Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66536 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 146 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Cobain, a psychiatric nurse who works with teens, provides facts, clears away misconceptions, and conveys support and understanding to young adults who are feeling depressed. She discusses warning signs and urges readers to act upon them. The book is arranged in two parts, the first of which gives statistics and covers the causes and types of depression, the dangers of addictions and eating disorders, and the relationship between depression and suicide. There is also information on the effects of depression on the brain. The second section deals with treatment options and offers suggestions for positive mental and physical health. Moving accounts of young people who have considered or attempted suicide lend a note of urgency to the author's message. Cobain's style is passionate, but is at times overwrought. There are many references to her cousin, Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the group Nirvana, who committed suicide in 1994. The celebrity link should attract attention; however, as the author and her famed cousin didn't know one another, this aspect seems overdone. Thumbnail black-and-white photographs and sketches illustrate the text. Toby Axelrod's Working Together against Teen Suicide (Rosen, 1996) deals with teens helping their troubled peers, and Nikki Goldman's Teen Suicide (Benchmark, 1995) is less personal in tone. Without question, Cobain has compiled a fount of information, and she is articulate. However, while useful for consultation and reports, the book is wordy and repetitious.
Libby K. White, Jewish Vocational Services, Baltimore, MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Card catalog description
A guide to understanding and coping with depression, discussing the different types, how and why the condition begins, how it may be linked to substance abuse or suicide, and how to get help.

Customer Reviews

High-quality and informative...
This tome is organized extremely well; one can start at the beginning or jump directly into any chapter. The background information is helpful and lucid for parents and the stories from the teens themselves tells it like it is but at the same time gives hope and tells of "the light at the end of the tunnel" for depressed teens, that things do get better. Highly recommended!

OK for teens wanting a quick-reference tool...
In When Nothing Matters Anymore, Bev Cobain offers a teen-friendly reference guide to adolescent depression, complete with self-help suggestions, counseling resources, and case studies of teens who sought help for their illness and now lead "normal" adolescent lives. Cobain is a credentialed author: a certified registered nurse, a mental health professional, and a recipient of the National Mental Health Association's Green Ribbon Award for efforts on behalf of teen depression awareness; however, the book reads like Cliff's Notes of a more comprehensive text - as if Cobain simply compiled the bullet-point lists, sidebars, and quick-reference statistics from an American Psychiatric Association web listing for teen depression. When Nothing Matters Anymore relies little on Cobain's personal observations and extensive experience, and too much on peppy, inspirational messages from its case study teens.

The book is structured in two parts: What's Wrong? and Getting Help and Staying Well. What's Wrong? is primarily diagnostic, providing a checklist for the reader to determine whether he or she is depressed, explaining the varieties and causes of depression, and outlining the correlations between depression and chronic illness, sexual abuse, sexual identity, drug use and addiction, eating disorders, and "perceived differences" from peers. Getting Help and Staying Well highlights treatment options, suggests ways to seek help from family or trusted adults, and lists self-help activities for readers undergoing treatment. Both sections include "Survival Tips" that a health professional might suggest to any teen: Get Exercise, Have Fun, Eat Good Food, etc. There are some practical suggestions, like journaling and creating mood charts, and there is a chapter dedicated to the important topic of teen suicide, but the book as a whole rarely digs below the surface of the illness and underestimates its audience's desire (and perhaps ability?) to understand depression more fully.

One aspect of the book that seems borderline inappropriate is Cobain's ad nauseam referencing of her cousin Kurt, the popular lead singer of grunge band Nirvana, whose suicide shocked the MTV youth culture in 1994. Perhaps this approach is an effective way of securing "street cred" amongst teen readers, but this hook feels opportunistic at times, particularly in "A Letter to Kurt Cobain," a three-page, sappy, metaphor-heavy eulogy in which Cobain rues that Kurt's handlers wouldn't give her the access that could have prevented his suicide. I understand the intent is to show the readers that she cared for someone they cared about and saw the beauty of his music and the tragedy of his death as they did, but to a non-teen reader, it rings hollow. Had Cobain been close with Kurt, a reader might not bawk at this inclusion, but she mentions that she did not know Kurt "personally," a fact that makes the multiple, casual mentions feel like name-dropping.

Recomended for any teen with dissapointment
For the last year or so I had a few questions for myself. Why am I here? Whats my pourpose in life? Cant I just be dead? Dang do I wish I could give my life for some one else. This is really good book for any teen...

Not only is the author a good writer, it has a lot of good examples of other peoples life situations so you can auctly say "wow someone can really relate to my struggle".
Anyways, again its a good book and if you have any questions about it my hotmail address is [...]