Customer Reviews

Creating Optimism : A Proven, 7-Step Program for Overcoming Depression

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Because depression runs in my family (as well as myself), I've read just about every self-help book on the topic. "Creating Optimism: A Proven, Seven-Step Program for Overcoming Depression" helped me to see this insidious illness in a totally new light and gave me real hope that I--and other family members--can indeed overcome it. The seven steps make sense to me: 1. Identify and defeat the inner saboteur (I discovered aspects of my childhood "programming" that years of therapy hadn't uncovered)2. Reconnect to your body (Because the co-author, Alicia Fortinberry, is a trained Feldenkrais practitioner, she has a very practical approach to freeing the body from the trauma of the past) 3. Create healing relationships (This is the meat of the book, and offers a step-by-step program that is already working for me) 4. Elevate your self-esteem (What a surprise for me to discover that it's OK to get your self-esteem from others,we all do, and to learn exactly how to do that) 5. Uncover your competence (I found out how to identify what I am best at and enjoy most, and then how to enlist others in the process of making me shine at it)6. Access the power of shared purpose (This includes the three criteria for a successful life purpose and you'll never guess them) and 7. Deepen your relationship to the Divine (I always knew insinctively that part of the solution to depression had to be spiritual, but I didn't understand how to find the right way for me to use my own spiritualty to heal until I read this book.)

As you can tell from this brief run-down, the book is packed with unique information and really practical, "doable" (one of the authors' favorite words) actions you can take. They make sense to me. I suggest you check them out.

I think of myself as an expert on depression and its treatment, since I'm a nurse who works in mental health and am married to a man who suffers from terrible bouts of depression. Yet I was very surprised by how much I learned from "Creating Optimism: A Proven, Seven-Step program for Overcoming Depression." First, I discovered why antidepressants and even conventional therapy don't work for many sufferers. That was certainly true for my husband. After reading the book, both of us understand so much more about what caused his illness-and what we now believe he needs to do to overcome it.

By stating what we really need from each other, as the book taught us to do, we've already improved our relationship a lot. I'd never had the guts to tell him that I couldn't always do what he asked-and when I finally did, he said he was actually relieved I was being honest. But he did tell me some simple things I could do for him that would help, and they've made a difference. I also asked him to do some things for me-such as praise me for who I am, not just what I do for him-that have helped me feel better.

"Creating Optimism" also helped me better understand many of my patients, and I've recommended it to colleagues. We need to keep in mind that it's the relationship our patients have with us and others that's the real cure.

The most moving part of the book to me was how Bob and Alicia share about how their relationship was the most important part of Alicia's healing. I was blown away by the pages at the end, where Bob describes what it was like for him to live with and love a severely depressed person-including his frustration at times and his need for strong boundaries- and how he learned to become part of the solution without losing himself.

I really recommend "Creating Optimism" to anyone who suffers from depression and anxiety, works professionally with people who do, or cares about someone who does.

A while ago I bought the book "Creating Optimism" on Amazon. I bought it because I was desperate and my depression had brought me to near suicide (I have seriously tried to kill myself on a number of occasions).

I have survived not just physical and sexual abuse in my childhood, but also well-intentioned but fruitless therapy and a wide variety of antidepressants. None helped. I didn't understand why my parents had mistreated me and what motivated the uncle who molested whom and who everyone thought was so kind. I always though that it was somehow my fault.

However, after reading Bob Murray and Alicia Fortinberry's book I can now understand what drove them. I can see that they were victims of a society gone mad. However the most valuable thing, for me, was the final understanding that it was not my fault-none of it: not the beatings, not the sexual molesting, not the enduring criticism.

I now see their actions in the light of their family history. It was so liberating to be able to put the pieces together with the help of the book's clearly laid out exercises. For the first time in my life I feel truly innocent. Everyone who has suffered abuse of whatever kind should get the book and be so liberated.

I can now move on. I have already ditched a boyfriend who was critical and who verbally abused me. I have found the strength to actively search for a better job and I have laid down boundaries with my parents and my fiends that I never could have done before. To the authors of "Creating Optimism" I say: Thank you, thank you!

The book had good tips, but I found it lacking in some areas. The gist of the book is that depression is perpetuated and enabled by our highly individualistic society. In a hunter-gatherer society, no one is allowed to get depressed; in our Western society it happens all the time. The premise of the book is fine and I applaud the authors for their innovative approach. Sadly we've become a therapy/medicine obsessed culture whereas we feel that all of our problems can be solved by going to a doctor or professional. As such, the authors rightly tap into the fact that humans have been healing themselves from depression - long before psychology and psychiatry - mainly through the power of spirituality and the power of healing relationships.

With that said, I have two problems with the book. One, while there were a lot of gold nuggets here and there, the Uplift program is a little hard to follow without a trained professional to help. I think the authors know that, which leads me to believe that they are using this book primarily to advertize their innovative treatment as opposed to using this book to help individuals like me who suffer from depression. My second beef is that not all the time are great fulfilling networks and relationships possible. Their prescriptions for creating satisfying relationships seemed a little cursory and superficial and not very realistic in all situations. Near the end of the book, I started to think the book shouldn't be called "Creating Optimism," but rather, "Creating Fulfilling Relationships with Yourself and Others," or maybe "The Joys of Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Communication."

Other than that, I think "Creating Optimism" is a great companion book for many other self-help books out there.

As a doctor I would like to recommend this book to everyone. Research has shown 80% of all the patients physicians see are clinically depressed. This book will help them overcome their illness and by doing so it will do much to lower the rapidly rising healthcare costs in this country.

