Customer Reviews

Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression

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*****
This book, written by a psychiatrist who himself has suffered from depression, will be controversial because it describes depression as "the beginning of an unfolding process of self-awareness, not the grim end of a disease process". The author challenges the prevailing model of depression as a medical illness, basing everything upon current brain research and current medical research dealing with depression. This is a very, very important book, one that every person who deals with depression should read.

If you are looking for a quick and dirty way of dealing with depression and want to take medication only, and from then on never think about depression or your life again beyond renewing your prescription, you would do better by NOT buying this book. Recovery from depression does take some work. On the other hand, if you want to know more about current research with SSRI's and view medication as only a part of your approach to dealing with depression, you should DEFINITELY buy this book. If you are like me and wish that you didn't have to take medication at all, and are willing to do some work to recover, you should absolutely buy it---you will love it and benefit greatly from it as I have.

If you want to know what research truly says about SSRI's it's here and more besides. Step-by-step techniques and tools. Examples that I could relate to. Integrating diet and exercise--what is shown to work and what doesn't. Supplementation. Support. Meditation. Movement. Awareness. Obstacles on your journey. Spirituality. There is a chapter on "the dark night of the soul", which includes dealing with suicidal thoughts. Alternative practitioners and alternative supplementation (including SamE, St. John's Wort, and rhodiola. There are huge appendices filled with resources to help you to find out more about every aspect of depression recovery. And of course, for clinicians and others, there are references to formal studies.

"Unstuck" is a resource manual---a bible, even---for depression recovery. It is important for those who have depression and for those who love them and for others who want to know what experts now know about all of the approaches to depression recovery.

Highly recommended.
*****

UPDATE 7-14-08: I just wanted to add that I in no way disparage people who need or want a "medication only" approach for depression. Apparently my review has given this impression to at least one person, and I regret this. Perhaps this will be clearer: if you are adamant that you want pharmaceuticals, and ONLY pharmaceuticals, and you don't care about any integrative adjuvant approaches, AND you don't care what any studies say about the medication you are taking, your money would be wasted by purchasing this book. If you are happy and cured of your depression, in your own estimation, then you are indeed fortunate and certainly would not want this book. You would not be or feel stuck, and thus would not want to be "unstuck".

Length:: 2:16 Mins

Most if not all of the things Dr. Gordon recommends are excellent strategies not only for people who are mildly or moderately depressed (conditions that I think probably shouldn't be referred to as depression at all to avoid confusion), but for everyone else, too.

However, for those who are seriously and severely disabled by depression, but who still have just enough energy to read, I think you can get a more complete and balanced view of the situation with some additional or alternative material.

A good start would be reading the following articles by fellow depressive Therese Borchard (on the web - find through a search engine).
"Don't Get Stuck on "Unstuck": Depression Is Real, and Drugs Help Me"
"The Latest on Antidepressants: Be Careful Where You Get Your Facts"

Then, especially if you've read "Unstuck," I think you'll have truly balanced and thorough basis to make a recovery plan for yourself if you read (or listen to as an audio book) "Against Depression" by Peter Kramer.

A final caveat about Dr. Gordon's book: Several elements of his recommendations contain an underlying - sometimes subtle, sometimes not so much - suggestion that depression is fundamentally a character flaw, or something that can be eliminated simply through alterations in a defective worldview, etc.
It's true that everyone needs to take as much responsibility as possible for their own lives. Needless to say it's also true that a symptom of depression is negative and unhealthy thinking. But for people who have major depression it's not helpful to frame the problem in ways that might lead to even more self-recrimination. In fact, I think that can make the problem and the consequences far worse.

If you have serious depression, especially in repeat episodes, there is considerable science pointing toward a probability that you have a biological injury, not just a "weakness."
So here's an analogy: If you have a bullet in your foot, it really doesn't matter whether you shot yourself or whether someone else shot you, or whether someone handed you the gun and encouraged you to do it, etc. The injury is the same, and you need to get serious help before you bleed to death. And if you have serious depression, get serious help before your life ticks away in confusion and despair.

So the Gordon book may be helpful, or not, depending on you, your history, and your current situation.

I'm almost sorry that I read this book. On one hand, the author really put together a fairly comprehensive and well-thought out set of treatment recommendations. I have no doubt that there would be tremendous benefit to the wholistic approach of yoga, meditation, social interaction, improved diet, and exercise, etc. in overcoming many instances of depression - but not all. In the depths of gloom and doom, it can be difficult, if not impossible, just to do something as trivial as brush your teeth or clean yourself in the morning let alone find the strength to self-motivate and begin - as well as sustain - a progam similar to the approach described above.

