Turning This Thing Around: An Inspirational Self-Help Memoir

By: Keith Maginn
Publisher: CreateSpace 
Publication Date: December 2012
ISBN: 978-1481276184
Reviewed by: Holly Connors
Review Date: November 2013

Keith Maginn appeared to be a healthy young man, with a loving family, and a promising career once he finished college. However, internally Keith was suffering a great deal. He was emotionally troubled and suffered daily from pain, primarily in his back. Was this to be his life or could he turn it all around?

Keith believed the mantra that you should “suck it up” and suffer quietly; don’t burden others with your problems. So his life of depression and pain continued through college and afterwards, as he searched for steady employment and tried to make a life for himself.

Eventually he found a girlfriend, Mary, and at first, he thought his life was getting better. The two seemed to be soul-mates and while Keith fell deeply in love with Mary, he wasn’t sure where the relationship would lead. Why? Primarily because Mary, like Keith, had her demons, which seemed to escalate as time when by. When they first met, she admitted that she suffered from bipolar/manic depression, but was taking her medications so things initially were good. A few months after they met, however, Keith experienced Mary’s profound mood changes after she contracted a staph infection. The medications for her depression were masked by the antibiotics for the infection. Add in migraines and insomnia, and it made Keith’s issues appear mild. Perhaps this relationship was destined from the beginning to fail, and fail it did. That’s when Keith’s problems took a turn for the worse. At his wits end, he did something he had refused to do before – he reached out to his family.

About half of this relatively brief book (120 pages) is dedicated to explaining to the reader what brought Keith to his deepest depression, while the rest of the text covers what he did to heal. Before he can heal, the author notes that he had to dig deep inside himself to find the root causes of his problems. Having seen countless doctors throughout the years, he shares with the reader what finally helped him heal. It was not a magic pill, nor a 10-step (or 12, or 15-step, etc.) program as so many other books profess is THE CURE. Will it work for you? Maginn acknowledges that what worked for him may not work for you, but again, it just may. At the very least, it can be quite reassuring to know that others have travelled the same path you are on today.

Quill says: If you’ve struggled with depression, you might want to read Turning This Thing Around to learn how another person dealing with similar issues was able to turn his life around. You are not alone!