My MS Log

Review by KV Trout:

This is truly an excellent method of working to accept and overcome the problems of depression.

I have read some of the classic books on depression and cognitive therapy such as David Burns’ “Feeling Good”, and this is a much more comprehensive approach, based on the principles of cognitive therapy but with the addition of mindfulness.

This approach is also good for people who aren’t really clinically depressed but who get caught up in negative thinking patterns and low self esteem: “Why me?” “I’m a loser”, “I’ll never get ahead”, etc…

The book has a great cd with it to teach you exactly how to practice the mindfulness exercises. I hesitate to use the term meditation because people tend to start thinking things like “I can’t meditate”, “It’s too hard”, etc… By the time you read the book, you will understand that meditation is not hard at all, it’s just a matter of doing it, and it can be done in as little as 3-5 minutes and still be worthwhile. It’s not a matter of “contemplating your navel” but rather just learning to BE in the present moment, to watch one’s thoughts arise and fall away, to slow down, to look at what is happening in one’s body and in one’s mind. Nothing at all difficult about it. You can do it. And you will find it worthwhile if you do it for a few weeks.

I highly recommend this book to people suffering from depression.

Another very good book for certain types of depression and anxiety that I highly recommend is “Emotional Blackmail” by Susan Forward, which helped me a great deal.

One more book I will recommend not so much specifically for depression but because it teaches the value and technique of “mindfulness”, is Jon Kabat-Zinn’s “Wherever You Go, There You Are”.

The last thing I will say is that just reading any of these books is not enough! You MUST do the exercises and put mindfulness into practice! You will be glad you did!

Review by Gary G. Miles:

I highly recommend this book. I have suffered from depressed for a long time, and I am always looking for new ways to cope with my depression. I found this book to be most helpful in describing useful techniques to deal with my depression. The book is written in very layman language and is easily understandable. To my knowledge the four professionals who wrote this book collaborated their ideas, and came up with a scheme that was relatively easy to follow. I take anti-depressant medications that enable me to get up to “base line”, but after that, if I do not have some way of facing every day problems, I find myself in the dump of depression again.

This book helps me to stay up, and not slip back too far into depression. Medications are very helpful, but by themselves, they can not keep one at base line (or what some people call “normal.”) Once we reach base line, we depressed persons, need help in staying at that level. The teachings of this book definitely has helped me in this endeavor.

I do not say this book totally cured me of depression (I don’t think anything ever will.) However, the information in the book has been a big help to me, and I can cope with depression much better than I did before I read the book.

Review by Finance Guy:

1st, Harry Dent is NOT an economist, he works with demographics. 2nd, in his last book “The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010″ he predicted the Dow to be 40,000 in 2009. You call that spot on?? Is that just a finer detail?? Was 2006 the start of the Greatest Boom in History as the title indicates? Harry Dent is very good at putting quotes in books and his newsletters that he can draw on as being right no matter what happens much like a psychic reading. When he has made big calls to the extent of making it the title of a book, he was dead wrong. Both AIM and Mass Mutual once had mutual funds based on the Dent philosophy and were sub-managed by him. Both have gone bust as being some of the worst performing mutual funds in recent history. If you followed his investment advise over the last 5 years you would be flat broke by now.

Review by Professor Donald Mitchell:

The main reason to read The Great Depression Ahead is to see the most persuasive case that can be made for an extended economic decline in the United States and other developed countries. After understanding that case, you’ll be in a better position to make decisions that will leave you better off regardless if the economy recovers quickly or keeps sliding down for several years (as it did in the early 1930s). Mr. Dent is better than most forecasters for this purpose because he provides lots of documentation for why he develops the scenario forecasts that he does.

What’s the essence of the case he’s making?

1. Developed countries are facing many years when there will be declining numbers of people in their peak spending years.

2. A multi-decade commodity price cycle is about to peak to be followed by lower prices.

3. The burst bubble in real estate will be with us for some time, and prices will fall further and longer than most people expect.