The author further indicates that he typically obtains better results with a depressed patient after 10-12 weeks of therapy than he would have had the patient received anti-depressant treatment. I can't dispute his findings, but I do question them, particularly in acutely depressed patients. Of course, one of the main themes of the book is that anti-depressants are of little to no use, which is effectively throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It's just too extreme a reaction, in my opinion.

While I agree that they are certainly wildly overprescribed, I just don't think anti-depressants are useless. Moreover, I do not share the author's view that most/all depression has no organic basis and therefore can be treated by wholistic methods alone. One treatment method in the book, for example, was some kind of cognitive therapy where the patient was taught to avoid 'self-defeating' thoughts. I call that the 'Cancel That Thought Therapy', or the 'Don't Think of an Elephant in the Room Therapy', and as far as I'm concerned, it's a pretty useless approach - at least that's been my experience.

In summary, I do think that this book provides a ton of very good things that would enrich anyone's life. But in the case of seriously depressed people, I believe that anti-depressants may provide at least some kind of short-term intervention that wholistic methods alone (or together!) may not be able to. On balance, despite it's usefullness, I find it difficult to recommend this book unequivocally based on these criteria.

This is an excellent book; well structured, easy read, with a plan anyone can follow. Each section build on the other. He explains the why and wherefore and then give a Rx at the end of each chapter. This process can used by itself or,in connection with your peronal medical professionals.

I particularly like the alternatives methods which he explains,in depth,so that a person can make their own informed choices. Personally, I am a vitamin and mineral advocate, but I know many who are quite pleased with herbal remedies.

It takes courage to buck the system and I am thrilled to see MD's starting to open the door to alternative ways. I have worked in hospitals for years and have seen the other side of the drug industry. They do just as much harm as they do good,in my opinion, and I think it takes courage to stand up and lead the way to safer health care.

It is definately on my reading and referral list to my clients as well as fellow medical professionals.

As the Nurse Navigator for a large Women's Health Center, I met with nearly one-third of the women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in Sonoma County, California. I have suggested this book to some of my patients, as well as to some of my hundreds of patients in my Cardiovascular Health Assessment Program.

You don't have to be depressed to benefit from Unstuck. Dr. Jim Gordon's beautifully written book offers a model of simple practices yoked with profound insight for all of us during those inevitable times in our lives when we feel stressed, anxious, confused, conflicted or overwhelmed.

Dr. Gordon offers scientifically-sound and research-validated approaches combined in a way anyone can learn. If you seek to build on your own strengths, regain your sense of humor, restore your sense of meaning, mobilize your inner resiliency, and improve your mood and optimism about the future, look here.

Everyone knows we "should relax," but, really, how can we do that at times when life feels difficult and chaotic? This work provides the EXPERIENCE of being able make a difference in our own daily lives. If we learn we can quiet ourselves a little bit, that opens up the possibility we can feel a little more peaceful, think a little more clearly, and begin to heal ourselves and our communities.

Here is the model Dr. Gordon and people trained by him have used around the world with people facing cancer or chronic illness; the 52 children in the yellow school bus that careened to the edge of the collapsing Minneapolis bridge; shell-shocked young breast feeding mothers in a war zone; survivors of Hurricane Katrina; 9/11 firefighters and their families; stressed-out nurses and physicians; victims of Apartheid; war-traumatized children; Palestinians and Israelis in groups together; orphaned girls; former prisoners; people who have lived through torture; child soldiers from Mozambique; professionals who care for traumatized populations; and now, soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Jim Gordon is a highly-respected Harvard educated physician and clinical professor in the departments of psychiatry and family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington D.C.

"Unstuck" is richly and authentically written. You can hear Jim's incredibly kind voice and generosity of spirit and compassion and open heartedness and the best of well-wishes for your well-being.

Living here in California near a river prone to flooding, we ponder, "What would I take with me if the waters drew near?" For me, Jim's book and the CDs from my trainings with him would certainly be in my duffel.

Having suffered from chronic depression for most of my adult life, I admit that I began reading this book with some doubt and trepidation. I have read many books on depression, including Peter Kramer's books and many others. I have been on several anti-depressants over the years, but found something lacking eventually with all of them. I have also tried counseling - got alot of insights, but still didn't feel quite right. Dr. Gordon's book hooked me from the very beginning...he has a very calm and considered approach to depression, and began the book with his very own experience with depression while in medical school. Finally - a psychiatrist who will admit that he too has suffered from this hideous malady!

Each chapter provides many meaningful and common-sense approaches to helping oneself through depressive episodes. I don't think Dr. Gordon is so much "anti-drug" as he is against what he perceives as the overuse and over-prescribing of these drugs as a panacea for all mood problems and negative life experiences, such as divorce or death of loved ones. I have already seen the value of some of his wonderful suggestions, especially the use of exercise and meditation in fighting depressive feelings and hopelessness. There is also a glossary at the back of the book with a list of numerous resources for the reader to use in trying to find support during down periods.

