Customer Reviews

Overcoming Depression (Overcoming Childhood Trauma)

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I am surprised that this fantastic book has only 1 review. I just found it when I was wandering among the bookshelves in a local book store. As a patient living with depression I am not unfamiliar with cognitive behavioral therapy. I tried it for a while to deal with my anxiety but the book I was using back then was a bit too academic, although Overcoming Depression does use some of the same terminology and techniques.

I think one of the worst parts of depression is the shame associated with admitting that you have something wrong with your thought patterns. Ironically, this kind of thinking spirals in on itself and makes your depression worse. I was grateful to the author for pointing out that animals in captivity can also become depressed for many of the same reasons as humans. He points out the biological and evolutionary causes of depression and offers a very convincing approach to untying the Gordion knot of emotions that come with depression. He mentions self-compassion and a whole body (psycho-bio-social) approach to dealing with your depressive mindset.

Of course not everyone relates to the same author the same way and it could just be that my depression fits his therapy better than other authors. But I can say that I found his writing style to be "highly accessible...very readable and extraordinarily useful" as it says on the jacket cover. Using this book with a good therapist and with or without drugs, I think should help a number of people pull themselves out of the quagmire that is depression.

I must have looked through dozens of books when I was first diagnosed with depression. This one is absolutely the best. Insightful and caring without being swarmy or condescending (why do so many authors treat people with depression like they are children?). You'll see yourself in this book--I know I did.