4. There are no new innovations waiting in the wings to drive economic growth forward.

He takes that scenario and develops investing, business, and personal financial planning solutions over the next century.

The essence of the advice is to play it safe for now by being in short-term Treasuries and to later switch into Treasury bonds after interest rates rise a lot (expecting that the bond prices will soar as the yields once again fall to near zero). If you can sell your house now, sell it and rent. If you can sell your business now, do it. Otherwise, play it safe, hunker down, and wait for competitors to disappear.

Economic forecasts are notoriously wrong. In fact, some forecasters “predict” the opposite of the consensus. Financial forecasts are even worse.

Mr. Dent is famous for vastly overestimating how much the stock market would climb in the 2000s period. In this book he explains what he missed (commodity and real estate inflation coupled with unsettled world conditions due to terrorism and the U.S. trying to stamp out terrorism is unlikely places like Iraq).

He repeats and updates all the graphs you saw in earlier books and adds some new ones. He has so many cycles that I wasn’t quite sure how he puts them all together. He offers free updates on this book’s forecasts via an address on his Web site.

I’m pretty pessimistic about the economy and the financial markets over the next 18 months, but I can see that Mr. Dent is much more pessimistic than I am. He wrote this book before the U.S. and other governments began spending over trillion to prop up the economy. As we saw in the second quarter of 2008, the government can spend enough to prop up the economy for a few months. There seems to be a will by government leaders to spend another -20 trillion in this cause. Since you and I will pay the bill, I can see why they are enthusiastic. Otherwise, everyone will want to kick them out of office as the economy sags and stays down.

Don’t take the book seriously. Learn from the assumptions, keep your eyes open, retain lots of cash in safe places, and look for terrific bargains.

Review by Daniel L Edelen:

Although D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s “Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure” is nearly forty years old, the truth it speaks to a generation lost amid a plethora of pop-psychology books is timeless. Jones, long the pastor of Westminster Chapel, gives readers the benefit of his many years of preaching and counseling, paving the way for the lost to find their way home.Psychology and Christianity have two dichotomous worldviews that cannot be shoehorned into each no matter how hard anyone tries. Psychology attempts to bolster the inner self, while Christianity says that the inner self is so hopelessly corrupt that it must be replaced with something entirely new. To this end Jones points out that all depression has its root in sin and works from that point to lead readers into an understanding that only in Christ can release from the bondage of self come.In the pages of this work, we find Jones addressing the following issues that many who are downcast find themselves afflicted by:* Lack of a foundation in Christ
* Lack of clarity
* Poor spiritual balance between the mind, heart, and will
* Inability to receive forgiveness for all their sins
* Inability to move beyond past failures
* Fear of the future
* Placing too much confidence in emotions
* Faulty love of oneself and a general contempt for others
* Lack of faith
* Seeing only bad and not good
* Bondage to dead legalism
* Failing to recognize false teachings
* Weariness
* Lack of discipline
* Failure to handle trials appropriately
* Failure to respond correctly to chastening
* BitternessJones does a marvelous job of breaking down each of these traits found in those in the doldrums and sheds the light of Scripture on each as he takes a solely Christian look at the root of these problems and how to deal with them biblically. Best of all, at no time does he attempt to mix in solutions from pop-psychology in order to achieve wholeness. His answers are more real and more true to the heart of the depressed. Anyone who feels downtrodden will take enormous comfort in the gentle, but firm words here.While the advice here is timeless, the book does suffer slightly from having an older writing style that contrasts with the flow of more modern works. Those who have not read anything older than twenty years will find some of Jones’s writing techniques to be quaint and very British, but if you have read any works by his contemporary, C.S. Lewis, you will be familiar with the style of British writers of that day and will find nothing daunting in Jones.In the end, as a counteracting work to the psychobabble so pronounced today, “Spiritual Depression” is without peer and I heartily encourage anyone who is looking for true Christian counsel to read this book - Jones’s words are a life-giving balm for weary souls. Few books of this type exist today and better words have never been written on this subject.

