Undoing Depression

"Very insightful- alot of good information the parts that related to me the most were:

-I found that I do not nor have I ever had depression. I am just likely to grieve when there are problems which is why I feel as I do from time to time- great in one part but leaves me not knowing how to help myself during the month or two long episodes every 18 months so (when whatever is occuring in my life accumulate to the point that I don't want to get up in the morning.) However, I suspect that my boyfriend has been slightly depressed since his parents divorce 10 years ago- I don't want to bring it up but after reading this book I think that he has this unresolved issue. I'll keep this in mind but won't pursue it with him unless an issue arises where I see it fit.


-Great Marriage Section (there is also a Divorce one that I didn't read) -I found it very helpful to my relationship now- though I am not married and I am confident that it will help me down the line. "
~ Written on 2007-11-13

"Well worth the read.
Some great insight into depression, with solid direction and advice.
As this book is actually written by a person with first hand experience, it is definitley more believable.
Easy to read as it's not highly "medicalised" and jargon filled.
I'd recommend it to anyone sufferring depression, or for health care staff and families of those whose lives have become affected. "
~ Written on 2007-10-17

"I recently pulled this book off my shelf to give it to someone close suffering their own depression. I read it - and many more books - years ago when tackling my own illness. Paging through and seeing all the underlines and dog-eared pages, I recalled how this one book along with group therapy is what helped me pull though. I could identify so much with what I read and was re-assured that I wasn't alone in feeling those thoughts. This book is not full of self-help exercises as the genre tends to be - frankly, I wouldn't have had the energy at that time to do them and would have felt discouraged by my failure to do so. Reading it was like having a therapist available at any time of day to reassure me that it was going to be okay."
~ Written on 2007-09-09

"I have lived with a very deep depression for 15 years, slowly making progress back to my happier self. My mother purchased this book during one of my hospitalizations, and I read it thoroughly, highlighting throughout. The spotlight reviewer describes its contents very well. The only thing I want to add is how dismayed I felt when the author wrote off suicide as "stupid and selfish." This says to me that the author has never been through crippling depression himself. And I certainly hope he never utters such a thing to his patients! Telling someone they're being selfish for having attempted suicide or thinking about suicide does nothing for them, but only boosts your own ego. Not to mention it's incredibly selfish on your own part. (I challenge anyone to show me someone who isn't selfish by nature.) Besides, when a person gets so bad that they're willing to kill themselves to kill the pain, no, they're not thinking about you. If I were to bore a drill into your skull, would you be concerned about someone else across the room? I highly doubt it. Would you be selfish for wanting to escape your pain? If the same logic applies, then yes. Would you be stupid? Apparently so. Instead of writing off suicides as selfish, why not step out of your own selfish shoes and try to help them?"
~ Written on 2007-04-10

"I have referred all of my depresssed cleints to this book. It is a broad-based approach to contending with depression, and is eminantly usable. O'Conner takes a commen sense approach to a debilitating process, and in doing so, exhibits uncommon intelligence in offering a wide variety of approaches to dealing with depression, which is notoriously difficult to treat and requires a multi-headed approach for best results. No one school is best, and clients benefit from a multitude of suggestions founds in this book. "
~ Written on 2006-10-07