Depression Books

Living in a college town and working for a company with mostly other recent grads, I rarely get the benefit of wisdom from people who aren't still excited that they can get into bars. I really enjoyed Teresa's thoughts on and confirmation of life.
This is a very positive, but down-to-earth book, with most of the essays being a manageable size for a commercial break of waitin for the bus, although I read them all in one sitting.

"Musings" is a great book written with a lot of heart. It shares one woman's reflections and insights into life. It's refreshingly honest and one can admire Teresa Mahoney's bravery in writing so. I would recommend this book to anyone, and especially think this is a book mothers and daughters can enjoy together.

've read many books on the subject of depression, and this is the most helpful.
I'm amazed at Patricia's ability to share so openly the details of her life that makes it so easy to relate and so interesting to read. I believe that anyone who has ever suffered from depression or has a loved one who has could benefit from this book. Patricia's warmth and compassion shine out from every page.

Not only does this book give a story of one person's recovery from depression and bipolar illness, it also gives worksheets to help with my own recovery. My husband is bipolar and I struggle with depression daily. The worksheets in it are particularly helpful. This book is also an easy read. I read it all in one afternoon. Well written and fun, this book is a lifesaver!!The author even has a great websight, www.patriciapotts.com!

This is an impressive book. It will open a lot of eyes, especially eyes that watch ads for antidepressive medication on television. The authors wrote the book for people who feel depressed and need more information and for professional caretakers who want a better understanding of treatments for depression.

The authors argue that there is little reason to go along with the theory that defects in brain chemistry cause depression. When a person is locked in depression, it may well be that his brain chemicals change. However, the authors can't find evidence for the widespread belief, fostered by pharmaceutical companies and biological psychiatrists, that depression is a disease caused by defects in the brain. Some people may indeed inherit a susceptibility, possibly via brain chemistry, to develop depression, but without an interaction with life experiences the predisposition would be unlikely to affect them.

Antidepressant drugs, obviously needed say the pharmaceutical companies if depression is a disease of brain chemistry, can be shown to have a moderate therapeutic effect. However, the authors, based on reviews of a large number of placebo-controlled research trials, found that most of the positive effect could be attributed to a placebo reaction-another eye opener.

The authors view depression, not as a brain disease, but rather as a mood and behavioral disorder resulting from adverse life situations. "It's Not Your Brain; It's Your Life" is their title for a section of Chapter 3. Depression might result from the death of a spouse or the loss of a vocation where the person fails to find a replacement, or, more commonly, from the long-term avoidance of risks of pursuing deeply-held life goals or intimate relationships. Avoidance, manifested as isolation, sleeping, drinking, procrastination, and the like, can be motivated by fears of failure, rejection, humiliation, shame, etc. Behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are described with considerable clarity as therapeutic treatments for depression. The focus of this therapy is replacing the avoidance behavior with effective coping behaviors. Among the most interesting parts of the book is the section in Chapter 5 describing five cases of depression where a "double arrow" diagram points to the crucial step of avoidance that maintains the disorder.

In reviewing the treatment literature, the authors find that these types of psychotherapy are at least as effective as medications in treating depression in the short-term but are more effective in the long-term because the relapse rate is lower after treatment is discontinued. Apparently, psychotherapy is more likely than medications to "stick."

A shortcoming of the book is that some sections are hard to read. These sections, probably intended for a professional audience, seem long and complicated. My suggestion to the reader is to feel free to scan or skip. On the other hand, I found other sections, particularly Chapter 5 describing the behavioral approach to understanding and treating depression, were interesting and easy to read. Three appendices provide practical advice on questions to ask before accepting a prescription, how to find a behavioral therapist, and questions to ask a potential therapist. I think this book is well worth the effort required to read it.