Review by :

This book is probably my most read and appreciated of any book I have. Lloyd Jones Scripturally and gently points out the causes of all our depression- and what a relief it is to find that someone else has known and experienced the very thing that we are struggling with! He then moves on to why, and how you can oversome what your difficulty is- giving all the glory and putting all your hope in Christ. Another of the greatest bonus’ of this book is that you don’t feel as if you’re reading some mans opinion; there is so much Scripture infused throughout, a sense more of finally taking and truly applying the living word of God is experienced. Lloyd-Jones takes all the most common ailments of depressed Christians; feelings, guilt, lack of faith, and trials, and compassionatly exhorts you to find your way out through belief. Calvin says “We are all partly unbelievers throughout our lives”, and Martin Lloyd-Jones lights the way out of this particular area of stumbling. He puts it perfectly in the chapter “Feelings”- “I cannot make myself be happy, but I can remind myself of my belief. I can address my soul as the psalmist does in Ps.42 ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou’…believe thou, trust thou. That is the way.”

Review by M. Stewart:

What makes this book important are its clear similarities to the events of today. In fact, it’s hard to read the book and not get the two eras a little confused. Bank closings? Check. Recovery Act bills and government spending? Check. Bankruptcy? Check. Foreclosures and federal foreclosure prevention programs? Check. Partial and full takeovers of industry? Check. Smaller paychecks every year? Yep. (While the editors admit to the release of the book being spurred by the current economic crisis, the cyclical nature of this type of event means the book would actually have been just as important in 1999 or 2006 as it is today.)

Beginning in June 1931, Benjamin Roth recorded in a series of notebooks his observations on the events in Youngstown, Ohio. Highlighted are the sad state of his legal practice throughout the depression years, bank closings and reopenings, steel production levels, growth in the ranks of the unemployed, and extreme deflation in the early years of the depression. Though having no investments of his own, Roth recorded stock prices and dividend payments, and much of the discussion surrounds the best way to have invested if he had been able. Roth worries most about a period of strong inflation spurred by the policies of the Roosevelt administration and about middle-class professionals such as him being bypassed by the growing recovery, but also about the anti-Semitism of the campaign by Republican Alfred M. Landon in the 1936 presidential election, Hitler’s takeover of Europe, government control, socialism, losing the gold standard and the rise of organized labor, especially when it led to strikes and violent confrontation in Youngstown. He worries, too, about collecting what is due his practice without causing hardship.

I know little about investing, but Roth’s progression through the years of the depression is evident. At first, he believes that government bonds would have been the only safe strategy; later fears of inflation push him toward stocks, preferred and common. When the recovery stumbled greatly in mid 1937, he comes to believe that only having a pot of cash available and shifting among different strategies the follow the curve of boom and bust is prudent. In the end, he aligns himself somewhere between the speculators who he blames for the crash and the long-term, bonds-only investor he would have been earlier in the crisis.

Roth’s theorizing about investment strategy is nothing more, because he is too short on cash to do anything with his ideas. (While the book offers few details, the late 1940s and following decades were more profitable for Roth and his law office, which is still in operation with his son and editor at the helm. Roth and his wife also left behind the Benjamin W. and Marion B. Roth Foundation, a charitable organization.) What he offers in addition to his hypothetical musings on where to allocate non-existent savings is a picture of depression-era concern and struggle among the middle, professional class — not the union workers, not the migrant fruit pickers and not the stockbrokers driven to despair by losing everything. It is an important perspective.

