Two Great Books Which Help You to Understand and Treat Clinical Depression
According to the American Medical Association, depression affects approximately 18 million Americans. Many people do not even know that they are depressed and those who do may not know enough about their condition to get the best treatment. While it is important to consult with one’s doctors about how to cure-or at least relieve-the symptoms of depression, the most effective way to start the healing process is to gain as much information as possible. There are two excellent books which explain clinical depression and how to treat it. One is The American Medical Association’s Essential Guide to Depression and the other is Richard O’Connor’s book Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and Medication Can’t Give You.
The American Medical Association’s Essential Guide to Depression (ISBN 067101066) is the book that explains exactly what depression is and what it does from a medical standpoint. It gives basic criteria which a doctor would use to determine if you have clinical depression or bi-polar disorder. What I like about this book is that even though it is slightly technical, it offers proof that depression is a serious medical condition and not just a temporary feeling that a person can “shake off”. The AMA guide also explains that sometimes doctors even misdiagnose depression and that physicians sometimes cannot recognize depression in patients of another racial or ethnic group. This is important when seeking an accurate diagnosis because your doctor may not see that your condition is serious if you do not communicate your symptoms effectively. The more knowledge that you have, the better equipped you are to take charge of your depression and get the treatment that best suits you. In rich detail, The American Medical Association’s Essential Guide to Depression covers the biological and genetic causes of depression, situations which increase the likelihood of chronic depression, the clarification of different forms of depression, as well as descriptions of treatments and medications. Also included is a section for parents and family members of depressives, which offers guidance on how to support their relatives through the healing process. It is a reference that you can refer back to again and again.
Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and Medication Can’t Give You by Richard O’Connor, Ph.D. (ISBN 0425166791) takes the approach that people often hold onto depression much longer than necessary because depression becomes a crutch for them or it becomes something that they get so used to that they stop trying to move through it. Instead of criticizing depressives for being depressed, O’Connor shows how we can begin to change old thinking patterns and become conscious of the process that our depression goes through so that we can then recover and move on. The book is very honest about what depression does and how it makes us feel and what it takes to change our habits. It acknowledges that changing the patterns we have of pessimism, unrealistic expectations, withdrawing from our feelings, feeling unable to communicate our needs, and being dependent on other people or institutions for validation is hard work. While the process of recovery from depression is challenging, it is not impossible and O’Connor is encouraging even as he explains why the methods we have used in the past don’t work. Though the title says “what therapy doesn’t teach you”, the book involves a process which teaches conscious awareness of yourself and your habits which is not unlike psychological therapy.
Understanding depression and its symptoms is the first step to recovery. As Richard O’Connor says, healing from depression is hard work, but so is staying depressed. Using the information from The American Medical Association guide and O’Connor’s book will give you tools that you can use to work with your doctor or therapist to heal from the disease.
