Depression Books

I have been looking everywhere for books to help me explain to my 8 yr old daughter about my clinical depression (I suffer from Bipolar disorder). This book was awesome, and was able to give my daughter and I points to begin discussion about my depression. I've recently become a single parent and have felt that it is even more important now than ever before to educate my daughter about this illness that is such a large part of my life. Through this book we've been able to discuss how this affects her and how we can work together to get through the difficult times caused by my illness.

I was looking for a way to talk to my little girl about depression. This book was wonderful. It shows a little girl who has to deal with depression in her home. And it answered questions that I had no way of answering. It has helped my daughter understand that she is not the problem when things are not good at home. And that there are good and bad days. She is not to blame. And that was very important, as a parent with depression, to get across to my children. The only part that I didn't care for was about the cereal. I wish that there had been a different way to see what kind of morning it was. My kids have cold cereal most of the time, even on good days. That is the only reason that I rated it 4 instead of 5. It did make all the important points in a way that a child can understand.

This story tells about the feelings of Amanda, an elementary school-aged girl as she experiences her mother's unpredictable episodes of recurrent depression. The mother also clearly experiences anguish when she sometimes cannot respond to her child's needs. Her mother and father both help Amanda understand that her mother loves her and that the mother's depressive episodes are not Amanda's fault. Amanda conceptualizes her mother's moods as colors. The illustrations sensitively follow this metaphor to catch the moods and experiences of the mother and the household. Amanda and her mother learn that despite recurrent depression, the mother can still find ways to give of herself to Amanda.

Children often feel confused and upset when a parent is depressed. They may blame themselves or the depressed parent. I liked the fact that this book is encouraging without sugar-coating a very difficult situation. I often use this book as a springboard for further discussion.

I bought this and another children's book about depression to help explain depression to my kids. I thought this book did a much better job than the other one I bought. Amanda Martha's mother suffers from depression, and the daughters asks the usual questions: Is it my fault? Can I make you feel better? And the mother gives the right answers: It's not your fault. It's not your job to make you feel better.

The mother's depression was protrayed very realistically, I thought. Some days she's very down and can't even get out of her bathrobe. Other days, she can get dressed, but she's not happy. Some days, she is happy. There are no quick fixes here. However, there is a sense of hope, that when the family pulls together, the necessary work will get done and love will be shared in abundance. This book should be available for all parents who have been diagnosed with depression and who have young children.

This book is a wonderful resource to share with children. Told simply, from the point of view of a child whose mother is severely depressed, this book is affirming for parents and children. As the child tells us, "some days are sad days, some are glad days and but most are in between days."

Through a simple plot, Amanda shares her feelings about her mother's 'sad days' and 'glad days'. When Amanda first asks for a kitten she is told no, because her mother's sad days might make it difficult to care for the kitten. At the end, Amanda, knowing that most days are in between days, agrees to care for the kitten on her mother's sad days; and her mother can help her on her glad days.'

The book is very uplifting and satisfying with an honest portrayal of living with depression.

I was extremely impressed with the insight and effectiveness of the advice provided by this book. It was very practical and the book was surprisingly fun and easy to read. I highly reccomend this book.

This book described my sister exactly! I read it and finally understood what she has and what she has to do. I gave it to her and she is reading it...sure my family isn't going to get it but I'm going to help her through this. Thank you for writing this, God bless you!

A friend of mine bought me this book as a gift because she was worried about me and it has opened my eyes to what clinical depression really is ...in a clear and kind way, along with solutions and choices. Thank you Drs. Belisa and Jorge for writing this gem.

A wonderful integration of a medical/psychological and holistic/spiritual understanding of depression in Latinas. The last chapters provide excellent recommendations. The first ones explain depression in a clear and interesting manner. I have suggested it to two patients already.

This book really spoke to me and my situation!
As the first generation of my family to be born and educated in the US I have trouble talking to my parents about mental health and Drs. Lozano-Vranich and Petit understood where I'm coming from and offered realistic advice. They covered a lot of ground and explained how to navigate through a Latina background. I'd strongly recommend this.

The title alone makes this book intriguing, doesn't it?

In the age-old tradition of using stories to disseminate essential truths, Dr. Gettis does a masterful job. Each lesson is a gem. Some may seem familiar, other less so; every one is worthwhile. You will find yourself captivated as you absorb the wisdom embedded in each story.

I have no hesitation in recommending Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up. Learning is never as effective as when you are enjoying the lessons - and here you have the wisdom of the ages.

It is little wonder that this volume was followed by the equally entertaining and well-written "The Happiness Solution."

