The Depression Advantage [Paperback]

Tom Wootton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2007

In The Depression Advantage, Tom Wootton reveals his insight about the surprising advantages of the depressive state, with the view that people with mental conditions can lead extraordinary lives.

Tom has developed an entirely new system of representing the broad spectrum of emotional states experienced by people with mental conditions. His revolutionary ideas about redefining functionality and scale provide a powerful set of tools for those looking to turn their perceived 'illness' into a vehicle for a rich, fulfilling and successful life.

Drawing from historical and literary examples ranging from the lives of the Saints to Buddhist parables to pop culture heroes like the X-Men, The Depression Advantage demonstrates that physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain can be a catalyst for personal growth and transcendent understanding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Tom is doing something no one else is really doing. He is turning a serious mental illness on its head and suggesting that by accepting rather than fighting the disorder, people with bipolar can identify and access their strengths and lead lives that are not only satisfying but productive beyond their wildest imaginings. Tom is standing up to the pervasive deficit-based view of people with psychiatric disorders that is held by both mental health professionals and the lay public alike and saying with grace, humor, and the strength of personal experience that it is possible to take this disorder and live abundantly and creatively. Tom is helping people to both face up to their illness and to resist accepting a diminished story of their lives and futures through self-acceptance and cooperation with caring psychiatrists and therapists. Tom is ahead of the pack. He is staking out new territory and leading the way in showing people with brain-based disorders like bipolar that it is possible to live richly. --Maureen Duffy, Ph.D., Professor and Chairperson , The Counseling Program, Barry University

Tom Wootton takes existing medical care and augments it to a promising new level for all patients and their loved ones. The combination of accessible information and executive level presentation is a very exciting development. His work in the field offers the most logical and exciting path to success in mental health today. --Paul Cumming, Network of Care

About the Author

Tom Wootton brings many professional credits to his writing, talks and workshops. He taught accelerative learning for years to Fortune 500 companies including Visa, PeopleSoft, Network Associates, HP, Cisco, Ford, Nortel, Deloitte Consulting, KPMG, Lucent, SAP, Ericsson, British Telecom, AT&T, Nokia, Siemens, Charles Schwab and many more worldwide. Tom brings the same acumen to the field of mental health. 

Shortly after his own diagnosis with Bipolar, Tom quickly proposed a shift in the mental health paradigm. One that looks at the whole picture of living with the bipolar condition; both the good and the bad aspects. He developed Bipolar In Order Workshops and began facilitating workshops for people with bipolar, depression, their family and friends, and mental health professionals. His positive approach using tools and skills for improving life provided a new direction for people living with mental conditions. He is pioneering concepts of living with depression that no one else in the field of mental health is offering. 

In great demand as a public speaker, Tom regularly addresses the mental health community through regional and national appearances at professional conferences and seminars. He has now developed a series of workshops which he continues to teach around the U.S. to enthusiastic reviews from professionals, patients, friends and family.

Tom Wootton has become a passionate agent of change. He has produced lectures, podcasts, workshops and books in an effort to change the way everyone thinks about living with depression or bipolar conditions. 

Tom has developed an entirely new system of representing the spectrum of emotional states experienced by people with mental conditions. His revolutionary ideas about redefining functionality and scale provide a powerful set of tools for those seeking to change their perceived illness into a vehicle for a rich, fulfilling and successful life.

Tom Wootton founded Bipolar Advantage to get his message out to consumers and mental health professionals alike. Since 2003, he has addressed groups throughout the United States at state and national conferences on mental health. He has been working cooperatively with Mental Health leaders, government programs and consumer oriented groups. By helping people turn mental conditions into an advantage, Tom transforms lives from diminished to exceptional.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Bipolar Advantage (October 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977442322
• ISBN-13: 978-0977442324
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Wootton founded Bipolar Advantage with the mission to help people with mental conditions shift their thinking and behavior so that they can lead extraordinary lives. He challenges many of the pervasive attitudes about mental conditions and charts a different course that looks at the positive as well as negative aspects of mental conditions. He has worked tirelessly to change the paradigm of how we look at and treat mental conditions

Tom specialized in advanced, accelerative learning systems, which he taught to corporations, colleges, and high schools. His clients included: Visa, HP, Cisco, Ford, British Telecom, NSA, AT&T, Charles Schwab, Nokia, and many more worldwide. He began teaching workshops that he designed for bipolar and depression in 2002.

