Kelowna nurse shares her battle with depression
KOkanagan Weekend elowna nurse Tracey Maxfield admits it took courage to release her book, “Escaping the Rabbit Hole: My Journey Through Depression”.
“It was enormous, I still question myself,” she said.
“It’s very raw and uncensored with excerpts from my journal — my suicide plan, my suicide attempt. It really shows what I went through and how I tried to move forward every day.
“I thought it was very important to put it in a book because too many people still stereotype depression. Just because you walk and talk and look normal doesn’t mean you’re not battling demons in the brain.”
The book was launched earlier this month and reviews have been positive. At the moment, it sells only on Amazon and through her website. Her motive behind writing was to help others.
The material, she said, isn’t as heavy as it sounds.
“It’s easy to read. There’s lots of illustrations of how I felt at that time. There are parts that are very difficult, but there is humour — I’m a Brit. Surprisingly, there are a lot of funny parts. Everything moves towards hope.
“Of all the books I’ve read on depression, hardly any of them mention the physical pain that’s involved. It’s not just dealing with everything in your head, it’s the entire body. You can hardly move, the pain is so bad. You are weighted down, can hardly get out of bed and you’re struggling to walk.” No names are mentioned in the book. Maxfield has 35 years of experience in the healthcare field. She is certified in gerontology and dementia care and is a passionate dementia advocate and educator. She has written articles about dementia in the column “Dementia Aware: what you need to know:, featured on Castanet and TheScrutinizer.org. She is also a regular guest on Peter Rosenberger’s show “Caregivers with Hope” on WLAC and iHeart Radio in Nashville.
Her first episode of clinical depression occurred in her 20s and she’s lived with chronic depression ever since. However, nothing prepared her for the acute depressive episode she experienced in 2015.
After enduring years of intense workplace stress, harassment and bullying, she plummeted into an abyss of darkness, hopelessness and despair the likes of which she had never experienced before.
Encouraged by a psychologist, Maxfield started a blog to better help her friends understand her depression.
Born in Wales, she moved to Canada in 1987 and now makes her home in Kelowna.
On the net: traceymaxfield.com.