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Inside a Dark Box by Ritu Vaishnav is an honest, easy and heart-warming read to call out the strength available to each person who might be trapped in his/her dark box. The book makes a brilliant attempt to reach out to the readers through simple yet powerful monotone illustrations to broach the taboo topic of ‘depression’ without actually even mentioning it in the book.

This tiny little book offers to explain the dark deep state of mind that so many go through at some point in their lives, maybe even without getting to know about it. Depression is REAL and can happen to anyone—students reeling under exam pressure, new mothers going through post-partum depression, patients suffering from bipolar disorder, perinatal depression, seasonal depression and many more types of depression or simply termed as ‘the dark box’ depending on one’s personal circumstances.

The author walks the readers through different stages of the human mind suffering from depression. The book further sheds light on what goes on in the mind of a person—a string of debilitating emotions, the chaos and the never-ending feeling of being trapped, unable to make one’s way out to experience the beauty of the world around.