Thank you, Dr. Gordon, for providing this excellent book for those of us who know that the answer to our angst does not necessarily lie in a medicine bottle, but in also actively finding the resources and support to help heal ourselves.

James Gordon, MD, opens his new book with the following bold statement: "Depression is not a disease, the end point of a pathological process...It's a wake-up call and the start of a journey that can help us become whole and happy, a journey that can change and transform our lives."
This may not sound like the typical perspective of a Western-trained psychiatrist, but Gordon is not your typical psychiatrist. He is a leader in the field of integrative medicine, having founded the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC, and served as the chairman on the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. In Unstuck, Gordon provides a holistic and hopeful approach to living with and moving beyond depression. Yoga and meditation play an important role in his approach, but they are just two pieces in a surprisingly comprehensive guide to everything from antidepressant medications and Chinese herbs, to forgiveness and spirituality.
Gordon presents depression as a hero's journey with seven stages: (1) The call, when you become aware that some kind of change or journey is needed; (2) Finding guides for your journey, which may include everything from a psychotherapist to a Yoga therapist (Gordon wisely suggests the reader search for such a guide through IAYT's online membership directory) to your own inner guide; (3) Surrender to change; (4) Dealing with demons, including negative thoughts, loneliness, and perfectionism; (5) The dark night of the soul, or dealing with despair and even suicidal thoughts; (6) Reconnecting to spirituality; and (7) The return to living every day with joy, courage, and conscious awareness.
Although Gordon is not himself a Yoga therapist, he has studied Yoga and meditation, and much of his guidance reflects basic Yogic wisdom and some of the key principles of Yoga therapy and Ayurveda. For example, Gordon argues that the two first steps for healing depression are experiencing a sense of connection, and developing the capacity for compassionate self-awareness through meditation. Gordon goes on to explore the mind-body connection in both directions, looking at how thoughts and emotions influence the physical body, and how working with the physical body through Yoga, exercise, diet, and herbs can influence the symptoms of depression. He rejects the disease model of depression and argues that all challenges, including depression, can be the basis for self-understanding and well-being.
Gordon also rejects universal claims that any one approach to healing will be appropriate for everyone. He emphasizes the importance of finding balance based on an individual's present condition, and paying attention to what is true for the individual. Gordon reminds the reader of this whether he is discussing the role of diet in depression, how to practice Yoga with awareness, or how to choose a psychotherapist.
Unstuck is not a be-all, end-all prescriptive guide to healing depression. Instead, Gordon serves as kind of guide to the guides, using his professional experience and expertise to point out how the reader can develop a personal approach to healing. He does not pretend to be the world's leading expert on every healing path that he recommends readers explore. Instead, he provides an empowering and hopeful perspective that will help readers explore every aspect of their lives, and as many healing modalities as they find appealing.
Gordon takes seriously his responsibility to help readers make one-on-one connections with professionals who can offer advice tailored to the individual. The chapter on how to choose specific guides to work with is compelling and noticeably absent in other "self-help" books. He emphasizes that any guide, whether a physician or a spiritual teacher, should know how to create a safe haven, and should be welcoming, generous, and courageous. Gordon himself models this approach in how he talks to the reader and shares his own experience with depression.
There are few books that serve this role, and I think that it is an excellent model for the kind of work that healing professionals hope to do. We know how important it is to address all aspects of one's being, but we do not necessarily have the expertise to guide a client in nutrition, Western medicine, Eastern medicine, psychotherapy, and meditation. Gordon's book illustrates how to be a guide that connects an individual to many healing paths, while emphasizing a holistic, Yogic perspective. For that reason, I recommend the book to anyone who hopes to guide individuals on a path of healing and compassionate self-awareness.

Having been through a depression or two myself, and having had limited results with medication, I love the way this book approaches the subject. I think our society just relies too heavily on medication for an illness that goes so much further beyond creating a cure for a "chemical imbalance". I realize this may not be for everyone, and some people may really need medication to get by. For the most part, I am living proof that a depressed person can get better without medication, and lead a relatively happy. A lof of these steps I found out for myself and on my own - I only wish this book was around 20 years ago when I was caught up in the mother of all depressions. I highly recommend this for everyone.

Jim Gordon's Unstuck is the first book I know of that gives away the store. To gain this insight in the past would have cost you years of therapy, drug testing and miserable years of life. In this book you get all of it summarized and explained in depth. By reading this book you can help yourself and avoid all the wasted time and visits to pill pushers.
Dr. Gordon is a genius and has shaken the industry that has grown around depression treatment to its roots. His writing is clear and careful as well as easy to read. Thank you Dr. Gordon!