Rating: 
Summary: Practical; offers hope, understanding from two perspectives
Review: What a gem! I'm impressed by the dual approach -- therapist and sufferer -- and the compassionate perspective. I think anyone, whether or not suffering from depression, can glean many worthwhile concepts and ideas from the book.It's written so that the lay person gets a good understanding of some of the technical stuff, and the therapist gets a good understanding of the sufferer's state of mind. Most important is the hope I think it can give to someone who has never been exposed to or offered the tools to make changes in his own life.
Rating:
Summary: A healing message from an author who knows his stuff
Review: Unique, in my experience with the subject in its
honest sharing of O'Connor's own successful fight against a crafty enemy. As a caring professional, he understands both the disease and its tenacity; and
as a man who haas "been there and done that"
he brings a particular passion; and well developed
literary talents to a subject he illuminates with humor, understanding, and empathy
Moore, CT
Rating:
Summary: Best prescriptions for post-depression I've ever read
Review: This book is the only one I've read that deals with life 'after depression.' Warning signs, helpful hints, it has it all. I've ordered two copies; one for me (in the last stages of therapy); one for my best friend (in earlier and more fragile state). Hers I hope will help her husband understand what she is going through.
Rating: 
Summary: what the author has to say
Review: I wanted to write a book to address the issue of preventing depression. The emphasis is too often focused on treatment after someone has hit rock bottom. There is a sense that depression is something that happens to you without warning. I disagree. I think there is a warning - that people do lead a depressed lifestyle before they feel depressed - and that people should be encouraged to believe there is a lot they can do to avoid hitting bottom and to make their recovery much faster and more effective. And because of my own personal experience with depression, I feel a strong desire to help prevent people from suffering what my family and I have gone through. So I've tried to lay out a roadmap for people to follow through recovery. I've taken the "practice wisdom" of good psychotherapy and put it into a form that people can follow to help themselves as they deal with depression in their thinking, their behavior, their emotions, their relationships, and their self-image.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful, insightful, easy and interesting read
Review: I had a LOT of positive things to say about this book, but if you are reading this review you probably dont want to read the same things over and over again, and I would merely repeat the very well written positive sediments that are already written in these reviews. The one thing I would like to add is that unlike most books on depression which tend to get technical or boring, this book is filled with enough personal and professional anedotes that it is surprisingly interesting. You look forward to reading this book each night. Dr. O'Conner bravely reveals his painful experiences with depression, in an honest and humble manner. And honesty is a strong point in this book. He makes no ridiculas promises about overcoming depression, he just fills this book with many, many pieces of excellent and solid pieces of advice. I suffer from minor depression but my husband suffers from chronic depression and this book has helped me to help my husband in many ways. Thank you Dr. Conners
Rating:
Summary: excellent resource and godsend of a tool
Review: The most important thing this book does, is break down depression into understandable and manageable cause and effect. There are always root causes to depression (even if physiological) that the field of psychology has not dealt with as a whole until recently. This book deals with cognitive thought processes and patterns associated with people who have been depressed for extended periods of time , as well as the emotional and social aspects of depression.
Most people who suffer from depression that I have personally come in contact with, are resigned to be dependant upon medications and have lost faith in therapy. This book simplifies depression so that it makes 'sense' to laymen and it is useful for therapists as well. It also gives hope to depression sufferers.
Rating: 
Summary: this book is okay
Review: I bought this book hoping to find, as the title claims, information that I didn't already know. While it was very easy to read, and the personal stories were nice to read, nothing I read was new information. My conclusion after reading this book is that there really is nothing like one on one therapy.. no book is going to replace that. If you are truly suffering from a deep depression, please seek therapy, don't just read this book (although it does have a lot of information). I do think this would be a great book, however, for family members or other people who are directly affected by depression.
Rating:
Summary: for anyone, this book is amazing!!
Review: I can't say enough good things about this book. I was diagnosed 10 years ago with depression and recently have gotten worse, this book literally fell into my hands at the bookstore I work at. It was a wonderful gift from God, I bought the book that day, and I'm sooo glad.
This book is great for anyone, those suffering from depression, those loved ones have depression, and any mental health professionals. I wish I could buy a bunch of this book and hand it out to people. It's given me more hope than I can explain for my my recovery. I know it's going to take a lot more work than just reading this book, but Dr. O'Connor helps you realize that in this book.
Please, if you are suffering from depression, pick up this book, Dr. O'Connors' insight is amazing, he's been there himself and seems to write about so many feelings I've thought and felt. He knows where we've been and he's helping me get where I want to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Inaccurate about drug treatment
Review: This book was exceptionally helpful in treating my depression. I definitely plan to keep it to refer back to on a regular basis. I HIGHLY recommend this book!!
Rating:
Summary: Multiple Sources, Multiple Ways to Deal...
Review: O'Connor's book is a tremendous breath of fresh air if you've read other books on depression that assume that depression (never mind who is dealing with it) comes from the same old Freudian reasons. Nope. O'Connor recognizes that depression comes from multiple sources: chemical, nature, nurture, habits (both bad and "good"), and he offers practical (rather than just theoretical) ways to approach the practical problem of depression. Can you give 5% more attention to the issues that affect you? Are you willing to give yourself 5% more notice? Even if you think you don't deserve it? Your willingness to try could make the difference between hopeless repetition of methods that don't work and hopeful experimentation that can make you more of a participant in your own life.
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