About

I'm Helen Marsden. I live in the north of England, I work in a school library, and I've had depression on and off since my twenties. I started writing this in 2008.

What this site is

Personal essays. One person's account of her own life, written for the pleasure of writing them and because a few people have said over the years that it helped to read something that sounded like Tuesday rather than like a pamphlet.

What it is not

• Not medical advice. I have no clinical training of any kind.
• Not a support service. I answer email when I can, but I'm one person and I can't be a crisis line. If you are in crisis, please use the numbers in the margin.
• Not a recovery programme. There's no method here and nothing to follow.
• Not a forum. There are no comments, deliberately. Moderating conversations on this subject is a serious job and I'm not equipped to do it.

The title

People ask, sometimes crossly. It came from a joke a friend made in 2008 and it has aged into something I'm no longer sure about. I've kept it because changing it would break eighteen years of links, and because the flippancy is, in a way, the point of the writing. If it puts you off, that's a reasonable response.

How it's paid for

By me. Around fifty pounds a year. No advertising, no sponsorship, no affiliate links, nothing for sale, no donations. I've turned down every approach, and there have been a surprising number.