Also in our discussions when we were preparing the booklet we sent together with the April Bulletin on mental issues, melancholy came out as a theme worthy of consideration, but we did not select it as an independent one. The reason could be that the editorial members of the booklet were not much involved in listening to the experiences of mental patients or that they were not part of self-reliance-groups active in those issues. Nevertheless, mental depression is one major cause of suicides that cannot be put aside and, when I was thinking about studying this issue a companion of our center recommended me the book I reviewed here.

The author is a lady illustrator in her thirties. Suddenly, one day, her husband a 'super- white-collar worker' told her that he wanted to die. It is a comic book that depicts the husband's fight against his mental depression for one year and a half. There are 4 chapters, (1) Beginning of the disease and stopping work (2) Heavy depression period (3) Recuperation (4) Social rehabilitation and in each chapter there are sets of 10 cartoons spread in double pages. For instance, the following are some of the themes: "stop work," "efficacious medicines," "aftershocks," "teaching leisurely," "have a good time," "is it a lazy disease?", "a disease without excuses," "looking at one's past," "change yourself" and "accept yourself as you are," etc. Each one of the themes is rather heavy but the author has managed to present melancholy with cute and wonderful illustrations and with humorous style has produced a curious literary work to learn by laughing.