Any college-level health collection, especially those strong in mental health concerns, must have THE MYTH OF DEPRESSION AS DISEASE: LIMITATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES TO DRUG TREATMENT: it goes where few books so clearly have gone before, arguing that there's little actual scientific evidence for treating depression as a biological disorder to be treated with drugs. Indeed, the authors say, there is very little known about the role of biology in depression; but marketing by pharmaceutical companies has perpetuated the myth of chemical imbalance and treatments to benefit their bottom lines. Therapy is under-explored in contrast, and should be one of many alternatives to drug therapies: that's the hard-hitting contention of THE MYTH OF DEPRESSION AS DISEASE, which should earn much classroom discussion as well.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

After reading Clare Morrall's 'Astonishing Splashes of Colour', which was fantastic, I was thrilled to see this second novel published so soon. I will not review the story line of 'Natural Flights'; you can read a great report already submitted by reviewer [..]on this Amazon site. I will simply say that Clare Morral wrote 4 unpublished novels before these two were published. Someone needs to take a serious look at the others and see if they warrant publication, too. Ms Morrall is a gifted writer and I'd like to thank her for her amazing perseverance. I eagerly await her next book.

Peter Straker lives alone in a lighthouse on the Devon coast. But his mind is full of the voices of 78 people who died in a train wreck almost 25 years ago. Peter feels responsible; he is sure he caused their deaths but isn't certain how. In the lighthouse, as the coast tears away at the shore, he hears their voices, accusations and sometimes even their kindness. Peter lives like a hermit, going to town only for food and supplies and talking to no one. But the arrival of Imogen Doody forces him out of his exile and back into the world of the living.

Clare Morrall's sophomore effort, following ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR (a Booker Prize finalist) centers on Peter and Imogen as they navigate a tenuous and emotional relationship that makes each deal with their tragic past and their hopes for the future.

Imogen, or "Doody," is a school caretaker, an angry woman with no friends and a strained relationship with her family. She discovers she has inherited a cottage on the Devon coast from a godfather she never knew. The cottage is a dream come true, a place to be alone with her thoughts and perhaps even finish the novel she half-heartedly has been working on. But the cottage is also a disaster, abandoned and decrepit, and she has neither the money nor the know-how to fix it up. It is her activity in the cottage that attracts Peter, and he talks with his first living person in years when he meets Doody. Her anger flashes again and again and he retreats to his lighthouse again and again, but they eventually come to something of a truce and begin to work on the cottage together.

Over time they open up to each other and discover that both were emotionally scarred and damaged 25 years ago --- Peter with the train wreck and Doody when her husband abandoned her never to be heard from again. Could the events be related? And why does the discovery that Doody has also inherited a small plane make Peter so upset? What happened to Doody's husband, and what happened when Peter last flew a plane almost 25 years ago?

Although Morrall's book is not a mystery, these questions and others haunt the narrative as they do the characters.

NATURAL FLIGHTS OF THE HUMAN MIND is a beautiful, thoughtful and thoroughly successful novel. Morrall's characters seem and act real; while the foundational events are quite extraordinary, Peter and Doody are just normal people who are lonely and guilty and more than a little afraid of relationships and the future.

Morrall's prose is lovely and quite readable. This is serious stuff without being heavy, and character-driven without being dull. And there is resolution without easy answers or clichés. This is also a novel that is creative in its description and use of setting. The lighthouse seems to be crumbling along with the shore as Peter explores the truth of his responsibility and the world at large intrudes upon his solitude. Doody must clear away the years of misuse to find the beauty and functional space in the cottage.

Guilt, grief, family, forgiveness, tragic pasts, drama, an unforgettable setting and uniquely drawn characters --- this novel has it all.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

This volume is a great, concise analysis of the New Deal's political economy. Badger opens with a short account of the economic causes of the Great Depression, detailing problems with maintaining consumer demand sufficently to match the overwhelming productive capacities of the American economy. As this gap expanded and factories were forced to go idle, American businessmen followed a range of investment opportunities and incentives overseas (with the hope of helping European economies so they could pay off their World War I debts to Uncle Sam) at the expense of reinvesting in American businesses. Deflationary national and international monetary policies, combined with a worsening international economic situation (which hurt further the production potential of American business) sealed the fate of the American economy in the early 1930s.