The parallels to today are rampant, despite the obvious changes over the years. I find it hard to sympathize when Roth complains that only the working class is getting the benefits of the recovery, this due to federal requirements for shorter work days, increased pay and recognition of unions. The fear of socialism because of government spending I do not share, but many do today; bold government spending is what ended the Great Depression, though only when war gave the administration full license to do so. What I do share with Roth is resentment of those who play with the market as speculators, not as investors. He makes that distinction clear, and the blame is just as evident. Along with deregulation, those speculating in real estate, bad real estate loans and petroleum futures share a great deal of the responsibility for the fact that millions of us now make less money than we did two years ago, and that college graduates cannot find jobs, and that many formerly employed no longer have any job or are working well beneath their abilities. Yet he leaves room in his view of the market for a person not to hide his savings away but to invest it in growing business and government bonds, putting it to work while reaping the benefits — but in a way that is both responsible and prudent.

I read this book in 24 hours. The format of short diary entries combined with the thrill of following the ups and downs of Roth’s community and the country in light of today’s situation made it easy. I’d recommend you pick it up and do the same.

Review by Busy reader:

As a child of the Depression I found The Great Depression: a Diary very interesting and informative. My father was not a professional person and I am sure he did not have any stocks, but the traumatic events that occurred happened to everyone. There are so many similarities to todays events: bank closings, credit problems, the closing of so very many businesses and the institution of so many programs to save jobs and the economy and very few of them having the stimulus needed. I also found it interesting to track the professional person as I have worked for lawyers and they seem to suffer immediately from a downturn in the economy. Apparently it was the same many years ago. A very good read and I would recommend it to anyone who lived through the great depression or would like a comparison of the present situation and the dark days long ago.

Review by Keith A. Abney:

Dr. Stephen Ilardi has written a highly accessible book that has something to offer everyone, not merely those who suffer from clinical depression. Without stooping to the charlatanism of New Age healers, Ilardi points out that mental and physical health are intimately connected, for reasons connected to our evolutionary heritage. He goes beyond the banal, vacuous advice of ‘diet and exercise’ to tell us with greater specificity what exactly in our diet (omega-3s), bodily environment (aerobic exercise, sleep) and and external environment (sunshine, close and frequent interpersonal contact) that we need to combat the epidemic of the blues.

The implications of his book are multitudinous and profound: among others, for the role of medication in national health care policy and our attempts to prevent depressive illness - if his work is taken seriously by those in government, the health care system could begin a much-needed movement toward wellness for all and prevention of disease, instead of merely rewarding pharmaceutical companies for campaign donations.

This is the rare book in the field that is useful, not merely for the clinically depressed, but also for those merely suffering from the ‘normal blues’, or even those just wishing to enhance the well-being of their lives. His TLC program can help just about everyone, and most of its elements are low-cost or free! I believe this book potentially could be prove to be a watershed moment in the very understanding of illness and the goals of medical treatment. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Review by Dan Browning:

First, a disclaimer: I am a friend of Dr. Ilardi’s, and I have been following the development of his “TLC” (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change) treatment regimen for several years. Having said that, I would not be giving this book five stars if I didn’t think it represented a true breakthrough in the treatment of depression.

Dr. Ilardi writes in an intelligent and accessible style; he brings a keen intellect to his academic research and a genuine sense of compassion for his patients and all those who suffer from the scourge of depression. He balances theory and practice, providing practical advice to implement the six steps of his innovative program.

Dr. Ilardi provides compelling evidence for both the efficacy of his own protocol and the ineffectiveness of so many commonly prescribed pharmaceutical and other therapeutic solutions. I believe that readers who have struggled for years with depression (especially those for whom conventional treatments have failed) will benefit greatly from the sound, sage advice contained in this outstanding book.

If you have a friend or loved one who suffers from depression (or if you yourself do), I cannot urge you strongly enough to get a copy of this book for them (or for yourself). It could literally be a life-saving read.

