The Good News About Depression: Cures And Treatments In The New Age Of Psychiatry [Paperback]

Mark S. Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

Ten years ago pioneering biopsychiatrist Mark S. Gold, M.D. wrote a visionary guide to the effective new medical therapies emerging for the treatment of depression. Now, in this newly revised edition of his classic book, Dr. Gold does it again. The new Good News reveals how, in just a decade, sophisticated new research and drug therapies have revolutionized the care of all types of depression.

This essential resource includes:

-New treatments for depression and manic depression for 1995 and on the horizon for approval

-New diagnostic guidelines for different types of depression,including crucial tests many physicians omit

-The most common illnesses that mimic depression

-New tools to treat depression, such as light therapy and hormone therapy

-An all-new chapter on Prozac and other state-of-the-art medications

-New information on depression in women, children, and seniors

-Vital new approaches to relapse prevention.

Plus a complete guide to self-help, and indepth advice on getting and evaluating the proper treatment.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Ten years ago pioneering biopsychiatrist Mark S. Gold, M.D. wrote a visionary guide to the effective new medical therapies emerging for the treatment of depression. Now, in this newly revised edition of his classic book, Dr. Gold does it again. The new Good News reveals how, in just a decade, sophisticated new research and drug therapies have revolutionized the care of all types of depression.

This essential resource includes:

-New treatments for depression and manic depression for 1995 and on the horizon for approval

-New diagnostic guidelines for different types of depression,including crucial tests many physicians omit

-The most common illnesses that mimic depression

-New tools to treat depression, such as light therapy and hormone therapy

-An all-new chapter on Prozac and other state-of-the-art medications

-New information on depression in women, children, and seniors

-Vital new approaches to relapse prevention.

Plus a complete guide to self-help, and indepth advice on getting and evaluating the proper treatment. Mark S. Gold, M.D., F.C.P., F.A.P.A. is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He has received numerous awards and patents for his research, including the invention of new treatments and the use of laboratory tests in psychiatry. Dr. Gold has played a leading role in international, national, and local drug abuse prevention programs.

From the Inside Flap

Ten years ago pioneering biopsychiatrist Mark S. Gold, M.D. wrote a visionary guide to the effective new medical therapies emerging for the treatment of depression. Now, in this newly revised edition of his classic book, Dr. Gold does it again. The new Good News reveals how, in just a decade, sophisticated new research and drug therapies have revolutionized the care of all types of depression.

This essential resource includes:

-New treatments for depression and manic depression for 1995 and on the horizon for approval

-New diagnostic guidelines for different types of depression,including crucial tests many physicians omit

-The most common illnesses that mimic depression

-New tools to treat depression, such as light therapy and hormone therapy

-An all-new chapter on Prozac and other state-of-the-art medications

-New information on depression in women, children, and seniors

-Vital new approaches to relapse prevention.

Plus a complete guide to self-help, and indepth advice on getting and evaluating the proper treatment.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Rev Sub edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553372149
• ISBN-13: 978-0553372144
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,911,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of Overlooked Medical Causes of Depression, August 15, 2000

By 

Syd Baumel (Winnipeg, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good News About Depression: Cures And Treatments In The New Age Of Psychiatry (Paperback)

The work of Mark Gold and his associates was an eye-opener for me when I was researching (author's book plug alert) the first edition of my book, Dealing with Depression Naturally. It was they who discovered, over 20 years ago, that there is a substantial subgroup of depressives - mostly middle-aged women - who are resistant to therapy because they have a relatively mild or subclinical degree of hypothyroidism that eludes diagnosis unless sensitive, seldom employed tests are used. Thankfully, "the thyroid solution" is finally being recognized by the mainstream. But Gold et al. (and other "biopsychiatrists") are hip to a much, much broader array of established medical/physical illnesses and conditions (literally 100 or so) that also can cause or promote the symptoms of depression, without attracting the attention of the average doctor bent on whipping out the old prescription pad after a cursory physical examination and history, at best.

This book - written with the help of a popular writer to make it an easy read for the average Jane and Joe - will educate you (and your doctor, if s/he is willing) about the range of hidden (if you don't look, they're still "hidden") medical/physical causes that could be causing or contributing to your depression (but not including some of the fringier ones, like brain allergies and Candida) and how to rule them in or out and, in many cases, treat THEM instead of the secondary depresion. With authoritative estimates that up to 50% of depressions are accompanied by physical illnesses that could be playing a causative role - and preventing depressives from recovering fully or at all, even when treated with the latest, greatest drugs (which Gold also discusses in depth, but circa 1995, along with a few natural alternatives and adjuncts) - this kind of knowledge is real power.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, September 4, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good News About Depression: Cures and Treatments in the New Age of Psychiatry (Paperback)

Anyone with a history of depression or anyone you know and care about should have the opportunity to read this book. Most of the psychiatrists and analysts in this country are not up on the latest medications available. Psychiatry is on the edge of a new frontier in the diagnosis and care of mental illness.Mental illness is a physical illness caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. It is a disease in the same way that diabetes is a disease, so no one should feel embarrassed about it and no one should be so prideful as to not seek out the best care available. Depression can be treated with new "wonder" drugs. I know because I suffered a lifetime of depression for lack of proper diagnosis and treatment. My treatment with the proper drugs administered by a COMPETENT (very important) psychiatrist has changed my whole life to a life that has not been as pleasant since I was a child ( I'm 55). This book explains how to go about getting a modern diagnosis. - Edward Dinneweth

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Penultimate Diagnosis and Treatment, February 5, 2004

By 

J. Johnson (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good News About Depression: Cures And Treatments In The New Age Of Psychiatry (Paperback)

In 1986, the psychiatrists in Canada insisted on trying a series of antidepressants on me, even though I told them that I could not tolerate them. I could not tell them exactly what was going on, but suffice to say that the things that you hear about anti-depressants instigating suicide, violence, and/or homicide are true. The doctors then wanted to hospitalize me and give me Halperidol to suppress the effects of the antidepressants! If I had let them do this, I am sure that I would never have recovered to a stable state.

In 1987 I came across a newspaper review of an earlier edition of "The Good News About Depression" by Dr. Gold. I read the book, and immediately made arrangements to go to Fair Oaks Hospital. I was tested and interviewed as a clinic outpatient, and within three days, the psychiatrist informed me that persons who exhibit the characteristics which I do (positive on depression indicator tests, intolerance of standard antidepressants) often respond to lithium treatment, even though they do not present bipolar symptoms. None of the MANY doctors with whom I consulted in Canada, including those at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, knew about this important fact. I responded quickly to lithium, and within a month I was able to work, after being "unstabled" to work for a year and one-half. Since then I take lithium prescribed by my family doctor, I have not been to see a psychiatrist since, and I have had no other therapy of any kind for 17 years. You will find lithium listed in the monograph as an "anti-manic agent", but for me it is the opposite, an antidepressant. Who knew? No one except the experts at Fair Oaks in Summit.

Dr. Gold and his associates are The Best, and this book is The Word! If you, or a member of your family, or a friend, has anything that seems to be incipient depression, then get this book. Get your physician to refer you, make an appointment and go right to the Fair Oaks Hostpital. It is your life. They are the real experts, and you will never be sorry. They will give your life back to you, just as they did for me.