Badger looks at the New Deal's response to this dark situation in several areas: industrial policy, labor relations, agrucultural politics, welfare policy and coalitional politics. In each of these areas, Badger emphasizes the constraints that Franklin Roosevelt faced in attempting systematic reform. At first, Roosevelt had to stress recovery over reform: in the dark, dark, days of the winter of 1932-33, people needed a sense that help was on the way immediately not a few months down the line. Later, when the economy at least stablized, he had to assess realistically his desire for economic restructuring and social justice (to the extent he possessed such intentions) against growing congressional conservatism, the power of localism in the administration of New Deal reforms (which usually worked to the benefit of local elites), and the belief of most working and middle class Americans in the American creed of individualism and laissez faire capitalism.

In sketching this, Badger seems to be most interested in countering critiques from the left concerning President Roosevelt and the New Deal. From the left, historians have argued that government and coporate leadership concocted the New Deal to save capitalism and inhibit the native radicalism of the American citizen confronted with the overwhelming catastrophe of the Great Depression. This cabal highjacked revolution and preserved capitalism.

Professor Badger agrees that Roosevelt saved capitalism, but he did so against the tooth and nail efforts of almost all capitalists in America, who did not appreciate FDR's efforts on their behalf. There was no cabal, just a lot of animosity between Roosevelt and industrialists. With a handful of enlightened exceptions (many of whom reaped big time benefits in World War II mobilization) capitalists were too shortsighted to engage in a plot to stave off revolution.

Badger's main critque of Roosevelt is that he should have embraced governmental spending -- Keynsianism -- on a systematic basis much earlier in the 1930s (he grudgingly accepted the eocnomic principles of Keynes only in 1938). This would have raised wages and thus increased demand. Had that happened earlier in the 1930s, Badger argues, Roosevelt could then have focused, if he wished, on the systematic reform of the American economy, and genuine social justice.

Regardless of how you feel about the correctness of Badger's analysis of Roosevelt's motivations and achievements, this is one of the best single volume treatments of the New Deal. It is an excellent case study of the political/historical constraints of politicians and policy makers in America, in the face of certain institutional and political cultural constraints.

Anthony Badger is a most distinguished professor of history at Cambridge in England. Few people better understand the Great Depression in America and the New Deal than Badger. This is a work of the highest caliber.

The book should actually be titled "The Great Depression and the New Deal," because it first brilliantly describes the Great Depression and the causes. He presents differing interpretations, which I really appreciated. Not everyone agrees. Not all aspects of America experienced the Depression the same, so Badger presents several observations. The portrait he paints is simply outstanding.

His analysis of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal is excellent. Badger has read everything written about the Great Depression, it seems. There are no better studies than this book, in my opinion. This is an important and authoritative review of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and is even suitable as a college text.

My only quibble is that Badger should have more thoroughly covered the massive infrastructure investments that Roosevelt made, which greatly contributed to the economic boom during the second-half of the 20th Century. Badger also does not cover the post-war boom, which is an extension of the New Deal reforms and investments. In my opinion, Badger somewhat focuses too much as the relief aspects of the New Deal, but only slightly.

There recently has been a slight reinterpretation of the New Deal, with an emphasis on the infrastructure investments and the political economy. For example, read "Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933-1956" by Jason Scott Smith. Also read "The New Dealers: Power Politics in the Age of Roosevelt" by Jordan A. Schwarz.

Also consider Schlesinger's classic multi-volume history of the New Deal era.

If only more women and their doctors would know all this information. This is evidenced based information about how you can treat postpartum depression (and almost any other depression) without drugs. If you do choose to take drugs, you can do some natural things with it.

I am currently pregnant and doing the light therapy and high dose fish oil to help prevent postpartum depression.

When PPD and postpartum psychosis made me delusional and unable to care for myself and my children, psychiatric drugs (an antipsychotic and a muscle relaxer) got me some sleep, but it was the subsequent months I spent researching and trying the natural treatments suggested by Dr. Kendall-Tackett that brought me complete healing.

Now I feel better than I'd felt in years. I learned how to care for my body, brain, and whole self (mind/body/spirit). I learned about the important role of social support, about supplements, and about the womanly art of setting healthy limits by saying "no" to too many undesirable volunteer commitments. Research has come a long way in helping women find treatments that prevent, reduce the severity of symptoms, and heal from potentially-devastating perinatal mood disorders.

