Understanding Depression

From a leading medical expert at Johns Hopkins, here is an up-to-the-minute, definitive guide to what s known about depression and how it can be treated. Around ten percent of North Americans suffer from depression at some point -- and more than half haven t even sought help. Now, Dr. Raymond DePaulo, one of the world s foremost authorities on depression, provides a sensitive, thorough, and reassuring book for sufferers from depression and those who care about them. This practical guide for individuals with depression and their families -- the only totally comprehensive book in the market -- shows readers how to identify the problem, then directs them to the various forms of treatment, including medications, psychotherapy, support groups, and exercise. It is one of the few books to discuss in depth manic depression, the bipolar form of depression. Dr. DePaulo discusses both mainstream (the latest medications and talk therapies) and alternative paths and reveals the truth about the dangerous fallacies that abound about depression. Comprehensive, compassionate, and grounded in the very latest research into brain chemistry, psychology, and medications, this is a definitive, landmark roadmap to one of the most devastating -- and common -- mental illnesses.

What does it really mean to be depressed? You know depression as a collection of symptoms-fatigue, listlessness, feelings of worthlessness-and the source of more than a little pain. But depression is also a signal that something in your life is wrong and needs to be healed. Too often, though, we try to cut off or numb our feelings of depression instead of listening carefully to what they are telling us about our lives. Listening to Depression offers insightful ways to reframe depression as a gift that can help you transform your life for the better. Each chapter discusses a different aspect of depression as positive opportunity for growth or change. Depression can be the start of a reorientation in life, a step in the search for meaning, or a chance for letting go of hurtful aspects of the self. It can also be a chance to deal with grief and loss and learn to expand your potential. The book concludes with a section of advice about when it is important to defend against depression and how best to go about it when the need arises.

The long-awaited, revised, and expanded second edition of this definitive and readable book is available to a new generation of those struggling with depression and their families.

Having suffered from major depression for much of her life, Stephanie Sorrell has learned to work with the disease rather than against it. Where so many mental-health books feature ‘fighting and overcoming‘ depression, her experience and understanding have enabled her to see the value of the condition rather than what it can take away. In this easy-to-read introduction to depression Stephanie shows the various ways in which it manifests, what is available on a natural as well as chemical level and how the diversity of psychological therapies serve and hold depression. There is also a spiritual thread running through which invites the reader to go further...

Depression has been a scourge of humanity since the dawn of ages. Vivid images from historical and religious texts describe sufferers of the illness we now know as depression. An “equal opportunity” illness, it exempts no one based on race, sex, creed, religion, social status, or nation of origin. It affects one in five of us and its potentially lethal outcome—suicide—is the third leading cause of death among American teenagers. What is this illness that costs us $44 billion each year? What does it look like? Is it moodiness? Is it the result of a character flaw? Can we just “snap out of it”? Understanding Depression explores the reality of the illness from the author's twin perspectives as a psychiatrist and as a family member who experienced the tragedy of depression firsthand. Using examples from her practice, the author discusses the different types of depression, the kinds of people at risk, and the risk factors of suicide. In understandable terms the book looks at the way the brain works and how the body communicates with it, including recent discoveries about how the process fails in depression. The book mirrors the author's belief that understanding depression is only half the battle. Taking personal responsibility for fighting the beast is equally important. Treatment methods, discussed here, include various forms of psychotherapy, different classes of antidepressant medications, and the controversial subjects of “shock” treatment and involuntary treatment. Understanding Depression also offers tips for fighting depression day by day. Finally, the book takes a look at the innovative research that holds promise for better management of depression and at new weapons to combat it.

We all have low moods from time to time. Usually the mood passes and we get back to our normal way of living. Low moods like these are not what doctors call depression. Instead they use the term to describe a more severe illness. No one symptom indicates whether you have just a low mood or what can be termed 'clinical depression'. Many of the symptoms are similar; however, when you are depressed they are usually more intense and go on for longer. Depression is an illness that can be treated and you will feel better in time.

This book, in two volumes, focuses on contemporary issues and dilemmas in relation to depression. The aim is to equip readers with an up-to-date understanding of the clinical and neurobiological underpinnings of depression, the clinical manifestations, and the development of more effective treatments. This second volume is devoted specifically to clinical and management issues. Readers will find detailed information on a wide range of frequently encountered and more complicated clinical presentations, with examination of risk factors and links to other conditions. Diagnostic aspects, including progress toward biological classification and the role of neuroimaging, are explored. Current trends in therapy are examined at length, drawing on the latest evidence and covering not only antidepressant medications but also the roles of neurostimulation, combined pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and complementary and alternative medicine. The companion volume is dedicated to the underlying biomedical and neurobiological basis of depression. Understanding Depression will be an excellent source of information for both researchers and practitioners in the field.

Based on the latest scientific findings, a comprehensive guide to the diagnosis and treatment of teenage depression. Each year thousands of American teenagers are diagnosed with clinical depression. If ignored, poorly treated, or left untreated, it can be a devastating illness for adolescents and their families. Drawing on her many years of experience as a pychiatrist working with teenagers, Dr. Maureen Empfield answers the questions parents and teens have about depression, providing detailed information on: *Identifying the different types of depression *How depression is diagnosed *Which teenagers are most at risk *Suicide *The effect of depression on other teenage problems *How depression is treated and by whom *The drugs used to treat teenage depression - what they are and how they work *When a teenager needs to be hospitalized for depression *and more Understanding Teenage Depression provides the latest scientific findings on this serious condition, and the most up to date information on its treatment. The book includes numerous vignettes drawn from Dr. Empfield's clinical practice as well as first person accounts from teenagers who have themselves suffered from depression. Understanding Teenage Depression is a book that anyone who's been touched by this disease - whether parents, teachers, family members or teens themselves - will find invaluable.