Summary of Monochrome Days Pt. II

In the second portion of Monochrome Days, Cait Irwin’s thoughts about suicide still continue to haunt her. After a long, grueling appointment with a psychiatrist and staying in a hospital for eight days, she concludes that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Although the whole treatment process was difficult for her to endure, Irwin states that psychiatric hospitals are one of the best ways to treat depression because of the various group sessions and different types of therapy. One key factor that Irwin discovers after her treatment was that the medications that treat depression may not work well for some people because everyone's brain chemistry is different. In addition, a key turning point for Irwin’s depression is when she works on a car with her dad. She starts to divert her attention away from her depression and even says “[the car] was a great distraction from the Beast” (75), however she highlights the fact that going back to school and interacting with others proved challenging due to the persistence of her depression. Despite the ups and downs of the emotional rollercoaster she is experiencing, she remains positive and points out that “Once you hit rock bottom, there is nowhere left to go but up” (52).