Fortinberry and Murray understand healing. Their knowledge of the whole person is more than profound. The chapter on how depression affects the body and how it somatizes (ie mimics physical illness) is so clear that I have copied it and am giving it as a hand-out to my patients.

As a scientist I appreciate the wealth of research that has gone into the writing of theis volume. As a holder of deep spiritual values I applaud their inclusion of a chapter on spirituality as a healing mechanism.

This is a clear, articulate book and I welcome it.

"Creating Optimism" is based on the very successful Uplift Program at the University of South Florida where I attended it. The book is a brilliant recreation of that experience.
Before I took the Uplift (two years ago) I had lived with a lifetime (40 years) of depression. The techniques I learned at the Uplift allowed me to break free--and stay free--of it. I believe the book will perform the same miracle for anyone with a serious mood disorder.
The authors maintain that the main secret to healing from depression lies in changing the basis of relationships and in learning how to get functional needs met. In this way the appropriate boundaries that were not allowed for in childhood can be created and a person can feel safe enough to grow and change.
These new, supportive relationships act as a buffer against the turmoil, uncertainty and isolation of the modern world. The authors believe that all relationships must meet the fundamental human needs for physical safety, emotional security, attention and importance and the how-to of this forms the central theme of the book.
"Creating Optimism" describes how our modern society breeds depression by forcing us to live in ways which we as a species were not designed to live. Dr. Bob Murray is a prominant evolutionary psychologist (though by no means a genetic determinist as some of his fellow EPs are)and his insights on this topic are very valuable. He gives little, yet fascinating, insights such as the fact that the higher you live or work in a building the more depressed you become and that just having a pot plant in your office can reduce your stress level.
Alicia Fortinberry, who is a Feldenkrais (body work) practitioner as well as a psychotherapist shows how your body image and even your posture can influence your mood.
The book outlines how to raise your level of self-esteem, discover your sense of purpose and also get in touch with your innate spirituality.
Creating Optimism is well written and free of jargon and the authors back up their points with nresearch.
As well as practical exercises and tips to speed the recovery process the book contains three beautifully written meditations. These alone made the book worthwhile for me!

I read this book when I was recovering both from heart surgery and major depression. I had been told by my doctors that the two were linked-that depression was one of the contributory factors in heart disease-but I never really realized the force of the link until I read "Creating Optimism."
Since my surgery I have been doing the easy-to-follow exercises in the book and have been looking at my life through a whole new prism. I have new and more positive ways of looking at my past, at my relationships, at my work, at my family. The book presents a veritable lifestyle change.
It is six months since I bought the original hardback edition and I have changed. I am a different person. I am actually beginning to like myself. Occasionally the depressive thoughts come back, but the book has given me the tools to prevent these becoming a full-blown depressive incident.
I have been buying copies of the new edition (the paperback) to give to my friends. I hope they read it. If they do they, too, will change.
I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from depression or anxiety, who has trouble-as I did-with forming truly supportive relationships or is faced with a serious health challenge.

This is a well-researched and highly readable and practical book.

I saw the authors on television, and then I attended one of their talks and subsequently bought "Creating Optimism". From the first I found their ideas very persuasive and the book has certainly helped me get myself out of the funk that I was in.

Anyone who has suffered from serious depression will know that good days are like a fog and bad days are painful. They will share my experience of alternating between sadness and anxiety. They'll know how hard it is to connect with other people and to form solid relationships with friends and family.

Alicia Fortinberry and Bob Murray, in their talks and in the book, showed me that it was possible for me to reach out to those around me and find help. Using their techniques I was able to tell people what I really needed from them in ways that they could understand and which did not make me feel "needy".

For a long time I had been separated emotionally from my husband and my daughter. I thought that my dark moods were driving them away and I had just about given up. How long ago that seems!

All three of us have read the book now and we have all learned a great deal about each other and ourselves. We are able to talk to each other more openly, to hold what the authors call a "family pow-wow". My mood has lifted considerably and for the first time I really have hope for the future.

I would recommend this book to anyone who suffers from depression or anxiety and also to anyone who lives or works with a sufferer. I've read many self-help books and this is the only one that really worked for me.

This is a great book , it gives excellent insight into the base causes of depression and practical and easy to follow steps on how to go about overcoming depression . I can't recommend it highly enough for those who have found depression a reoccuring pattern in there lives. You can work through this with the help of this seven step program and you'll never look back. And it's on going with a website that you can visit to keep up with any new information , fantastic effort to Bob and Alicia you have given the world a great gift,

It's rare that you come across a self-help book that has something genuinely new to say. This is such a book. What's new is a basic assumption that human beings are essentially relationship-forming animals, that we are mentally and physically well to the extent that our relationships are supportive and lasting and vice versa when they are not. Lasting depression essentially represents a relationship failure, especially in nearly youth and that its cure lies in forming relationships in adulthood that will erase the scars of early trauma.

The authors' mission in this book is to show readers how they can escape from pessimism and depression by changing the basis of their relationships. They claim that we have lost the art of living together the way we were meant to and that this is the root cause of our present appalling rise in social dysfunction, divorce, pessimism and individual disempowerment (a prime factor in our very high levels of child and spousal abuse).

Fortinberry and Murray set out to show that healing, like physical and emotional trauma, comes from the outside in-contrary to what much of the pop-psychology industry would have us believe. The curative outside factor comes from being in supportive relationships. Much of the book is taken up with the how-to of forming these connections. The exercises that they suggest are illuminating, clear and easy to follow.

Unlike many self-help books this one is really thoroughly researched and is grounded in the most recent findings in neurology and anthropology as well as psychology and psychiatry.

"Creating Optimism" is quickly becoming a controversial must-read among my fellow academic psychologists and may well completely change the way psychotherapy is taught