Dr. Gettis writes a simple read packed with wisdom and good old fashion common sense for a happy life. His stories are a wonderful cross of Chicken Soup for the Soul and What I Learned I Learned in Kindergarten. They are spiced with concepts common to western thought such as those espoused by Albert Ellis and eastern spiritual ideas of Buddha and Zen thought. Maybe even a little Obi Wan Kanobi and Yoda tossed in for good measure. If you want to face life's ups and downs with a fresh way of thinking then read this book!

This book contains numerous nuggets of wisdom. Dr. Gettis captures the essence of what it takes to live a happy,spiritually fulfilled life. Anyone who follows the advice given so gently here will be much more at peace. If enough people read this book, the world will be greatly benefitted. Read this book!"

I enjoyed Dr. Gettis' easy-going style and his varied contexts (sports, Zen, driving, family, health) for his stories. Each is fused with Eastern thought and Western psychology and is told in such an uncomplicated and thought-proviking manner that my insights are immediate and inspiring.
Keep this book close.

I've heard it said that "there is no such thing as the truth, there are only stories". Alan Gettis Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up is a masterful collection of stories that points beautifully to the universal truths that surround us. His easy going style never gets in the way. The books loving paternal nature delivers lessons that can be read over and over again, gleaning new insights with each re-reading. It is the kind of book you like to leave around the house for a quick spiritual boost. Each of the stories stands like a sparkling gem through which the truth is magnified and humanized. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves learning in its most powerful form, through story.

This approach of combining natural, inborn affect, having been observed and studied in infants for decades, with the human developmental process with its resulting emotion is brilliant. I have often been baffled at the complete disregard for shame in the human experience. It is as though the whole world is too ashamed to acknowledge the truth of how they really feel about themselves or how they think they are perceived by others. And the reality of affect broadcasting! How could six billion people collectively, unconsciously choose to put their blinders on and ignore the underlying mechanics of the human experience for so long. How about the description of affect broadcasting? Finally, a beginning model of the personal-social experiences, a reasoning behind social mores and their enforcement! What a pleasure to acquire such useful understanding from a book. I spent years of my own life trying to put the pieces together, putting myself in shameful situation after another (such as the pursuit of mastery of difficult, seemingly unattainable skills and accomplishments, such as professional music performance at high levels and with special emphasis on my weakness as opposed to natural strengths in front of unsympathetic, self-absorbed and cruel audiences. Suffice to say, through years of discipline and tenacity I achieved some excellent skills and experience) trying to understand the Rosetta Stone behind the human experience. This book helped provide a few key pieces to the puzzle. I was riveted! It is a fairly easy read to boot!

This book is based on the affect theory of Silvan Tomkins. I have read Tomkins' original works on affect theory. They are brilliant but somewhat remote and academic. Tomkins' view that affects supply the greatest part of our motivation is revolutionary (It is not your drive to survive that helps you to leap out of the way of the oncoming car, it is your fear affect). It leads to an entirely new way of understanding human behavior. Nathanson explains Tomkins' theories in a much more accessible way, but beware, this is another brilliant author who says more in a single sentence than most of us can squeeze into a paragraph. Hence, it can be dense reading. I have read the book three times, and I get more out of it every time I read it.

Nathanson's focus is on shame and, for me, it was an eye-opening experience to realize how pervasive shame is in almost everything we do. Nathanson is an eloquent writer and a keen observer; he shows how shame and pride influence our lives in so many (often invisible) ways.

Reading this book produced a major paradigm shift for me. I now feel that shame is the most under-appreciated emotion that anyone brings to therapy (I am a therapist). The stigma associated with shame is so great that therapists have glossed over it for years, choosing to focus on the issues that produce shame (such as Freud's focus on sexuality) rather than directly address the shameful feelings about the self that plague so many people who seek therapy. Why? Because we therapists are as vulnerable to those feelings as anyone else. And in order to help others with their feelings of shame, we have to be willing and able to access our own.

This may well be the most important book to appear in the mental health field in decades. It deals with a topic that almost everyone would prefer to avoid. But if you read it, you are likely to be better able to manage your own shame and to help others with theirs.

The book is very informative and brings to the fore a great concept of self. If the theory holds up to time and testing it should be very worthwhile reading for anyone whose life has not been a great big bowl of Cherries!!! The author need not throw $10 words at the lay reader(much more familiar words would have been more appropriate) and the flow of text could have been a little smoother.

The Editorial Review by the Library Journal has it totally wrong! Affect Psychology, as presented in this easy to read book, will open your mind to a new way of thinking about human emotions. The hardest emotion for the reader will be shame, and as shame is described it may interrupt your interest and excitement as you read. Press on! Once you really understand what he has to say, you will never again view your own or others emotions in the same way. This book's concepts are accessible, useable, and extremely applicable in today's crazy world.

Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the Birth of the Self

This is the most readable and cogent explanation of shame to those of us born and bred with that heritage, not knowing it was not the norm for sense of self and relationships. Excellent! I read it in 1992 and am rereading it and sharing it with those who live with the taint of shame.

Side Effects reads like a novel, even though it is a factual, non-fiction book. It is a well-written, outstanding story that depicts how several pharmaceutical firms along with the FDA intentionally did not disclose the negative, suicidal side affects of anti-depressant drugs such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. Alison Bass weaves this story through a few victims and researchers who were trying to get out the truth and stand up against some very powerful, manipulative and well-financed pharmaceutical companies who make billions of dollars from these drugs. A must read!

Alison Bass brings all the players to life, both the good and the bad, in this well documented story behind the NY Attorney General's legal action against GSK. This book is in the tradition of Erin Brokavich or A Civil Action; it reads like a novel, like a thriller in fact, only it's true. No one could make this stuff up. I could not put it down. Bass deserves a lot of credit for her courage in writing this. Not only does she expose the underbelly of academic research at prestigious Ivy League schools, but also uncovers the sordid manipulation of patient advocacy groups like NAMI by pharmaceutical interests. Nothing is sacred. She goes after it all and it's a story that needs to be told in full just as it is here. I hope it will be widely read. It is a useful and exciting addition to the many books coming out about the corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, academic research, and the regulatory authorities, bringing it down to a very human level.

In this gripping expose, Alison Bass manages to turn the inner workings of medical research, clinical trials and the legal system into a literary page-turner. Through tireless reporting, she brings to life several characters who made a huge impact in one small corner of the pharmaceutical industry, while also laying bare a medical system that continues to put Americans at risk. This is an important book that deserves much attention.

It's horrifying to read about our dependence on drugs. I was shocked with the first story: A teenager feels uncomfortable in social situations. She sees an ad on television promising a drug to turn teens from wallflowers to social butterflies. She asks her doctor for the drug. No problem, he says. He's not a psychiatrist, but he is an MD.

Aside from concerns about effects of these drugs on children and young people, why doesn't someone ask why doctors encourage patients to seek solutions in a bottle? How is depression diagnosed (or over-diagnosed)?

Then we have a story of a psychiatrist at Brown University who appears to be billing the government for research he's not conducting. He's also adjusting research reports to discount side effects.

He's still around, still holding a prestigious position at Brown University, still receiving research grants.

Author Bass also quotes a disturbing statistic: doctors who accept money from pharmaceutical companies (for research, consulting or testifying) tend to prescribe a lot more medication than those who don't.

The fiery, likeable prosecutor battles her own vision problems as well as the pharmaceutical industry. It's frustrating to read about the legal minutiae she has to address while people are dying from these drugs. The judge's name sounds familiar: I believe she was also the judge in the Martha Stewart case.

At the end of the book, we learn that the troubled teen lost her pill-induced "suicidal ideation" after discontinuing Ambien and Paxil. She has learned to accept her personality and she's found the perfect job as a veterinary technician.

That's the good news. But as Bass reports, FDA reports still depend on doctors who accept money from drug companies, but claim they remain unbiased. Maybe they could work on a drug to cure their deep denial.

This account of shady goings on in the U.S. drug-industrial complex is an eye-opener. Even though the subject matter might seem a bit sterile -- clinical trials, the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry, and university researchers -- Side Effects is a delightful page-turner. The reader is drawn into the lives of the characters and the details of their compelling stories as if one were reading a novel or detective story. Side Effects is a must read in our pill-popping culture.

Wow! I just finished this book & am amazed at the example Joe Massengale has lived by. If you're looking for a book on parenting & how to live your life, this is it. Character, determination, focus, love, confidence... what else can you say. Joe Massengale leads his life by example & instills all of the above qualities in his children.

I would encourage any parent or anyone looking for a blueprint on how they should live their life to the fullest to read this book.

Six Lessons for Six Sons, written by Joe Massengale and David Clow provides a enlightening approach to providing your children with important gifts to guide them through life. The authors have identified the gifts that help individuals believe in themselves and develop the strength to deal with the inevitable setbacks we all experience, and rise above them. This book is extremely well written, unpretentious, and presents, in a simple straight forward way, six qualities that lay down a foundation for living a rich, admirable and principled life. Massengale and Clow do an outstanding job of presenting these lessons in a way that should inspire fathers (and mothers too) to look at the art of raising children to be productive members of society. It stands head and shoulders above all of the self help books on the market today.

