Interesting Self Help Book on Depression (Overcoming Depression - Paul Gilbert)

Member Name: elbar1

Product:	Overcoming Depression - Paul Gilbert
Date:	07/04/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting and insightful

Disadvantages: None

My husband bought me this book in a charity shop. I have suffered from depression throughout my adult life and I think he was desperate to try anything.

Firstly I have to say that you have to be in the right frame of mind to even pick this book up. It certainly sat on my shelf until I felt I could be bothered to get better.

The book is written by a doctor with a great deal of experience in the field of mental illness - both personally and in a professional capacity. It gives some interesting medical explanations but is nonetheless very easy to read.

There are three parts to the book. Understanding depression (very interesting medically and sociologically - for those with or without depression this is a genuinely interesting read.); How to cope with depression (definitely some techniques I had not tried before and worth testing out to see if they could work for you.); special problems with depression (this deals with all those monsters in our heads that both make us depressed and once we're there, keep us depressed. Again, a very useful insight. Once you understand them you have a better chance of overcoming them.

The best thing about this book is the insight it gives into how depressed people think and why. It not only helped me to understand me but to understand those who I know with depression and how I should talk to them. I am always joking and I know that sometimes people might not see the funny side and read things into it that aren't there. It has definitely made me more sensitive.

Remember, it isn't a miracle cure. If you suffer from depression, it isn't just going to go away if you read a book, even if you put in place everything the book tells you. It isn't only about your frame of mind and snapping yourself out of it. Sorry to end on a downer but I don't think anything I do will cure my depression. It is something I have to live with and hopefully as I learn more about it, I might get longer happy times or at least not feel so bad during the bad times.

Good book though. It's an interesting read and I personally found it helped me - for the moment anyway!

Summary: A great read