Depression Books

The events surrounding Hawk's Nest is possibly one of the sadest events in American history. This book captures in detail those events in a profoundly moving and real fashion. Following the lives of the men, women, and children who lived to see a their lives turn into a nightmare, Skidmore paints a picture of hope, fear, and desperation. Skidmore's extensive understanding of the people and the events along with his magnificent story telling make this book a classic in every sense of the word. This is one of the few books I have ever recomended for family and friends and I cannot recomend it enough.

My mother was born and raised 15 miles "up the road" from the location of this event. She was in high school at the time the tunnel was being built. She did not know anything about this. The people in the story were invisible, even to most locals. How is it possible? It is one of the best books I have ever read. Anyone, anywhere, could read this book and never, ever forget it. I recommend it without hesitation to people who care about the human condition. You will not be able to put it down. It is unbelievable and sad.

Healing the Hurt Within is written from the heart and Jan Sutton has the gift of boldly taking a controversial and complex subject and rendering it interesting and easily understandable. At the same time this is no cold, clinical or judgemental work, but one written with warmth and compassion. It takes the reader on a journey into the lives and emotions of those who have experienced first hand the traumas that can lead to self-harm and the paths they are exploring in order to recover.

Jan Sutton writes with warmth and poignancy regarding the phenomenon of self-injury. She takes a difficult, misunderstood, and "shameful" subject, brilliantly picks it apart, and exposes the roots in a non-judgemental and caring way. Jan uses personal stories, drawings, and poems to illustrate the "whys" of self-injury and gets to the heart of the matter in a way that is both empathetic and compassionate. "Healing The Hurt Within" has become a bedside companion to further understanding myself and why I self-injure. This book is a must-read for those of us who self-injure and anyone who lives with or works with self-injurers as well. I highly recommend it!

This book would be a perfect gift for someone you know who is struggling with life. Terri's spirit shines through the words, offering true understanding and reasons not only to hang in there through the struggle, but also to grow from the experience of pain. It is not a sugar-coated, simplistic view; these poems express a profound grasp of what it takes to become whole, and honors the journey we must take to get there. In fact, this book would be a great source of inspiration for anyone who needs some support, guidance, and affirmation during a rough patch in his or her life.

Terri St. Cloud writes from the depths of her being. These poems express her intimate knowledge of everything from despair, anger, grief and fear to acceptance, compassion, courage, and love. I first learned of her work as an artist and writer when a friend told me about her beautiful watercolor prints with her poetry on them. She is a truly exceptional entrepreneur who created beautiful, unique artistic expressions from her soul, and from that grew a successful small company, Bone Sigh Arts, to support herself and her sons. Some of the poems in this book are also featured in her beautiful watercolor prints and greeting cards that you can see on her website. She sells her work for reasonable prices, and her generous personality shines through everything she does, including a free e-card service. This book came from her grieving a loss due to suicide, and her need to reach out and do something for people in pain - to remind them that they do matter, and they can find their way out of the darkness.

Buy this book - one for yourself and one for a friend in need - you won't regret it.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by sadness, in a place so dark you thought no one could reach you, then this book is for you. The poems are so real, so full of understanding. Each one brings a deep sigh of relief that says, "I'm not alone. Someone else has been through this, too." It brings a quiet sense of knowing that it's okay to be in the darkness and a hope that perhaps, if you allow it, then maybe someday the light will come. What a delight to have found this book. Everyone can benefit from reading this beautiful poetry.

This book is a must read for anyone who has ever felt that God is out to get them. This book brings fresh ideas on how to cooperate with God to bring about blessings during the hardest of times. This comes from an author who has been through several hardships in a short period of time.... she has first hand experience and shows great compassion for the suffering. This is a truly inspiring book in an easy to read format with thought provoking content. I highly recommend it. Buy two and give one as a gift! It will change your life!

If ever you thought to yourself that God didn't make sense . . . if ever you wondered where God was in the hardest times of life . . . if ever you questioned why bad things happened to good people - then you should get this book!
From someone who has truly been there, the author walks with you step by step, studying the Bible in it's original language in trying to find out the answers to those questions! What you get is brand new insights on the character of God and how He relates to us. It's encouraging, inspirational,thought-provoking, comforting, and a must-read.