This book is a must-read for pregnant and nursing mothers and those who care for them. As a postpartum support group facilitator and as a survivor of severe PPD, I highly recommend reading _NonPharmacologic Treatments for Depression in New Mothers_, along with Kendall-Tackett's other publications. During my pregnancy, Kendall-Tackett's resources formed the basis for writing my husband and I to write our own comprehensive postpartum care plan, which we shared with healthcare providers, the psychiatrist, midwife, doulas, and family. That planning made for an easier postpartum, with fewer symptoms and quicker healing, than either of the previous two.

PPD is too common and too severe to ignore. Babies, children, marriages, and women's health are at stake. Natural prevention and treatment goes a long way, and we have Kathleen Kendall-Tackett to thank for bringing the science to a layperson's level, while citing all the studies that the professionals need to access.

I think this novel is a fine literary achievement. Matt has distinguished himself from other authors with a unique voice and a distinct message echoing the cries of a disillusioned generation (my generation). A good read from an up-and-coming artist.

What's up Lotti? This is Mike Ross from SCAMP 2002. You're book is awesome! The character in the book reminds me of you a lot. I'm going to do a book report on it. Haha Yeah son. SCAMP 4 LIFE, ANTI-JAMES 4 LIFE!

The energy industry is huge. Energy policy is multifaceted, complex and boring (to the guy on the street). There are many voices and points of view. This book is like a "Reader's Digest" on what the layman needs to know, the Truth on what the layman needs to know, about the future of the world's oil supply. I like the candidness and narrative style. He seems to be skeptical that anyone will read and respond to the information he presents, and to include that as part of the "problem" is great. I will try to respond. Everyone needs to read this...and respond.

I use to have a very low opinion of economist until I read this book by Mr. Cooke! I have read this book 3 times and I am always picking it up every once in the while to check some idea or facts. I have always wondered if Peak Oil will cause massive inflation or deflation or both. I am deeply impressed at the amounts of data and the computer models that Mr. Cooke used to come to his conclusions. I wish I was this smart! I would be writing books rather than reading them. If I had only 3 peak oil books to recommend, this book would be in the top three! Regards, Keith, Peachtree City, Ga.

Out of Focus ... Again is an insightful, brave and quite revealing story about a women who is a wife, mother of two and teacher. She is also sucked into the depths of depression.

What makes this book shine above so many on this topic is that it is not written (ghosted) by a celebrity... who, let's face it, usually has a deep pocketbook to pay for therapies and treatments.

Ann Kockenberger is a regular person, like you and me. And that's the beauty of this gem. I loved the Snapshots sprinkeld throughout and cheer for her family members--husband Gary and kids who openly share about their fears and angers as Ann is thrashed through the multiple storms that she encountered.The Confidence Factor: Cosmic Gooses Lay Golden EggsStabotage!: How to Deal with the Pit Bulls, Skunks, Snakes, Scorpions & Slugs in the Health Care Workplace

Finally, Ann shares the many things that she did, along with her family, that has brought her serenity today. Would highly recommend this book for family members to don't understand what is happening to their loved one.

Dr. Judith Briles, author of
The Confidence Factor,
Stabotage! How to Deal with the Pit Bulls, Skunks, Snakes, Scorpions & Slugs inthe Health Care Workplace

Ann Kochenberger's Out of Focus is a brave true story about one person's experience with depression. And, while it is a memoir, it is clearly written for the reader. It contains a treasure-trove of fresh new insights into this disease, as well as detailed accounts of some of the worst days in Ann's life...and the best. She also offers something for everyone who is touched by a loved one's depression...including spouses and children, other family members, and friends and acquaintances. Ann doesn't rush through this story...in it are both beautifully written prose and thoroughly documented survival strategies.

"Raindrops had frozen from branches, like suspended motion. The day is suspended too, between winter and spring." Pg. 144

There are rare and beautiful books and this is one of them. The author moves from a deep winter of the soul to a spring where she can again appreciate life, the love of family and the feeling of just being alive.

