YOU’RE TAKING ME WHERE?

Book excerpt: Vicki Hart Halleland has dealt with depression virtually all of her life. She has had a lot to deal with—her breast cancer, her husband being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and more. Although her life may not have been smooth sailing, she had no reason to end it all. Yes, she was depressed, but she was not the only person in the world to suffer from this disease. Within a twenty-minute conversation with Dr. R.—the psychiatrist that the Social Security caseworker recommended—she has come to the conclusion that the author is indeed suicidal and immediately orders her to go to a psychiatric hospital. This is where the nightmare begins . . . In You’re Taking Me Where? Halleland reveals the “dark” side of life and what trusting the system can do to a relatively sane person. She shares her experience inside the mental institution and the damage that a short twenty-seven hours did to unravel the two years of therapy that she spent with Dr. Hall, her personal psychologist. Delve inside her thoughts as her anxieties grew and see how she used humor to cope with her depression. If she didn’t laugh at it all, she would have lost it and cried the whole time. The author has been able to control her depression with medication, support from family and friends, and of course, with the help of a caring and compassionate therapist. Although her experience was a terrible and frightening ordeal, Halleland used humor to turn it around.