencing depression. Irwin examines the causes of stress based on experiences from herself and other people and concludes that outside factors like family, friends and school have a huge impact on the individual. She points out that depression is an infirmity, not a state of mind, and mentions a few examples of how other people, including herself, have felt sick or deprived of energy at times. As her own case of depression progressively gets worse, Irwin states that she attempted suicide at one point. She urges the readers to see that suicide is not an effective way of ending depression, nor does it benefit anyone. As she receives treatment and notices how her family is changing because of her negative attitude, Irwin starts to pull herself out of the pit she dug for herself little by little. She continues to stress the fact that depression is only temporary, even though it may not seem to be at times.