Depression Books

This program helped me to hear a few facts about depression that I had been unable to take in previously. Although I've had lots of good therapy, when I am talking I have a hard time listening; and the tapes force me to listen. Whenever I feel those twinges of depression coming on, I now know exactly what to do to bring about fast relief - and the workbook exercises continue to help me put the ideas into action. Dr. Broder's program has really made an enormous difference in my life!

If you want to get to the scholarly bones of the origins of the civil war and move beyond the simplistic moral debates, this is the book for you. Simply a top rate book by one of America's top rate scholars. Read only if you are serious about understanding the historical roots of the war.

Excellent resource for understanding the motivations and details of U.S. financial panics past. Look for the 1988 editon that includes commentary on the 1987 Crash: ISBN 0-525-48404-3. Later edition is simply a reprint of the original 1968 text without this information. Also highly recommended: Devil Take the Hindmost by Edward Chancellor and Dying of Money by Jens Parsson (long out-of-print) for the hyperinflatiory events of Weimar Republic, Germany.

It's our hope this book will find a wide audience among those who enjoy readable history. The period and region has never been covered so thoroughly and in such enjoyable detail.

The book was ten years in the making and if there was anything uninteresting in the manuscript - it's not there now. Buenger examines the ties between Southern romanticism and Texas nationalism and how one bolstered the other. Myths are exposed through a quiet presentation of facts and anecdotes.

The symbolism, psychology (and funding) of the various Confederate monuments in the region - the most costly and elaborate in Texas are explained. If anything, the book create a curiousity to visit the (relatively) forgotten region of Northeast Texas.

The tables are clear and the maps are superb in their Spartan clarity. It's a valuable reference and it's also a book we can see being taken on vacation.

A well-written personal experience from a young boy's perspective. He gives one family's coping methods during this trying period in southern Illinois. This vivid account of day-to-day life could only have come from someone who was there. A nice complement to "A Penny's Worth of Skim Milk" also by this author (I had the honor to have had the author in my home for supper many years ago whereupon he gave me an autographed copy). Well recommended to anyone interested in this traumatic period.

Robin Edgar's compilation of remembered histories from those who survived the hardships of the Great Depression gives us a very satisfying look into the memories of those who lived in and around Charlotte and Mecklenburg, North Carolina, during the years of 1929 to 1939.

Realizing that the youngest of these survivors are now in their seventies and that their stories about these years will soon be lost forever if they were not recorded now, Edgar interviewed about ninety people. She edited their comments into stories about their families, their occupations before and after the depression, their lessons for survival and their advice to future generations. They share with us the stories of the grit, determination, and work ethic of the families who lived there during those years and who opened their hearts to those even less fortunate than themselves. Abundant are the stories of loyalty to family and friends during times when even food was scarce.

There is recurring mention of feeding strangers who came to the door asking for food. The men patiently waited for the availability of work of any kind, for any length of time. There are repeated memories of mothers using washtubs, washboards, boiling wash pots, bluing and Octagon soap. Families walked to church together and prayed together. Faith and caring for those in like circumstances were the only things remembered by all in abundance.

Edgar's experience as a creative non-fiction writer and in teaching reminiscence workshops around the country helped her isolate the heart of twenty-five of these stories of guidance, wisdom and self-worth. The book will serve well to inspire other writers to gather and record their own family or community life stories to share while we still have time.

by Peggy Talley
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Personality-Guided Therapy For Depression by Neil R. Rockian (Professor of Psychology, Adler School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, Illinois) presents a new approach to treating patients with complicated depression for whom progress has been slow, elusive, or followed by relapse. Professor Rockian notes, for example, that depression experienced by a person with a dependent style will differ markedly from depression experienced by someone with an antisocial personality. Drawing from major theoretical orientations to demonstrate how psychotherapy can be tailored to patients diverse needs and distinctive communication styles, Personality-Guide Therapy offers an approach that will provide new hope for successfully tailoring the therapy to the patient's personality type while controlling for how prevalent the depression is; psychological, biological, and social factors; the role of medications; and therapist reactions to the patient. A work of seminal, definitive scholarship, Personality-Guided Therapy For Depression is a welcome and core contribution to academic library and professional reference collections.

This is an illustrated book, written for elementary school aged children. However, its description of recurrent major depression is so good that the book would be valuable for adolescents and some adults. It is realistic, but ultimately comforting.

The story describes a boy's feelings about his mother's depression and her resistance to treatment. Although her depression is affecting the whole family, her husband is reluctant to pressure her into seeking help. Eventually she suggests that she would be better off dead. At that point, her hsuband her husband insists that she must see her psychiatrist Once she accepts treatment, she gradually begins to improve.

I like the fact that the mother's improvement is gradual, not a dramatic, overnight awakening. Even after she gets back into treatment, the illustrations suggest some residual depression. However, by the end of the book, she is smiling and beginning to return to her creative photography work.

The book describes the importance of family participation in the mother's treatment. The boy attends some of his mother's sessions and is able to ask questions about her illness. The whole process of treatment is much more mysterious for children if they never get to see the psychiatrist and the inside of the office. The parents explain why it is important that his mother take her medication regularly. He is reassued that the depression is not his fault. Ultimately, the boy is able to gain knowledge and a sense of mastery.

Since I treat both children and adults, I often see how deeply a parent's depression affects the children. I used to recommend this book a lot, but had stopped doing so because I thought it was out of print. Now that I have found it again, I will be telling people about it.

If you are interested in collecting depression glass or glass from the 40s, 50s and 60s, this is the guide you must own. Gene Florence is the most respected author in the field and has the book sales to prove it. The illustrations are great and the text is very basic -- it only gives you pricing information. If you are beginner or are considering collecting depression/40s,50s,60s glass, you would do well to check out Florence's large hardbound books covering those topics. This pocket reference does not give you the background information you would need. Great book

Now I know why J. G. Woodward is called "The People's Poet". I'm not even a reader of poetry and I loved this book, as well as her first poetry book, Tumultuous Journey, Poems Along the Way. The feelings she writes about are intense, the good and the bad, and I could relate to the poems so much because of the losses in my life. Yet, I closed the book after the last page feeling inspired. Amazing!