River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope

I have always been a fan of The Judds, but had no idea what the journey had been like for them. I appreciated that Naomi included medical facts as well as Dr's. opinions and research in her book. She is one intelligent lady who totally immersed herself in gathering knowledge to find answers to the severe depression and anxiety that she suffered from. To say that her life was hard seems like an understatement. I have read this book after her sad passing and we are all feeling the grief of her loss. It feels like something so good and beautiful has left this world. What an immensely talented, intelligent, loving, compassionate and stunningly beautiful (inside and out) woman she was. REST IN PEACE NOW NAOMI. ♥️

I have lived with depression also, was diagnosed at age 45, but knew something was wrong way before that. Great information in this book.

Be warned: This was not a feel good story. But it isn't supposed to be. It's about long buried trauma that bursts forth whenever your self-medication with work or kids or drugs or alcohol inevitably goes away. It's told with stark truth, raw emotion, and heartbreaking reality. Naomi's story happened on a grand scale- child of poverty, neglect and abuse somehow powers through, but accumulates searing trauma after trauma that have to be suppressed instead of processed. With enormous talent and grit and luck, she makes something really big of herself. Naomi's career brought financial success, but what may be less obvious is that her sense of purpose and accomplishment and the connection with her audiences effectively put her traumas in a dorment state. And then the music literally stopped. She retired. Without the self-medication of her career, all her suppressed trauma came screaming out. Most people who'll read this are not famous performers, but at some point in life, we will all lose critical elements of ourselves. Small children will grow into independent adults, rewriting the significance and purpose as our role as parents. Careers will stall or cease, or at their best, come to an inevitable end as we age, taking with them the purpose and power we found from work. Marriages will dissolve, ripping away our identities as wives or husbands, taking away the hope and possibility and future that we once thought those roles held. So if/when it happens to you, what pain or trauma is still stored in your heart, waiting for a chance to burst forth and ride the tide of pain that comes with bittersweet or unwanted conclusions? It took this lovely, strong woman more than three years to manage all the s*** that she'd been avoiding for decades. And I must say, reading her story makes my own trials look small by comparison. I also grew up amid instability and abuse, and promised myself that when I grew up, I'd always protect my children. Then I gave birth to stillborn twins, and there was nothing I could do to protect them. That's when all of my buried trauma seeped out like sewage. Writing about it helps you heal, and helps others since our pain is our own but our situations are shared by too many just like us. If your unprocessed trauma is about miscarriage, this might help 

I identify with Naomi’s childhood and journey through treatment. I was lucky — I responded to antidepressant medication and 2-1/2 years of work with a wonderful therapist. Naomi fought with everything she had until the very end. God bless her and her family and friends. We lost a true warrior.

The only thing I can dislike is, I know the ending. I finally had to put the book down and I returned it. I have depression, but it is in a category nothing like I read. Mine is like comparing a cold to pneumonia. I have thought of suicide before, but could not do it and honestly, my dive into depression was only in the child's end of the pool. This woman swam in water over her head. We will never understand the depths of despair that Naomi, Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams, and some of our most gifted personalities. Yes, I have constant depression, but mine is old fashioned melancholy and not the daily climb just to get out of bed. She writes beautifully, she writes about things she studied, and she knew what she had and didn't have. She had love and she lived to perform. If she could have only stayed on stage, I think she could have made it. She knew she had to get off stage eventually though, and being her beautiful self was not enough. She was loved, I think she knew that. But, it is good to grow up with a mother's, a family's love, for all people. When I get ready to crawl into myself, I will quit digging the hole. I can do that. Some are already in too deep. Even with help, it is a road some of us cannot walk. I had nearly 20 years of psych help. Mine wasn't so bad afterall.