The six lessons are ones that I wish I had in raising my own sons.


Kevin J. Lyons, Ph.D.
Editor, Journal of Allied Health

As the father of two sons, ages 14 and 11, I found the book to be very inspiring, uplifting, and valuable. The authors deliver beautifully on the title's promise to tell a powerful story about how a father succeeded in raising six successful sons and the back cover's promise to articulate the ways in which the qualities of confidence, fortitude, pride, persistence, fearlessness, and focus are important for a successful life. But beyond that, the way the book is organized and the excellent writing gave the experience a depth of richness that was much greater than I anticipated and more pleasure than I could have felt justified in expecting.

We can all learn from Massengale. Each of us has our own story; our own past,our own struggles. What makes Joe's story special is how he transcended incredible adversity all the while teaching his children these invaluable lessons.

Joe Massengale is a remarkable man who's led an extraordinary rags-to-riches-to-rags-back-to-riches life...from fearing for his own poverty-stricken life in the days of lynchings, to working his way up to owning his own race horses in Hollywood. His biography alone would make an inspiring, thoroughly readable book -- but having it woven through such valuable lessons, and memorable object lessons, all in service of passing on hard-earned down-to-earth wisdom on something as crucial as character-development...well it makes this book all the more important. And how refreshing to have a "good for you" book that's so well-written! David Clow not only writes elegantly, but knows how to get out of Joe Massengale's way to let his subject's own distinctive voice come through clearly. That Joe Massengale happens to be African-American makes me wonder why Oprah Winfrey hasn't devoted an hour to him yet, but let me hasten to add - his lessons are UNIVERSALLY relevant. You do NOT have to be any particular color to "get" this wisdom, nor to need it. Turning children into responsible adults is the hardest and most important job in the world, no matter your color, age, station in life...or gender. Yes, I'm saying even moms can get something valuable from ths book. So could kids, single adults, you name it - anyone with an interest in the being, and shaping, productive, respected members of society. Only perfect people need not learn these lessons, and if you think you're perfect you need this book more than anyone! Need I mention, as I glance at the calendar, that this would make a HECK of a Father's Day gift?

Even years after this book has been released, I still pick it up again and again to remember how to stay who I am.

Excellent source of practical help in dealing with depression. Writing style is easy to understand and keeps the readers attention. Highly recommend.

This book is well written. It goes into the spiritual as well as the physical healing of depression.

Dr.O'Shield's book is the best I have ever read on Depression. It is a must for anyone who suffers from depression or has a friend or loved one who has it. Also it is a great handbook for doctors and counselors. I have read it many times and refer to it often just for the inspirational and uplifting scriptures and suggestions in the last chapters. Without fail I find help and comfort there. Thank you for including it in your inventory.

I enjoyed reading this personal story of how a minister with a voice disorder overcame his depression. He speaks directly about the problem but has a lot of practical and spiritual methods to help you work through depression.

This is a story of a girl lost in the world of today, without a soild family. It is perhaps fear that makes her "step around the corner" into the 1930's, at the time of the depression in Australia. There she meet Young Jim, whose family takes Barbara in, even though they are poor. Here Barbara learns what it is like to be loved, and to love in return. THis is a great book, and I love the feel of the 1930's, French writes it so well!

thiis book was the best book i have ever read i think it should be around for many years to come it is just a bit to hard to find.

i think it should be a compuslery book at high school's

I love it! Abolutely! I cried, I laughed, I read it again. The description of the depression days, the Australian bush, the ol' billy and hessian bag windows in Young Jim's family's shanty in Poverty Gully to which Young Jim flees with Barbara too. Lonely, 1990s Barbara. In the world of jeans and sportsgirl and makeup and discos. Plummeted into the dark depression world. But not everything's so bleak. Over Barbara's time living with Jim's family, they accomplish some wonderful things... until it takes a natural disaster to get 'Bubba' back around the corner again... The best book I've ever read. I loved the end, but it was a tear-jerker, when she and Young Jim are reunited, then only perhaps two or three years apart, now more than sixty. I could cry now! I LOVED IT!

I can't tell you all how much I LOVE this book! It was sooooo touching! I laughed alot of times and cried at the end. But don't get me wrong this book wasn't sad at all, it was so touching and sweet. A perfect ending. This book moves at a fast pace. I fineshed it in a couple of hours! READ THIS BOOK!