Required reading for anyone who has tried to do more than they probably should, or possibly can, for someone they love...

The author's honesty about the personal and family costs that are incurred when faced with an 'unsolvable', out-of-control loved one is tough to read - but enlightening and important to hear. By just keeping it personal, and by being real about his own struggles, Ron Hamlen will hopefully help many others who find themselves desparately stuck in a cycle of 'Trying to Make it OK' - when they can't.

Very intimate and revealing account of tragic suffering from mental illness, this book is a wonderful resource, one I would have welcomed in my past, to help the spouse and family deal with the mental illness of a family member. It identifies two deficiencies in the currently health care system: 1) not enough attention given to the supporting and spouse and family; 2) no real alternatives between the hospital and the home for supporting the treatment and recovery process. If you are dealing with the issues, get the book!

I really enjoy reading these poems, they feel empowering like someone actually gets what I've been trying to say all along.

Thanks Jessica!

I feel like I really know the author. It's like she's sitting right next to me. It made me feel good. I think it's cool! Okay, I really do know the writer. but I still like her stuff that she writes. I mean the poems.

"Memories, Poetry and Depression: Collected Poems" by Ibolya Kollár Regn

The back cover of "Memories, Poetry and Depression" states that "... her poetry reflects the ferris-wheel ride of the depression and medication side-effects," this enlightening collection of poems by Ibolya Regn is about much more than Ms. Regn's battle with this disease; it is a map - a topography - of her life as a whole. Within its pages is the spectrum of thoughts, events and feelings that mingle and react to create a unique person.

There are touching testimonials to Ms. Regn's parents, the family's escape from Hungary under the direst of circumstances and what it means to be a refugee. The loss of homeland, memories of a home that will never be seen again and Ibolya's feelings of gratitude to the country and people who took herself and her family in are included in her work: "I am not from here./Yet you sheltered me,/took me when you knew me not/ and trusted me with yours."

Most affecting for me was her depiction of her father in "Heart Shadows" as she watches him sitting on rocks by the sea, staring at the horizon, lost in the past: "Does he try to remember or/ forget a homeland he will never see?" In this poem I can see the immigrants from any country gazing out forlornly, lonely for the place they left forever. Ms. Regn has knitted together these mixed feelings of sadness, loneliness and gratitude beautifully.

There is humour here as well. I caught myself smiling, surprised and delighted to trip over some of Ibolya's literary gems. She can make the everyday sparkle and invites you to look at both the commonplace and unusual through different eyes. At times this is a melancholic humour, cushioning the blow of devastating tragedy ("You've Fallen into my Vegetables") - but other pieces are just pure fun ("Tape," "Blink - Blink - Blink, Oh Crap!").

All of Ibolya's writing is straight from the gut, honest and enlightening but never more so than in her pieces about depression. Her words gave me a taste of what it is like inside the head of a clinical depressive. The words can cut and hurt; the depth of pain, the hopelessness, can be difficult to take in. She has taken me to the place where this disease lurks, given me an insight into its horror that I didn't understand before. "No understanding of my new course./Tears and emptiness came with the light./Where I am cannot be spelled./No pictures grim can show my depth./No gifted hand pens on paper thin./There is no purpose in getting up./ My arms hang stiff as stones at my sides./I curl on a space the size of my bed pillow."(From "It's Not About Knives"). "I Wrote the best Poem Today" and "Have Canvas, No Colors" are also examples of writing so honest, so naked that the reader would have to be made of granite not to feel the pain.

If this book disappoints at all it would be due to a few silly printing errors - blank pages where they shouldn't be, a missing title and a misplaced title. Small things that do not take from the power of the writing.

Iboyla Kollár is a heartfelt and passionate collection of poetry that startles readers with Iboyla's honesty to herself and the world. Born in Vác, Hungary, Iboyla's memories are "riddled with bullets, lies and refuge alone at the Danube's edge before immigrating to the United States."

