Inves­tiga­tive reporter Anna Mehler Paperny has been deal­ing with depres­sion and sui­ci­dal ideation since her ear­ly twen­ties. In this mem­oir-meets-long­form-expose, Hel­lo I Want to Die Please Fix Me, she turns her journalist’s eye on her own expe­ri­ence and oth­ers’ — in the psych ward and as an out­pa­tient. She inter­views psy­chi­a­trists and oth­er experts to reveal how prim­i­tive our meth­ods of heal­ing the brain still are — and pro­vides an invalu­able guide to a sys­tem strug­gling, and often fail­ing, to help those in need. At once heartrend­ing and humor­ous, out­rag­ing and seri­ous, this is essen­tial read­ing for any­one touched by depres­sion — an impor­tant issue in any community.