I think this is the best book that i have read and i would suggest anyone reading it. please read it

This is quite an unusual book, one of the best I've read in a long time. In addition to its compelling true story, the writing is superb. The author(Sunny) has taken a gut-wrenching tragedy that befell her and her family during the Great Depression and sprinkled it liberally with unaffected humor
and quirky insights into a child's-eye view of tragedy. What could have been a schmaltzy tale of woe is instead a warm, at times excruciatingly funny read. The chain of events, covering a period of two years in the 1930's (with some flashbacks to World War One) is brilliantly recalled by the author in charmingly descriptive detail.

You won't find this book in your local bookstore, however, because it was published by a print-on-demand company and bookstores shun such books. What a pity, because this fine book is being overlooked by millions. But perhaps not for long, because I discovered that the School Library Journal, a
magazine for high school librarians, has included "Sunny" on its annual list of best books, in this case 2005, recommending it for both adults and teenagers. Further research has disclosed that the book is popping up on "required reading" lists in some high schools.

Sunny, Ward of the State is a book I've read cover to cover at least three times and dipped into randomly more times than I can count. It is a vastly comforting story with many lessons in it (for me, at any rate). It's a story about humanity at it's bumbling best (which is pretty much all we can hope for). It's a story about muddling through by dint of will and courage and love. And it's true.

Sonja Heinze Coryat was Sunny, a six year old child of German immigrants whose small world was her oyster when her mother was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. Sonja's world and that of her brother and two sisters rapidly disintegrated into chaos and horror as their father struggled unsuccessfully to hold the family together when their mother had to be hospitalized indefinitely. In the middle of the Great Depression, immigrants who could barely speak English had few options in the best of circumstances. Sunny's Pop had to surrender, finally, his kids to the State. What ensues is heroism. The kids and their father and their mother were heroes, all - no question about it.

Not surprisingly, Sonja recalls all of it, in her plainspoken way - sometimes with anger and sadness, often with humor, always with love.

Sonja Heinze Coryat vividly recounts her childhood, from growing up in the German neighborhoods of New York with her family, to the time she spent as a Ward of the State. She evokes the wrenching illness of her mother that led to her family's difficulties and her memories are played out against the backdrop of the Great Depression. What is amazing about this singular tale of a tragic childhood is that Sonya brings to the pages of her book not primarily the pain and sadness, but the warmth and humor of her early years. When I finished the book, I just had to smile at the enduring image of her father presenting her with furniture for her first child that he "just got". SUNNY Ward of the State is an inspiring story of one family's triumph over adversity.

I thought this book was excellent. A gentle, sad story written in a witty, intelligent way. Not only does the reader get to feel the experience of Sunny's childhood, but they also get a lesson about life in the early 20th century. 5 stars all the way...

"Sunny, Ward of the State" is one of those books you've got to keep reading. It's a true story of an immigrant family during the Great Depression and their major problems: The mother gets TB and is put into a sanitarium, the four kids have to go to children's homes, and the father is at his wit's end. It's beautfully written and the story is skillfully told, often in the voice of a 6-year old child. It's not a tear jerker but has a lot of quirky humor. I liked it better than "Angela's Ashes." This is the kind of book America needs today, to remind them of this historical era and how people used to cope with adversity. I hope the author writes a sequel.

Dr. Butler's book is absolutely brilliant and helpful. It is the most lucid and practical guide for those who want to be free from their "inner judge". She has a kind and compassionate tone and a no nonsense approach to what it takes to change ourselves.

A cognitive therapy approach, it takes the view of identifying the distortions in ones thinking, then stating a more realistic and workable alternative. It is wonderful for those of us that can't just switch in one step from "I'm bad and really messed up" to "I'm wonderful". It helps develop more realistic and useful self talk. I bought several and gave them away, now I don't have one for myself, just when I want to brush up.

This book changed my life. I enjoyed it so much that I sent it to my sister in Denver to read. I thought it would help her too. Now, she can't find it and I need to read it again. I don't want to try any other book because this one did the trick in helping me change my way of thinking. In my case, however, it is something I have forgotten how to do and need to read it again. I was saddened when I found that getting this book again may be quite a struggle. I'm hoping that enough people respond to this so maybe it will be published again. The world is missing out.

Dr. Butler presents a clear and lucid account of one's inner dialog and shows how this discourse influences one's behavior. She further offers a simple, logical, yet eloquent approach to change reactions to negative, hindering, or interfering language. The numerous examples provided are crisp and relevant to every day life. By integrating her extensive clinical experience with concepts drawn from a broad spectrum of pertinent literature, she seamlessly synthesizes an enormous array of cross-discipline information. In short, this is an excellent work.

This book had many usefull insights but the discussion of the 'rescue process' had a profound impact on my life. Like the others that have reviewed this book I have given mine away because I know that it has the power to change lives for the better. I would really like another copy or six.