Review by T. McDaniel:

I’ve struggled with depression for the majority of my life and have tried many different tools to help me heal - for exmaple psychoanalysis, self-help books, homeopathy, antidepressants, acupuncture, etc. While I won’t say that those tools did not help me (I really needed therapy to move through the most acute traumas of my past), I will say that this workbook has really helped me at this point in my life, helping me to understand how the depression has influenced my current behaviors and ways of coping with my past. Having been through nearly 3 years of therapy, and there working through past issues, I was ready to start taking action in my life *now* for a better future. This workbook has helped me frame what’s most important to me, what I want to experience, and find ways to actually begin creating those changes for myself. I look forward to the personal time I spend with this workbook, and I feel I’ve benefitted greatly from it.

Review by Randolph A. Burgess:

Strosahl and Robinson follow in the path of “Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life” but focus specifically on depression. A little New Age-y here & there, which initially might or might not be a turn-off, depending on how you feel about such things - but stick with it, because there’s lots of powerful material here:

- Strong and useful explanation of why we get depressed in the first place. Blaming biology or history doesn’t help us; a more useful stance, as the authors explain, is to look not just at the pain in our lives, but at how we react to that pain. Avoidance pushes us into depression, acceptance and action pull us back into life.

- A full chapter on how our mind tricks us with reasons & stories that seem to “make sense,” but actually keep us stuck.

- Nice accompanying CD with guided meditation exercises of various sorts, some for learning mindfulness skills, others for getting in touch with our intuition about what we really want to do in life.

- Good closing chapters on building ACT habits that will last rather than fizzle.

See full review on my blog - www.raburgess.com/wholesight - or just check it out for yourself. You’ll be challenged, but you won’t be sorry.

Review by Kate McMurry:

Dr. O’Connor served for 14 years as executive director of the Northwest Center for Family Service and Mental Health, a private, nonprofit mental health clinic in Litchfield County, Connecticut, overseeing the work of twenty mental health professionals in treating almost a thousand patients per year. He is a practicing psychotherapist, with offices in Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. ….In his biography on this site, he states that he believes “depression can never be fully grasped by mental health professionals who have not experienced it.” In Dr. O’Connor’s case, as a therapist, he has a unique and powerful perspective because he is the son of a depressive who committed suicide, has suffered depression himself, and applied the insights presented in his book in his own life to heal his depression.This book is very well-written, clear and accessible even when the doctor is talking about complex, professional issues in the mental health community. There is a thorough index and plentiful endnotes, as well as a very complete bibliography of recommended reading. The four sections of the book listed in the table of contents are: What We Know about Depression; Learning New Skills; Putting the Skills to Work; A New Synthesis. I believe this is one of the top books ever written on depression. If you only have time to read one book on the subject, I would heartily recommend you make it this one, because it is utterly brilliant. I personally believe that one of the most profound things a theorist can do is synthesize seemingly opposing or unlike ideas, pulling them together in a comprehensible whole, which is what Dr. O’Connor does so very, very well here. He has thoroughly surveyed the existing information on depression, made clear what we know and don’t know about it, and what most often works, or doesn’t work, to treat depression. In this regard, his discussion of why we don’t have a comprehensive theory of depression at the present time is wonderful. Within this discussion he states: “The Freudian theory of human functioning has been on its last legs for some time, and we wait for a new theory, a new paradigm, to replace it….[A]lthough there is a wish to achieve a biochemical theory of human behavior, our current knowledge leaves us far from it; and if we had it, it would not answer our most interesting human questions.” He covers the effects of trauma on depression and the biological basis of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression and major depression and how this conception removes stigma. Then he asserts that though symptoms of mental illness are “biochemically mediated, that doesn’t make [them inevitably] biochemically caused….” He is not anti-medication, but he states that medications can’t tell us how to raise healthy children, make difficult decisions, or help us find meaning in life. He believes that “both nature and nurture play a part in the development of depression”–and in its cure. He states that “in depression, you use medication to help alleviate the pain and suffering, but the patient may still feel a lack of confidence, be painfully shy, lack assertive skills, have a distorted self-image…procrastinate…be stuck in a loveless marriage or a dead-end job. The patient must address these kinds of issues…or else he may suffer less but still not be part of life.” It is this issue that the book addresses very thoroughly: how to engage in a deliberate skill-building program in conjunction with medication (or without it if you are one of the unlucky, sizeable percentage of depression sufferers diagnosed with “resistant depression” because antidepressants do not work for you). In his skill-building program, the author covers emotions, behavior, thinking, relationships, the self, and aids to recovery. He then discusses how to put these new skills to work on the job, in intimate relationships and in the community at large. An extremely thorough, comprehensive, invaluable guide!

