When Someone You Love is Depressed: How to Help Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself [Paperback]

Laura Epstein Rosen (Author), Xavier Francisco Amador (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 1997

Many books have been written for those suffering from depression, but what if you're suffering becuase someone you love is depressed? Research shows that if you are close to a depressed person, you are at a much higher risk of developing problems yourself, including anxiety, phobias, and even a kind of contagious depression.

In this authoritative and compassionate book, psychologists Laura Epstein Rosen and Cavier Francisco Amador explain the mechanisms of depression that can cause communication breakdown, increase hostility, and ultimately destroy relationships. Through compelling real-life stories and step-by-step advice, the authors teach concrete methods that you and your loved one can use to protect yourselves and your relationship from depression's impact. Drawing on their own innovative research, the give sensitive guidance about how to recognize your needs, how to provide the best kind of support, and how to encourage the depressed person to seek treatment. Whether you are the partner, parent, friend, or child of a depressed person, you'll find this book and invaluable companion in you journey back to health.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Feeling overburdened by your elderly depressed mother? Or maybe you're a parent worried about your withdrawn son. In either instance, this latest title from Rosen, director of family therapy at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, can help. Rosen's work is not as much about the causes and symptoms of depression as about how depression affects relationships. The author's ultimate goal is to help readers learn strategies to counter interaction problems, and she succeeds in this attempt. This empowering title will help readers and their loved one to speed their recovery and to safeguard the relationship against the weight of depression. Every chapter provides step-by-step guidelines for countering the negative effects of depression; special circumstances such as substance abuse or suicidal inclinations are also addressed. This is a solid purchase for all psychology collections.?Marty Dean Evensvold, Magnolia P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Those unfortunate souls who suffer from clinical depression experience extended periods of bleakness so intense it can render them unable to function. But other victims of this disease include the spouses, families, and friends of the depressed, and it is for them that psychologists Rosen and Amador have written this hopeful and empowering guide. When a loved one is afflicted with depression, it is not uncommon for those around them to feel anger, frustration, and despair. Physical ailments are common, too. After showing how to recognize depression in someone else, the authors discuss ways for friends and family to safeguard their own mental and physical health while aiding the depressed person. One key is to appreciate the inevitable communication problems between depressed people and others and to then work through this difficulty. Throughout, the message is that self-education leads to positive change. Brian McCombie --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; First Edition edition (September 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684834073
• ISBN-13: 978-0684834078
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Simple minded, January 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: When Someone You Love is Depressed: How to Help Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself (Paperback)

Someone I care for has just gone into a major clinical depression so I've been reading everything I could get my hands on to understand both him and the impact on me and our relationship. Of all the books I've read, this one was least helpful. Perhaps if I'd just hatched out of an egg and had no experience with life, it might give me information I didn't already have from living every day. It is so simple-minded, condescending and addresses the obvious so blandly - I felt it was a total waste of money. Anne Sheffield's book on Surviving when They're Depressed was a godsend - as was Terence Real's on men's depression. This one - gave me nothing at all. I don't usually slam things but this was useless in my opinion.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening to my own problems with his depression, August 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: When Someone You Love is Depressed: How to Help Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself (Paperback)

My lover has recently recognised that he suffers from depression and sought treatment for it. This book helped me to acknowledge and recognise many of my own strong emotional feelings, doubts and problems of the past months, that only now I'm realising were partly or wholly related to his depression and our inability to communicate about it without becoming overly emotional. It especially stresses the way that these reactions to depression are not only normal, but that you can put them to your benifit in the fight against depression. It stresses that suffering from someone else's depression is normal and that the solution is in working together, being more intimate and communicating better, rather than to think of giving up. It gives many tips and eyeopeners and things to hold on to when trying to change things, and stresses the power of communication. It does not have all the answers, but tries to make you stronger to find answers together. It gave me hope and reassured me about the strenght of our relation.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A repetitious book, lacking any real depth or insight., October 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: When Someone You Love is Depressed: How to Help Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself (Paperback)

A disappointingly flat investigation into the complexities of depression. The tone is often condescending and assumes unneccessarily that the reader is not yet convinced that their loved one is indeed depressed. If you know that you are dealing with a depressed individual you'll need a more sophisticated book than this disappointing and glorified brochure.