Tom Wootton has become a widely recognized speaker nationwide as a passionate agent of change in the field of mental health. He has given lectures and workshops for mental health advocacy groups, doctors, professionals, family and friends, and, of course, those who have mental conditions. Mental health clients include Kaiser Permanente, Orange County Behavioral Health, Riverside County Behavioral Health, San Bernardino County Behavioral Health, Mental Health Associations throughout California, and NAMI organizations nationwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acceptance and Awareness, September 12, 2007

By 

Phyllis Le Chat "Le Chat" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Depression Advantage (Paperback)

There is something truly inspiring and revolutionary about this book and its message - that there are advantages to be gained from depression. Recovery, self awareness, spirituality, perception of the light within the darkness. These can be the gifts leading to recovery, a condition made possible through our perserverance in the face of "almost" insurmountable despair. Tom Wootton has scored a major win in our - and I mean consumer and nonconsumer alike - battle to understand in depth some of the mystifying choices laid before us on the path of mental "illness", esp. as it pertains to those of us living with a bipolar condition. It is up to us to do something with our lives, to not give in absolutely to the absolute immobility of depression. The author goes with honesty, clarity, and self revelation, into the heart of depressive episodes, offering sufferers and their companions a new definition for functionality ("Redefining Functionality") which helped me gain a wonderful new perspective on my condition. He speaks of the great spiritual masters in history - St. Teresa, St. Anthony, Milarepa, St. John of the Cross, & St. Francis of Assisi - and of their own paths of transformation. Through their mental and emotional pain, through their examples, we have been given great evidence of recovery. And through the courage of people like Tom Wootton who share their deepest personal history, we have tools we can choose to use to our advantage. As he states so eloquently, "Through brain research, genetics, modern psychology, and the synthesis of knowledge from cultures across the globe, we stand at the crossroads of a new paradigm of mental health. I believe it is one that will change mental illness into an advantage for everyone." In a chapter discussing what we can learn from others' examples, he tells us that "They have already shown us the way...We have tools they never had...We don't have to suffer to succeed...We don't have to be depressed again...Our condition demands introspection and change." He outlines how we get there from here, wherever here is for us, to recovery.

I hope that this book stirs discussion among NAMI groups, Peer Recovery Specialists, Psychiatrists and other mental health care workers, DBSA groups, and all those who have yet to find the advantages that await them within. The culture of perfectionism that dictates a world without people like me in it needs to pick up this book and educate itself. I also hope that reading this book will induce more readership of Wootton's previous material, esp. "The Bipolar Advantage". It is crucial that people realize, wake up to the fact that being a person with a mental condition is not a death sentence, does not have to be held over their head as a stigma, they do not deserve to be eradicated from the earth through genetic manipulation. We have gifts beyond price if we can only learn to spin the straw into gold. Tom Wootton lucidly and in detail explains how this is possible if we choose to do the work. This book is inspiring, sure to provoke discussion, thoughtful, and very well written. Bravo!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Half-baked idea, March 28, 2011

By 

Stephen F. Wathen (DAVIS, CA, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Depression Advantage (Paperback)

I saw Tom talk to our NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) group recently. His books, which were written during manic episodes of his bipolar illness, seemed like the kind of ideas that might come from manic states. Or smoking dope. "Depression isn't a disadvantage, its an advantage!" "Why didn't I think of that before!" I listened to what Tom had to say but didn't hear many particulars. Although I was skeptical that he had anything really meaningful to say, I thought, "What if he does? It would be worth $20 bucks if he was right and it actually could change my whole life." I wish I had saved my $20 bucks. I would gladly send my book back for a refund.

Tom's book is the kind of book that gives "self-help books" a bad name. It promises so much more than it delivers - which are basically platitudes and further enticements for more insights. Assuming you are willing to shell out more money. In the last chapter of the book, which so far had delivered nothing much more than "every cloud has a silver lining," Tom makes mention of the one and two-day workshops he can sell you and his other book Bipolar Advantage.

Finally, Tom uses a big portion of the book telling us stories about saints who reached God by going through immense pain. Insinuating that we could do the same thing. I grew up Catholic and during church I we had a book "Lives of the Saints" that was available to read. Since mass was in Latin in those days and boring and repetitive, I read the book. The message I got from the book was that these saints came to God because of their love for him and their abilities to put up with the pain and still remain loyal to him. Not, as Tom would have us believe, because of the pain.

On the positive side, the book is well written. It just doesn't have much to offer except promises. The whole thing reminded me of a snake oil salesman. Buy this great product, it will cure all your illnesses. It will save your life." Balderdash! Don't say I didn't warn you. Save our money.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really makes an impact, November 13, 2007

By 

DallasMartha (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Depression Advantage (Paperback)

This book really had an impact on my life. I've had depressive bipolar states for as long as I can remember and dealing with this illness has become the most challenging thing in my life. When I started reading the book I was skeptical that there could be anything positive in depression, but I was looking for anything positive that might help me. Tom Wootton has created that in The Depression Advantage. It taught me to cope more effectively with my depression and how to find a spiritual richness that I never knew could exist in the midst of my depression. This book is not a fake cure all book. It's honest and straight forward and Tom writes in an easy to read style that makes it seem like the author is right there with you. I hope you will take the opportunity to give this book a try. I did and it helped me enormously.