The Depression Advantage (Paperback)

by Tom Wootton (Author)
Key Phrases: seeing depression, bipolar condition, being bipolar, The Depression Advantage, John of the Cross, The Saints That Moved the World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
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

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

Product Description
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.

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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: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #645,443 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Phyllis le chat (Elgin, IL United States) - See all my reviews

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!

8 of 9 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 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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great hope for living a full life with depression, November 29, 2007

By	Katie (Florida) - See all my reviews

Finally, a book about depression that doesn't try to make you replace "sad" thoughts with "happy" thoughts. It was really refreshing to find a book so down to earth about the realities of depression that also gave me great hope for living a full life even though I have depression. This book explores what it really means to live with depression full time and not be afraid of it. I especially liked the examples of the lives of the Saints and what it meant to them to live with the symptoms of depression.