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Cheri Huber

The Depression Book: Depression as an Opportunity for Spiritual Growth Paperback – September 1, 2004

by Cheri Huber (Author), June Shiver (Illustrator)

40 customer reviews

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This Zen guide to utilizing depression as an opportunity for spiritual growth and personal acceptance includes personal accounts, written excercises, and meditation instructions.

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About the Author

Cheri Huber is the author of 19 books, including There Is Nothing Wrong with You, When You're Falling, Dive,and Time-Out for Parents. She founded the Mountain View Zen Center in Mountain View, California, and the Zen Monastery Practice Center in Murphys, California, and teaches in both communities. She travels widely and often, leading workshops and retreats around the United States and abroad, most recently in Costa Rica and Italy. She founded Living Compassion in 2003, a nonprofit group comprised of There Is Nothing Wrong With You Retreats (based on the book); Global Community for Peace: The Assisi Peace Project; The Africa Vulnerable Children Project; and Open Air Talk Radio, her weekly call-in radio show originating from Stanford University. She lives in Murphys, California.

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Keep It Simple Books; Revised edition edition (September 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 096362556X
ISBN-13: 978-0963625564
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 40 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #281 in Zen Philosophy (Books)
- #343 in Zen Spirituality
- #533 in Depression (Books)

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TLD in Oregon

Love parts of this book

February 11, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

There are very fine lines between acceptance and giving up, between acknowledging a person's power to (re)shape their own thinking and blaming that person for her depression. In The Depression Book, Cheri Huber leads us along that fine line, perhaps straying from it at times. There is a lot of wisdom in this book, and even if we may have read it elsewhere, it feels fresh in the hand-lettered text and in the advice to throw ourselves a depression party, if we need to. Accepting our feelings, all of them, even depression, is indeed a crucial part of the path to health. Towards the end of the book, Huber moves away from writing about acceptance and instead talks about changing our thoughts. This is where it can be easy to read some of the pages as a statement that, "if you just thought the right way, you wouldn't have a problem." I don't think it's meant that way, but I do think that part of the book is not helpful to someone in the midst of a depressive episode. But when you're feeling a bit better, it could be very useful to someone who already has a meditation practice and/or knows something about Zen Buddhism.

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Mira Celeste Nissim

Good book. I read this as a teen and ...

March 20, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Good book. I read this as a teen and gave it to a friend recently to help him out of depression! Hoping he reads it because it has great tips.

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Dan

Puts depression into perspective

November 3, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The Depression Book reviews many different techniques for lightening depression and it does it in a very loving, conversational way. But more than techniques, it provides different perspectives that allow you to frame depression differently and using it for growth. Some have criticized it for not providing solutions for overcoming depression, but I would say that it simply goes about it differently. It emphasizes loving yourself and view the depression as a message rather than an affliction.

It is true that it doesn't present anything really new, but it is a great reminder that life, depression included, can be viewed in different ways and we can choose how we want to view it.

4 people found this helpful

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Kim Boykin

On depression & spiritual practice

October 23, 2000

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a book on using depression as fodder for your spiritual practice. It is handwritten, with cute illustrations, and the style is conversational and down-to-earth. It is not mainly about how to get less depressed but, rather, about how to suffer less and have more compassion for yourself in the midst of depression, and in the midst of all states of being. While you're very depressed, this book may just scare you and/or piss you off (that was my reaction when I first flipped through it in a bookstore), but I highly recommend it for when you're on the upswing.

Cheri Huber is a Zen teacher, and her approach may especially appeal to folks who practice Zen or a similar form of meditation, but I don't think the words "Zen" or "Buddhism" appear anywhere in the text. The last few pages give instructions in a simple form of meditation involving attention to the breathing.

I also recommend John & Andrea Nelson's "Sacred Sorrows," a collection of essays on a wide variety of approaches to depression, including ways of healing depression and also ways of embracing depression and finding meaning in it. And if you're interested in Zen, you might want to take a look at Philip Martin's "The Zen Path through Depression," which mixes together insights about using Zen to alleviate depression and using Zen to suffer less in the midst of depression.

57 people found this helpful

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Katie

A "New" Way to Deal With Depression

November 13, 2005

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is one of those books that, after you read it, you're glad you ordered it - and glad you read it (instead of putting in that "I'll get to it later" pile)...

"The Depression Book" offers a "new" way for those who suffer from depression to deal with it - I placed the word "new" in quotes because, apparently, the approach offered is one that has been practiced in certain spiritual groups (namely Zen Buddhism) for a very long time.

This approach may seem a bit radical at first, but it makes a lot of sense. The idea is that the depression we feel is based on something else - something underneath the feelings of depression. It's also based on the idea that we tend to beat ourselves up for being depressed - we are not nearly as compassionate to ourselves as we would be to our loved ones... And this "beating up" process leads us to stay in a place of depression far longer than we have to.

One of the ideas that I found especially helpful is that it's okay to be depressed. We have been told, and have come to believe, that depression is somehow "wrong", and we judge ourselves harshly for allowing ourselves to have that experience - yet many times we learn the most about ourselves during times of pain - and depression can be one of those times.

As in Cheri's other books, it all boils down to compassion - the best thing we can do for ourselves is to love ourselves as we love other's - to be just as compassionate to ourselves, as we would be to a friend or family member that was depressed.

There are many great ideas on how we can look at depression differently, as well as what we can do when we are in the midst of it.

Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone who suffers from depression (whether it's frequent or not), as well as those who have loved ones who tend to have this experience. It's easy to read, and filled with a wealth of wisdom - and you can't beat the price!

43 people found this helpful

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Jeff Sartain

Interesting Unconventional Book

July 7, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A very interesting book that has no beginning or end. There are pearls of wisdom shattered through out the book.

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Charles Horowitz, Ph.D.

Great, on how to relate differently to your depressed thoughts and feelings

May 17, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A superb book for many, not for everyone. It's cognitive behavioral thought's intersection with Buddhism: how to relate differently to your depressed thoughts and feelings. I've had and loaned many copies to clients. Much better to me than the famous "Feeling Good," which is too long and slow for most depressed people I've known.

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Amazon Customer

I've bought this book a number of times to pass along.

April 8, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Bought to pass on to a friend; I benefited greatly from it. I love it.

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