This backdrop to Iboyla Kollár sets a taut scene for poems such as "The Refugee," "Homeland," and "The Sound of Knees Colliding." Iboyla's strong voice rings throughout her poetry with a magnetic resonance that draws readers further and further into her soul. Iboyla Kollár has a universal appeal while it embraces poetry lovers with a rich tapestry of emotions, ranging from joy to despair.

Dr. Hinrichsen offers an extensively-researched, beautifully written volume detailing the application of IPT with older adults along with the theory and evidence base for this therapy. This book is a must-have for any practitioner working with older adults.

Comprehensive and insightful. Interesting and helpful case studies. A vital addition to the library of any professional working with older adults. Highly recommended.

There isn't a book of Keen's I haven't earmarked and high-lined to a frazzle. A delight to read if only for literary style, sense of humor, metaphor and unique turn of phrase, Keen's books add unique, yet (once pointed out) obvious insights into our individual and collective soul. He has a knack for spotting the elephant in (or heading for)our living rooms, the one the rest of us put off, avoid, dismiss, deny and stonewall. Reading Keen for me is like a simultaneous shot of Jung/Chopra/Rollo May along with a light dose of Carlin.
I've often wondered why Keen's books aren't better read and why he isn't a hot property on the talk show, PBS documentary or speaker circuit. Could it be that his bestseller "Fire in the Belly" was the mother load of political incorectness? I do clearly recall disparaging remarks about the book and it's author by people who obviously had not read it.
Perhaps it is because his books are often difficult to get through--not because they are difficult to read--but because they are too well written. I often find myself rereading paragraph or pages because I've been so involved with the cleverness of the writing that I've lost the message underneath.
Like all his books, Inward Bound is a unique look at our emotions, unique because Keen seems to suggest we abandon that victim mode we all seem to slip into these days and recognize that instead of the clinical and justifiable depression we see lurking around every corner, we might be simply boring ourselves to death. Worse, Keen actually suggests we step into our boredom, accept it, examine it, welcome it out in the open where we can take a good look at it, work with it.
Imagine that. Take responsibility for it.
Why would we want to do that, we might ask, when we can simply digest a tub of prozac instead?

It took me a while, as I read this book to think of why I kept getting this warm feeling about my life as I turned the pages. . .

You have to read it! You don't have to DO it, but you have to READ IT!

I learned about myself at a whole, new level. I found out about things within myself that I really knew nothing about.

The examples of others and their experiences were often so close to some of my own feelings in similar situations, that I kept getting the feeling that the book was written just for me, right now!

Shawn Honnick

It is a good book for people who have been enough disappointments in life and want to create changes as a result from series of disappointments.

Is your life one disappointment after another, even when get what you thought you wanted? If so, Dr. David Brandt's latest book, Is That All There Is? Balancing Expectation & Disappointment in Your Life, is for you.

Dr. Brandt, a psychologist, has studied disappointment for more than 20 years. He lectures nationally and appears frequently on radio and television. His goal is to "unwrap the mysteries of [disappointment], show the variety of human responses to it, and reveal, surprisingly, how each of us can use disappointment for our own gain."

He say that disappointment is simply an unmet expectation. "We expected something to happen; it did not; we are disappointed." He adds that "expectation is simply the anticipation of an outcome." Wishes underlie expectations, and also serve as motivators. "It is the wish within each expectation that hooks us and maintains our emotional investment."

Dr. Brandt defines the various causes of disappointment and offers tips and techniques for learning how to minimize their impact on your life. He also describes personality styles, such as the acquiescent person who gives up personal desires to please others, and how they lead to disappointment. He uses case studies from his clinical practice to illustrate his concepts. Dr. Brandt provides six practical principles for developing realistic expectations and then teaches readers steps to overcome disappointment when it does occur.

The final chapter, "Making Disappointment Work For You" focuses on making disappointment "an ally in the search for contentment and personal happiness."

Readers wanting to learn how to avoid depression and energy loss resulting from disappointment will find Is That All There Is? teaches the skills they need to convert disappointment to a positive force in their lives.