Review by Professor Donald Mitchell:

The author is quick the point out (and he is correct) that this book will not improve or cure depression by itself. You need professional help for that. Instead, the purpose of this book (which it magnificently addresses) is to describe what the depressed person and the depressed person’s family and friends need to be doing to provide the maximum likelihood of overcoming depression. That’s a reasonable promise and premise for a book on this important subject, and you can begin to overcome your ignorance (and the harm it can bring) by reading this book and acting on its advice.First, the bad news. Depression is increasing. Worse still, the younger someone is, the more likely that the person will experience depression sometime. Even worse, many people are undiagnosed, and suffer alone with their affliction. Second, the good news. Around 70 percent of all those suffering from depression will improve with either drug therapy or mental health treatments. Those who get both do even better. Third, more bad news. Depression tends to recur for many people.The voice addressing these issues is an expert one. He is a psychotherapist who runs a community health center. More importantly, he has suffered from depression himself. I doubt if you can get more direct access to what depression is all about than from Richard O’Connor. I admire his caring to share so much of his own pain with us, and respect him enormously for this gift he has given us all.Depression is currently under reevaluation. No single paradigm seems to capture all of its elements. Undoubtedly, an improved scientific model for it will emerge. There are signs that it can have roots in disturbed relations between Mother and child, family dysfunction, possibly genetic disorders of brain chemistry (like using up seratonin too rapidly), other traumas, and poor thinking habits. Who knows what else may turn up? Many people try to deal with this problem too much on their own. Families often put up with the depressed person’s behavior, not knowing what else to do. Others reject the depressed person, which will usually make the situation worse. O’Connor lays out common sense guidelines that should make a diference: for depressed people, for those who care about them, and for those who treat them. The author sees depression as a disease and as a social problem, “an illness to be treated professionally and a failure of adaptation that we must overcome through self-determinination.” He outlines important principles for the depressed person: (1) Feel your feelings (depression is the suppression of feelings — acknowledging those feelings often causes depression to improve). (2) Realize that nothing comes out of the blue (your depressed state has a root cause that you should look for in an event or situation). (3) Challenge your depressed thinking by questioning your assumptions, especially ones that center on meaningless perfectionism. (4) Establish priorities so that your energies go into what will be on what’s most important to you. (5) Communicate as directly as possible to everyone around you. Depressed people are often poor communicators who don’t get their emotional needs served. With better communication, they can experience a more supportive emotional environment. (6) Take care of your self. Learn to enjoy yourself. (7) Take and expect the right responsibility for yourself — for your own actions. Depressed people often feel guilty about things that they have no responsibility for (like the death of a parent or the divorce of their parents). (8) Look for heroes. These role models can empower you to see the way to improve, especially if they were also depressed like Lincoln. (9) Be generous. Helping others puts your own situation into perspective. (10) Cultivate intimacy. This means letting down your defenses so people can see you as you are, and accept you for that. Depressed people often feel disgusted with their true selves, and hide that self from everyone. (11) Practice detachment. Depressed people are often overly critical and pessimistic. Seeing things in the proper perspective can heal a lot of inappropriate pain. (12) Get help when you need it. This may be the most important piece of advice since so many people do not.The book is filled with personal examples and case studies of people the author has treated, which help make the points easier to understand.I was astonished to realize that there is no self-help network like there is for alcoholics and those with other mental and behavioral problems. The author shares some experiences with having established such groups that can be a prototype for creating such a network in the future. I think that is an important priority for improving the mental health of our society from what this book shares.Mental health professionals will find good advice for overcoming the parochialism of whatever discipline they originally trained in, to create links to the other treatments the depressed patients need. Those who provide therapy discussions will benefit from the author’s own assessments of how therapies helped or did not help him. The therapist as caring adult is emphasized above the particular technique used. I was fascinated by how often this book pointed out problems related to stalls that most people have such as poor communications, procrastination, misconception, disbelief, tradition, independence, purposelessness, wishful thinking, and avoidance of the unattractive. The depressed person seems to have more of these at the same time than the people I work with. Yet both groups have in common that they have not yet learned the stallbusting techniques that can improve or overcome these stalls. To some extent, the lack of understanding of how to focus our minds is one of the causes of depression in our society. So here is another reason to learn the questions and focus that can enormously improve personal and organizational effectiveness. I rate this book a 2,000 percent solution stallbuster, and hope that you will read it and apply its lessons. Whether you are depressed or not, we all will encounter depressed people and this book can make us more helpful to them.Since reading this book, I have been greatly helped by it in understanding the depressed people I know. Following the advice here, they have made progress in moving away from depression. I am very grateful for having obtained this valuable knowledge.Help everyone to walk, look, and feel on the bright side!