Through the pain of her loss, Carolyn Kent Bailey learns that even the Tulips come back into bloom after a long winter. That in the spring, there is renewal and hope.

When Carolyn decides to undergo a hysterectomy she never imagines what will occur months and even years down the road. She has no idea how depressed she will feel or how she will have to cling to every shred of happiness just to make it through another day.

Through writing in a journal, taking action to heal herself through her own research and by surrounding herself with loving friends and family, Carolyn survives. As the years go by, she heals. Not just physically, but emotionally.

This book is in itself, very healing. It is a journey into the most secret thoughts of a woman who has had a total abdominal hysterectomy. She is blunt in her honesty and yet even as you are crying along with her, you start laughing moments later. I felt emotional when reading the first page. I think she captured my heart in one sentence and from there I went on an emotional roller coaster throughout the entire book. Laughing at the uniqueness and genuine wit of the frivolous moments and empathizing and contemplating the emotional upheaval, the panic attacks, the depression.

Even in her emotional pain, she somehow manages to conjure up a child-like joy. Even in the depth of her depression, she worries about the animals having enough food in the winter. I laugh to myself as I read: "I lie to myself when I need to but there are only ten occasions." The list makes complete sense to me.

There is a delightful story of how she raised a squirrel and there is even a poem about how to enchant a squirrel. There are thoughts of pure delight balanced by worries and thoughts about how life changes vividly as you age. This is set up as journal entries.

There are poems that are highly relevant to the moment. Carolyn's thoughts inspire her to create poems. From her pain comes great beauty. I found her poems to all be deeply meaningful because I understood the context. After all, she had just told me the story that went with each one

Everyone was unique and yet had a definite purpose within the complete process of her inner discovery.

When the Sun is a Peony

Dip your fingers in the green sea
and write a love letter in my hair.
Trace the words that tell of a plunge to coral gardens
where the flowers are parrotfish
and the sea surrounds us like music,
of how we lie in the silk of the sun,
how your hand on my skin ripples like water
and the scent of the air is yellow.

Pg. 171

Then, there were quotes, delicious quotes sprinkled through the pages in places where they became a natural part of a sentence, of a thought, of a moment. I want to share so many things about this book with you, but it is best experienced in a few hours, reading it alone, maybe in bed.

I found the first part of the book was mainly about the surgery, but then Carolyn's writing could really be for anyone who wants to have one of those silent conversations with an author who we know would understand everything we are feeling. Strangely, her natural wit and love for life comes out most boldly when she is in the most physical pain. When she moves into the stages of depression, her creativity seems to bloom like a field of flowers and yet there are dew drops or tears on the flowers. And then when the wind blows and she is refreshed by a moment in time, the flowers laugh.

I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud and then went right back
to crying! Part of me was emotional because of the beauty of her writing and part of me was empathizing with the moments of pain, frustration and the depth of her depression.

I hope gynecologists will also read this book so they can empathize with their patients emotional needs. Too often it does seem that we find doctors who are simply viewing the physical symptoms and have forgotten their patients have a soul.

I can recommended this book to every woman because you might have to make this choice. I personally had no idea this was the most common surgery performed in the United States! I can think of so many people I want to share this book with because parts of this book touched me so deeply. I felt that some of the author's words have now
become a part of me.

In losing a precious part of herself that enabled her to give life to two children, Carolyn Kent Bailey has given birth to a book from her soul.

What a beautiful gift!

~The Rebecca Review

My colleague at work showed me this book this morning, and I couldn't put it down--I kept wanting to know what happened next. Carolyn is an honest and vivid writer who makes you feel as though "you are there," through the highs and lows of her journey. Perhaps it would have frightened me, if I were about to undergo a hysterectomy, but it could also have helped me be pro-active in my medical treatment. But this book is about much more than recovering from surgery. It is a book about dealing with the frightening reality of being "out of control," mustering one's resources to cope with crisis-- and making peace with the fact you don't always get what you need when you ask for it-- and re-discovering the joy and beauty of life.