Review by Josh:

I ordered this book just after this last Christmas 06′ when I was pretty down. This book is GREAT! It is by far the best book of it’s kind that I have seen out there. I shopped around for some time before I settled on this one. I wanted to make sure I got one that was packed with the help and information that I needed and this was it!

I suffer from Anxiety/Panic Disorder, Depression and slight Agorophobia. I was seeing a Therapist - and she told me that I could benefit from a workbook of some sort so, that’s when I decided on this one. She was right. I actually feel that I got more help from following along with this book than from her. lol

This book is JAMMED with information along with tons of excersises and tasks, quizzes and checklists to follow along and do. The beauty of it is that you do it all at your own pace and your own comfort level. It starts out basic with you getting familiar with your ‘needs’ and familiarizing yourself with your depression and then it gets more in depth as far as the excersises go the further you go in the book.

I am in no way saying this is a cure for depression or for whatever it is that you’re going through but, it is a tremendous help! People saw a huge change in me. As anyone knows that goes through any of this sort of stuff - it is always a work in progress. But, you can always revert back to the book and do any of the excersises over and over again as many times as you want to. You’ll find that they get easier each time you do them.

It is a great book to start off with or a good book to add to your existing collection. It helped me a great deal and I am in a MUCH better place right now thanks to the help of this book!!!!

~~~JAC 07′

Review by Rocco B. Rubino:

Albert Ellis once made the comment that the goal of therapy was not just to help people feel better (he was referring to a short-term, quick-fix that would not last), the goal of therapy is to help people get better and stay that way.

Depression has been called the common cold of the mind; however it effects are a lot more insidious that a case of the sniffles. A person’s life can be destroyed by depression much in the way it can be destroyed by chemical/substance abuse.

For individuals with mild to moderate depression, this resource can lessen the suffering of depression. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, then this book is for you.

Why do I say this? Because this book is filled with research-based interventions from the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy schools of thought. Both are empirically supported as being the most efficacious in dealing with depression.

This book will help you to, develop a personal plan for change, assess your depression and learn best how to overcome it, combat/defeat depressive thoughts and beliefs, overcome thoughts of helplessness, worthlessness, and self-blaming/guilt, as well as how to use CBT/REBT techniques for making positive life changes.

This is not a book that you can breeze through and feel good by the end of the week. It took a while to get into the depressive state we have found ourselves in; it will take some time to re-train ourselves to start thinking more adaptively.

But if you have the will, desire, and the discipline, this book will not disappoint. Dr. Knaus writes with authority on the subject and, as a consequence, has performed a valuable public health service.